Olympic Games 2012: Arts Funding

15:17:00

Lord Sheldon
asked Her Majesty’s Government:

What is their latest estimate of changes in the level of support for the arts as a consequence of the rising cost of the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Lord Evans of Temple Guiting
My Lords, the Government announced on 15 March that Arts Council England would contribute an additional £62.9 million towards the cost of the Olympics, bringing its total contribution, subject to parliamentary approval in both Houses, to £112.5 million, spread over four years. This means that, based on current projections, there should still be £500 million of new lottery money for Arts Council England between 2009 and 2012. Existing lottery commitments will not be affected.

Lord Sheldon
My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply, but is he aware of the consequences of the budget for the 2012 Olympics, which has risen from £3.4 billion in 2005 to £9.3 billion now, and that Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund have had to contribute almost £400 million? Is he also aware that, although the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has been cobbled together, with culture having little connection with sport, it must be wrong for the arts to lose out to sport as a result of the mishandling of the department?

Lord Evans of Temple Guiting
My Lords, may I first dispute the figures given by my noble friend? The lottery will contribute £2.15 billion, and Arts Council England will contribute £112 million. I do not make a distinction between sports and the arts; they are both of enormous importance to our country. It is of great significance that the Olympics are coming to our country, and we must celebrate that. There has been a change in funding figures. We feel that everything is now absolutely under control, and that the impact on the arts world will not be as significant as some people are trying to tell us.

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury
My Lords, does the Minister agree that constancy is essential in arts funding, and that, when this Government demand that the arts sector is disciplined about setting itself targets, they should not then summarily pull the financial rug from underneath it?

Lord Evans of Temple Guiting
My Lords, I absolutely agree with the noble Baroness that consistency is very important, but I draw her attention to the fact that 10 years ago the Arts Council budget was £173 million; it is now £412 million. An enormous amount of money is being spent on the arts. The Government will do everything that they can to minimise the impact on arts organisations because of this diversion to the Olympic fund, and I am sure that we will be able to discuss many of these issues at greater length in the debate tomorrow.

Lord Inglewood
My Lords, further to the Minister’s reply to the noble Lord, Lord Sheldon, are we right to understand that his remarks were an admission from the Government that expenditure on the Olympics was out of control? If that is not what he meant, what did he mean?

Lord Evans of Temple Guiting
My Lords, I meant that when the Government put in their bid for the Olympics, they used a set of figures that did not include the cost of regenerating the area where the Olympics are to be held. The Government feel that this will be an important legacy of the Games and is an investment well worth making. The essential thing is that the figures we have now cover everything. There is a contingency so that if costs do rise—we do not anticipate that they will—they will be taken care of from the contingency.

Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall
My Lords, can my noble friend confirm that within the Olympics budget a significant amount of money is set aside for the cultural aspect of the Olympics? Can he further confirm that in terms of the overall position of arts funding in this country, the outcome of the forthcoming CSR is considerably more important than any raid on the lottery that is going towards the Olympics?

Lord Evans of Temple Guiting
My Lords, to answer my noble friend’s second question first, the spending review is causing some anxiety in relation to this diversion of moneys to the Olympic Games. Obviously, I cannot say anything about that. The Chancellor of the Exchequer made an extremely positive speech in Brighton last week about the arts. Yesterday, my right honourable friend made a speech in Liverpool, where she announced the preliminary details of the Cultural Olympiad, suggesting that £40 million would be set aside—which she hoped to have doubled—to encourage arts as a parallel to the Olympic Games over the next four years. It has always been the intention that a very powerful arts programme should run alongside the Olympic Games. That should encourage the arts world.

Lord Swinfen
My Lords, what is the total amount diverted from charities to the Olympic Games?

Lord Evans of Temple Guiting
My Lords, one of the problems is how we define “charities”. There has been an agreement with the Big Lottery Fund that resources for voluntary and community sector activities will be protected. This means that the sector will still receive the amount implied by the Big Lottery’s earlier commitment of around £2 billion, and the NCVO has welcomed this.