§ Mr. DuncanTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage (1) if he will list all persons who have served on advisory panels to the Arts Council in each year for the last 10 years giving the bodies, institutions and/or organisations to which they were professionally attached;
(2) if he will itemise all funds distributed by the Arts Council either by grant or as expenses which have gone to a member of any advisory panel, whether directly or to bodies, institutions or organisations with which they are associated, in each year during the last 10 years.
§ Mr. SproatFull lists of the membership of all the Arts Council's advisory panels and of the grants made are published each year in the council's annual report and accounts, copies of which are in the Library of the House. Historic information to allow cross referencing between the interests of panel members and grants to individual organisations is only available at disproportionate cost.
The Arts Council has, throughout its history, operated an advisory structure which allows peer group review of the artistic output of the recipients of grants from the council. The arts funding system relies heavily on the advice, experience and expertise of those appointed to these advisory panels. Nominations for membership of panels are sought from a wide range of relevant professional and trade organisations, and the membership of all panels changes regularly. Panel members are not paid, and receive expenses only on a reimbursement basis. It is inevitable that in order to involve people with the requisite knowledge and experience, some panel members will be employed by, or work on a freelance basis for, organisations that receive funding from the Arts Council; the council's procedural and ethical code states:
Members of the Council, Boards, Panels and Committees and staff with any interest in, or whose partners have an interest in, an organisation subsidised by, or seeking subsidy from, the Council, should declare this interest whenever that organisation 1174W is the subject of discussion and ask the Chairman at what point it would be appropriate for them to leave the meeting".I understand that the code is rigorously applied. In line with the Government's code of practice for board members of executive non-departmental bodies, the Arts Council is revising its own code of practice from 1 April 1995. The new code contains a full statement of the responsibilities of members and provides for a register of members' interests.