§ Mr. Ifor Daviesasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how much is the total increase in grants to the Arts Council of Great Britain for the year 1972–73; and what is the proportional increase.
§ Mr. van StraubenzeeIn 1971–72 the total grant to the Arts Council of Great Britain was £11,900,000, which was made up of £11,130,000 recurrent grant and £770,000 capital grant. For 1972–73 the total grant proposed for the Arts Council is £13,670,000 made up of £12,900,000 recurrent grant and £770,000 capital grant. Thus the increase proposed in the total grant is £1,770,000; an increase of 14.9 per cent. Last year the grant to the Arts Council included a sum of £680,000 from the once-for-all grant for the arts of £1 million announced in October, 1970 (Cmnd 4515). The basic recurrent grant of £10,450,000 included a sum of £450,000 to meet deficits from previous years in that year. The figure to compare with the £12,900,000 recurrent grant in 1972–73 is therefore £10 million in 1971–72, or an increase of 29 per cent.