§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what sum has been made available from public funds directly or indirectly to the Royal Opera House since 1980 in 1994 prices; what was the amount per seat; and what research he has carried out as to the beneficiaries of this expenditure. [29998]
§ Mr. DorrellDetails in the form requested of annual grants from the Arts Council to the three Royal Opera House companies—the Royal Opera, the Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet—are set out in the table. In addition, the Royal Opera House has received £259,000 under the national heritage arts sponsorship scheme—formerly the business sponsorship incentive scheme—since 1984. Neither my Department nor the Arts Council has carried out audience research, although the Royal Opera House itself undertakes such research on a regular basis.
Grants to Royal Opera House Year Grant total £ million Grants at 1994 prices £ million Attendances Thousands Grants attendances 1994 £ million 1980–81 7.711 17.92 724 24.75 1981–82 9.535 19.02 678 28.06 1982–83 10.578 19.00 706 26.91 1983–84 11.527 19.24 686 28.05 1984–85 11.505 18.34 734 24.69 1985–86 13.475 20.41 621 32.86 1986–87 13.097 18.76 674 27.83 1987–88 13.227 18.22 601 30.32 1988–89 13.991 18.18 580 31.35 1989–90 14.382 17.34 658 26.35 1990–91 16.397 18.02 565 31.89 1991–92 18.702 19.62 606 32.38 1992–93 19.88 20.22 706 28.64 1993–94 20.396 20.40 644 31.67 1994–95 20.421 19.83 699 28.37
§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if he will make it his policy that money provided by the national lottery will not be used directly or indirectly to subsidise the Royal Opera House. [29999]
§ Mr. DorrellIt is for the distributing bodies to decide on the allocation of the proceeds of the national lottery.