§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what monitoring his Department undertakes to ensure that arts funding provides value for money; [21238]
(2) if he will make a statement on the factors used in determining the level of spending on the arts; [21237]
(3) what mechanisms are used to decide between national and local priorities in arts funding; [21678]
(4) what mechanisms he uses to allocate funding to those arts which his Department supports. [21677]
§ Mr. FisherIn considering the allocation of resources between the portfolios for which my Department is responsible we have regard to a range of factors. In respect of the arts we are assisted by advice from the Arts Council, whose responsibility it is, with the ten Regional Arts Boards, to take detailed decisions on the allocation of grant-in-aid between artforms, and to arts organisations and activities. A range of arrangements cover the Department's monitoring of spending by the Arts Council; the Financial Memorandum, the annual Funding Agreement, the corporate and business plans. The council reports each year on spending in its annual report.
§ Mr. FlightTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans he has for a fundamental review of Government spending on the arts; and if he will make a statement. [21613]
416Wdistributed by (a) the Millennium Commission, (b) the National Lottery Charities Board, (c) the National Heritage Memorial Fund, (d) the Arts Council and (e) the Sports Council to projects in, or associated with, (i) Wirral, South constituency and (ii) the Wirral; and what is the average funding distributed per constituency (1) in the Wirral, (2) in Merseyside and (3) nationally by each of those bodies. [21326]
§ Mr. BanksThe information is set out in the following table.
Information on Lottery awards can now be found on the Department's website www.lottery.culture.gov.uk. It is updated on a regular basis.
§ Mr. FisherThe terms of reference for my Department's fundamental review of expenditure were published on 24 July. Copies are available in the Libraries of the House.
§ Mr. SnapeTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what consultations he held with the Arts Council before its announcement that capital Lottery projects, with the exception of four projects of national significance, were to be capped; if the C-Plex project in West Bromwich qualifies as such a project; and what criteria the Arts Council has used to define national significance. [22139]
§ Mr. FisherDecisions on the allocation of lottery funds to the arts in England are made by the independent distributing body, the Arts Council of England. The Arts Council did not consult me before its recent announcement on future capital awards.