A THREAT to the structure of the Scottish Arts Council and its
relationship with the Government was foreshadowed by Ministers
yesterday.
National Heritage Secretary Peter Brooke outlined in the Commons a
series of proposals which indicate that the Government is to take a more
interventionist line with the Arts Council in England.
On the face of it, these do not affect Scotland but, under part of the
''Taking Stock'' exercise, the Scottish Office will assume direct
responsibility for the Scottish Arts Council from next year -- and the
same conditions are set to apply.
Scottish Secretary Ian Lang said yesterday: ''The matters covered in
Mr Brooke's statement on the future of the Arts Council are issues which
will figure in the preliminary discussions I am having with the Scottish
Arts Council in the period leading up to the transfer of responsibility
for the council to me, which takes place next April.''
Mr Brooke said he was reaffirming his commitment to the ''arm's length
principle'' for arts funding, under which it was for the Arts Council to
steer the general direction of artistic policy and to decide the
allocation of resources.
However, he added that he would be ''exploring ways in which the
council's accountability could be improved.''
The Minister has asked the Arts Council to conduct a review of the
entire range of its activities over the next two to three months and, in
addition, has asked it assume an illustrative benchmark reduction of 10%
in gross administration costs. Mr Brooke also wants to reduce the
council's membership from 20 to 16.
He told the House that his conclusions followed a study by Price
Waterhouse into the structure of the Arts Council of Great Britain last
year, and sought to persuade MPs that the Government was intent on
retaining artistic freedom.
However, the Minister said: ''With that degree of independence for the
Arts Council in the use of taxpayers' money comes also the
responsibility for explaining its decisions fully and clearly, not least
to this House. I shall be exploring with the chairman ways in which
current levels of accountability might be improved.''
Labour's spokesman, Mrs Ann Clwyd, said the Arts Council had done a
notable job over the last 50 years and should not be allowed to suffer a
''slow death by a thousand cuts.'' Actress Glenda Jackson, Labour MP for
Hampstead and Highgate, said: ''How can the Government's stated aims of
presenting the best of our arts to the most of our people possibly be
carried out if the Arts Council proposes to close 10 regional theatres?
''If we have no regional theatres, we will never have any London
theatres.''
The Scottish Arts Council last night said it had received no
indication from either the Scottish Office or the Department of National
Heritage to indicate that its operations were to be reviewed.
''We are always eager to minimise overheads in order to maximise
grants to arts organisations and we have kept down our overheads to 8.2%
of
total spending, which is considerably better than any of the regional
arts boards in England,'' a spokesman said.
''Most people will acknowledge that we have a good record.''
The Arts Council in England welcomed a ''victory for common sense''
after Mr Brooke rejected proposals to cut the jobs of dozens of its
staff.
Arts Council secretary-general Anthony Everitt said: ''It's good news
for the Arst Council and the arts community. Mr Brooke has listened to
the many voices in the arts world which have been raised in anxiety
about one aspect or another of the Price Waterhouse recommendations.''
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