To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) how much was spent by each (a) senior manager and (b) board member of Arts Council England in providing hospitality in each of the last three years; (310422)

The issues raised are the responsibility of Arts Council England. The information requested is not held centrally by the Department.

Accordingly, I have asked the chief executive of Arts Council England to write direct to my hon. Friend. Copies of the reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to whom the administration of Arts Council England is accountable for the operational exercise of the Council’s functions; and if he will make a statement. (310449)

The Chief Executive of Arts Council England is ultimately responsible for the operational exercise of the Arts Council’s functions. As the accounting officer, he is responsible for safeguarding the public funds for which he has charge, for ensuring propriety and regularity in the handling of public funds and for the day-to-day operations and management of Arts Council England.

As principal accounting officer, the permanent secretary must be satisfied that the framework of internal controls applied by the Arts Council conforms to the requirements of regularity, propriety and good financial management.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the cost to the public purse has been of each restructuring of Arts Council England in each year since 1994; and if he will make a statement. (301896)

[holding answer 26 November 2009]: Since 1994, Arts Council England restructuring has resulted in a total saving of £50,464,000 with further savings of £6,500,000 per annum from 2010-11 resulting from the current organisational review.

The table shows a breakdown of the cost of each restructure. These figures include the provisions made for the costs of staff redundancies and other direct costs associated with those proposals.