§ 19. Mr. WatersonTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what is her policy for the Arts Council; and if she will make a statement. [33677]
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe Government set the legal, financial and institutional framework within which the Arts Council of England operates. Ministers make appointments to the council and determine the overall structure of arts funding and management.
Within this framework, the council's role, in accordance with its royal charter, is to develop and improve the knowledge, understanding and practice of the arts, and to increase the accessibility of the arts to the public. It achieves these objectives through grants to individual arts organisations from public expenditure and from its share of the proceeds of the national lottery.