§ Viscount Ecclesasked her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are in a position to announce the allocation of the arts and libraries programme for 1984–85.
The Earl of GowrieSubject to parliamentary approval of the Supply Estimates. I propose the main allocations listed below for the financial year 1984–85. They are intended to allow broadly the present level of activity to be continued, taking account of the Government's assumptions on pay and price movements. It has also been possible to include provision for the following significant developments.
First, in the light of the report on the financial scrutiny of the Royal Opera House and Royal Shakespeare Company, the Government have decided to make special provision amounting to £4.1 million, within the total Arts Council grant of £100 million, to establish a satisfactory baseline for the future operations of these two bodies, and to strengthen the financial base of the English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera and Opera North. Details of these arrangements are being given in a separate parliamentary Answer.
Secondly, the total recurrent provision for the national museums and galleries in England includes an additional £0.5 million to help meet their conservation and other special needs, together with an allowance for certain technical adjustments. Detailed allocations to individual museums and galleries for purchase grants and other running costs will be announced later. Provision for the Museums and Galleries Commission also includes an additional £0.5 million for a new scheme of grants to local museums for conservation and related purposes.
Thirdly, provision to be made in the Supply Estimates for the Property Services Agency's Vote, which is charged against the arts and libraries programme, will allow for continued net expenditure on the new British Library St. Pancras building project as the work already authorised progresses, and for a substantial increase in building work expenditure at the national museums and galleries. This will enable priority to be given to an enlarged programme of repairs, maintenance and refurbishment at the museums and galleries; it will also allow for continued building work on the new Theatre Museum for which contracts have now been let.
These allocations, together with provision for the staffing and administrative costs of the Office of Arts and Libraries and for certain other activities which will be the subject of separate announcements later, are within the total for the arts and libraries programme given in the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Autumn Statement, as adjusted by the subsequent decision on funding for the Royal Shakespeare and opera companies.