§ Dr. Strossasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will list in tabular form all the items of Government expenditure on the arts, both direct and indirect, in the last financial year.
§ Mr. SimonSome of this information, especially the amount of local authority expenditure on the arts attracting Exchequer grant, is not available or available only with disproportionate effort and delay. The principal items of direct Government expenditure on the arts in 1957–58 were as follows:
£ 1. Arts Museums* and Galleries, including National Museum and National Library of Wales and Soane Museum 2,828,664† (Financial Secretary's Memorandum on the Estimates: Table VI) 2. Pre-eminent works of art accepted in settlement of estate duty for the national museums and galleries 1,025,000 (Charge on the National Land Fund: Section 34 (1), Finance Act, 1956) 3. Arts Council 985,000 4. Grants to other arts bodies aided from the Science and Arts Vote, and to Royal College of Art 482,134 5. Expenditure on historic buildings and their contents, and on ancient monuments: (a) from National Land Fund, under the Finance Acts, on property accepted in settlement of estate duty‡ 105,000 (b) by Minister of Works under the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act, 1953 1,169,500† £6,595,298 * Excludes British Museum (Natural History) and Science Museum. † 1957–58 Estimate figures, including supplementary estimates. Outturn figures not yet available. ‡ Excludes property accepted primarily on grounds of natural beauty rather than historic and architectural importance.