HL Deb 25 February 1998 vol 586 cc675-8

2.37 p.m.

The Earl of Clancarty

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is their response to the announcements that the funding of the Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury, is to be reduced by about one-third, and that the community arts centres in Buckinghamshire are to be closed; and whether they will protect local authority museums and other cultural facilities from cuts in local authority funding.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, we would like to see the best possible museum services provided everywhere. However, local authorities are not required by statute to fund museum services. It is therefore not for government to tell elected local representatives how to take detailed local decisions. Buckinghamshire County Council's spending priorities are a matter for it. Government funding of local authorities under the system of standard spending assessments is based on what each authority needs to spend to be able to give a standard level of service. This is calculated using demographic, geographical and other factors which have a bearing on revenue expenditure, and these are applied equally to all authorities.

The Earl of Clancarty

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply. Does he not agree that it is absurd that a museum which yesterday was nominated for the 1998 European Museum of the Year award is being forced to introduce admission charges from 1st April and is losing six posts, including a dynamic director who, according to the Bucks Herald, is sacking himself? What are the Government going to do about it?

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, it is clear from my first Answer that I agree with the noble Earl that this is very sad. I am happy to add tribute to the Buckinghamshire County Museum, which has not only been nominated for the 1998 European Museum of the Year award but actually won the 1996 Museum of the Year award. But it is, I am sorry to say, a matter for Buckinghamshire County Council.

Lord Waddington

My Lords, will the Minister advise local museums minded to lend works of art to the noble and learned Lord the Lord Chancellor that rumour has it that his apartments are already becoming over full and that the time is already too late to hang any more pictures on the new wallpaper?

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, I think that is a deplorable question as well as an entirely irrelevant one.

Lord Jenkins of Putney

My Lords, will my noble friend draw the subject of this Question to the notice of our right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and ask him to investigate the cause of this regrettable development?

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, I think my noble friend is coming back to the Question on the Order Paper, which concerns Buckinghamshire—at least I hope so. No, I do not think I will draw my right honourable friend's attention to it. It is a matter for Buckinghamshire County Council.

Baroness Brigstocke

My Lords, does the Minister agree that museums and galleries have a most valuable role to play in improving the educational standards of this country? I think particularly of the Aylesbury museum, which has a spectacular exhibition of Roald Dahl. I cannot think of a better way for young children to experience the excitement of reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, not to mention The Giant Peach. This is an enormously important aspect of museums. I would love to hear what the Minister has to say about that.

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, the Minister entirely agrees with what the noble Baroness said. I am a product of the Buckinghamshire state education system myself. I do not remember so much of the museums as I was educated in High Wycombe, but I certainly benefited from many of that authority's activities, notably in the visual and film arts. I also pay tribute to the Roald Dahl part of the museum, which I understand is a splendid success. But it is still a matter for Buckinghamshire County Council.

Lady Saltoun of Abernethy

My Lords, can there be any sensible objection to museums with spare works of art hidden away in the cellars because they have not room to exhibit them lending those works of art to other museums or places where they can be seen by the public?

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, I think the noble Lady's question is wide of the Question on the Order Paper, as was the question of the noble Lord, Lord Waddington, although I sympathise very much with what she says.

Lord Strabolgi

My Lords, in view of what my noble friend said, could there not be still a statutory requirement for local authorities to have a cultural policy? Many years ago I seem to remember that there was something about a penny on the rate to be spent on the arts. What has happened to that?

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, I believe that the analogy to the point my noble friend makes is the statutory requirement on local authorities to provide a library service. That certainly has considerable value even though it does not enable central government to interfere in the details of the way in which that service is provided. To widen it in the way that my noble friend suggests may be attractive, but it would increase central intervention in local government autonomy.

Lord Skidelsky

My Lords, does the Minister agree that the future of county museums and arts centres in Buckinghamshire and in other places would be much more secure if the Government were not determined to channel £1.2 billion of National Lottery money into their new good cause, large parts of which ought to be financed by taxes which they dare not raise?

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

No, my Lords, there is no connection between the division of lottery money and the expenditure of local authorities. As the noble Lord well knows, local authority expenditure in total is allowed to increase in advance of inflation next year. The amount of money from the Museums and Galleries Commission for local authority museums and for smaller museums generally has been maintained for next year.

Lord Monkswell

My Lords, is the Minister aware that the whole House will be very glad that the central government revenue support grant to local authorities will be based on equality and fairness in total contradiction to the way in which the previous government gave enormous support totally unfairly to local authorities such as Westminster and Wandsworth? What plans do the Government have to publicise the fact that they are fair and that the previous regime was totally unfair?

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, I believe that I had better stick to my rule of not answering questions which are wide of the Question on the Order Paper.

Lord Stoddart of Swindon

My Lords, does my noble friend agree that the noble Lord, Lord Monskwell, is right to this extent: that the sooner local authorities are uncapped and allowed to spend and raise money locally so that local people can have their local services, including museums and art galleries, the better? Would not that be a good thing to do and do the Government have that in mind?

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

My Lords, no, I do not believe that that is the case. There is still capping which is being used with considerable discretion this year. Buckinghamshire County Council spent a very large part of its reserves last year—being the last Conservative county council in England—and is now having to pay the price of having reduced reserves.