THE ARTS: FUTURE FUNDING (Hansard, 11 April 1984)

The Minister of State, Privy Council Office and Minister for the Arts (The Earl of Gowrie)

The Government have taken decisions on the arts which modify and extend the original proposals as set out in the White PaperStreamlining the Cities (Cmnd. 9063) and detailed in their consultation paper published simultaneously last October. The original proposals 1269WA were to fund nine performing bodies centrally; to attach five major museums and art galleries to appropriate national institutions; to transfer the South Bank complex to the Arts Council; and to leave the remaining arts activities to be supported by the borough or district councils, either singly or in co-operation.

I have received over 600 representations on these proposals from art bodies, local authorities and honourable Members. Two main anxieties were expressed, and the Government have decided to meet them both. The first was the undesirability of linking museums and galleries with national institutions. This will not now be pursued. The second related to the large number of arts activities which are important to the life of their regions and are mostly located in inner city areas. The view was strongly expressed that the cost of replacing GLC and metropolitan county support for such activities would prove too great a burden for the district or borough councils concerned. The Government accept that there is some substance in this.

I remain convinced of the value and importance of local funding. Boroughs and districts will be expected to make their contribution. This applies particularly to local activities within their own boundaries, but some will wish to go further. A lively arts environment brings economic as well as social and cultural benefits to the community, and each tier of government should recognise this with an appropriate level of support. However, the concentration within the metropolitan areas of arts institutions of wider significance calls for special measures going beyond those announced in the White Paper.

The Government will therefore make available £34 million in additional central funding in 1986–7, and equivalent sums in later years, to be used in England in the following ways. The sum of £16 million will be made available to the Arts Council. This will enable the Arts Council to look after the needs of the bodies identified in the consultation paper, including the South Bank, and of the other major performing bodies at present receiving grants from the GLC and metropolitan counties.

While individual funding decisions will be a matter for the Arts Council, the Government will expect that, in order to ease the transition, most of the £ 16 million will be spent in the GLC/MCC areas, at least for the first few years. The arrangements originally proposed for the South Bank remain unchanged; the Government will make over the site and its buildings to the Arts Council for the complex to be administered as a single entity. Further discussions on the details will be held with the Arts Council and the bodies concerned.

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The sum of £ 1 million will be provided to the British Film Institute for the support of film activities at present assisted by the GLC and metropolitan counties. The figure of £17 million will be provided to meet the cost of the major museums and art galleries. The revised arrangements will be as follows:

(a) As originally proposed, the funding of the Museum of London will be shared between the Government and the Corporation of the City of London;
(b) The Geffrye and Horniman Museums will devolve to the successor body to ILEA;
(c) It is proposed that an amount equivalent to the present Greater Manchester Council's contributions to the Manchester Museum and the Whitworth Art Gallery should be channelled through the University Grants Committee and the University of Manchester;
(d) There will be central funding for the Greater Manchester Museum of Science and Industry; the London Historic House Museums— Kenwood, Marble Hill House and Rangers House; and for the Merseyside County Museum Service, the Walker Art Gallery and its outstations;
(e) For the other Metropolitan Counties such as Tyne and Wear, the Government hope that the district councils will co-operate to keep an integrated museum service where this has been established. In order to assist in this, some central funds will be made available.

Apart from (a), (b) and (c) above, where specific arrangements have been indicated, precise methods of funding will be discussed with the Museums and Galleries Commission and the parties concerned in the light of such views as may be expressed in the forthcoming report of the Select Committee on Education, Science and the Arts. The expenditure consequences will be contained within the Government's published plans for total public expenditure.