asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will list those organisations regularly funded by Arts Council England that were informed in December 2007 that, subject to an appeal process, their funding would either be completely removed or reduced by over 30 per cent from April. [HL1226]

The Arts Council operates at arm’s length from the Government and decisions about which arts organisations to fund are entirely for it. It has said the following in response to requests to see the names of the organisations listed in its proposals:

“Our proposals for non-renewal of funding cannot be made available until our National and Regional Councils make final decisions.. This information is considered confidential and commercially sensitive during the response period. This is especially so in the case of a recommendation that might be overturned by the National Council or a Regional Council. Regularly funded organisations who have a right to respond to our recommendation, should be able to do so freely without fear that our intention to reduce or stop their funding is potentially unnecessarily, and without their consent, released into the public domain. A full announcement will be made at the beginning of February.”