§ Mr. Murphyasked the Minister for the Arts, if he will make a statement on the achievement of the Office of the Arts and Libraries since May 1979 in terms of business sponsorship of the arts.
§ Mr. LuceSince 1979, successive Ministers for the Arts have taken initiatives to encourage a higher level of business sponsorship of the arts; these include setting up a Committee of Honour, establishing a programme of regional visits to meet local business men and the introduction in late 1984 of the highly successful business sponsorship incentive scheme which has already produced £11.12 million new money for the arts and 400 first time sponsors. We have also supported the expansion of the Association for Business Sponsorship of the Arts to provide regional administrators and an office in Scotland. All these initiatives have contributed to the increase in sponsorship nationwide from £4.6 million in 1979 to over £25 million in 1986 and the figure is still rising.