§ Mr. FisherTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what expenditure was made by his Department on(a) the Arts and (b) design in the last financial year.
§ Mr. Sainsbury[holding answer 21 December 1989]: Such detailed information could be provided only at disproportionate cost, but we are aware that our principal expenditure on the arts is almost exclusively channelled through the British Council, which in 1988–89 spent £13.3 million of the diplomatic wing's direct grant of £58.1 million on the promotion overseas of British artistic achievements.