§ Mr. DoddsTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what conditions of(a) copyright and (b) royalty payments are attached to grant aid awarded by the (i) Arts Council of Northern Ireland, (ii) Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure and (iii) Ulster-Scots Agency. [173188]
§ Angela SmithThe Arts Council of Northern Ireland does not attach conditions relating to(a) copyright or (b) royalty payments to any award. The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure does not award grant aid for the publication of creative writing in Ulster-Scots. Government support for the arts in Northern Ireland is disbursed chiefly through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
The Ulster-Scots Agency has stipulated conditions relating to copyright and "royalty" payments in the letters of offer it issues on grant applications. With regard to copyright the Agency has attempted to ensure that it can use material it has grant aided, for example in promotions or on the Agency website. With regard to royalty payments the Agency has attempted to ensure that grants it has made which have a commercial aspect (such as to publishers who will sell books printed with Agency assistance) contain a 'claw back' clause, whereby a percentage of the income from such sales is returned to the Agency. Both of these practices are currently under review.