§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they agree with the chair of the Arts Council, Sir Christopher Frayling, in his Royal Society lecture 2005, that "public subsidy of the arts in this country still lags behind our European counterparts by a very wide margin"; and, if not, what the relevant comparative data indicate about the current position. [HL1544]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Lord McIntosh of Haringey)There are no up to date comparative data available for public subsidy of the arts in European countries, given the different structures of national and regional government that exist.
We have increased national funding to the arts in real terms by 60 per cent. since 1998–99, from £199 million to £367 million in 2004–05.