Orders of the Day — Grants for the Arts

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 5 February 1970.

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Photo of Dr David Kerr Dr David Kerr , Wandsworth Central 12:00, 5 February 1970

Had I been fortunate enough to be called earlier, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I had intended to assure you that I would resume my seat in 20 minutes. I would like to offer you my assurance that I shall indeed sit down at 10 o'clock, if not a little earlier.

This has been a varied debate. It has shown, among other things, the contribution which women make to the work of the House. I am always lost in admiration for my right hon. Friend the Minister of State, never so much as tonight when she seemed to throw away any notes provided by her Department and spoke so magnificently off the cuff, making so many of us, myself included, feel that when we speak we are dragging our verbal hobnail boots through treacle.

It was a remarkable performance by her, but added to that was the remarkable performance of my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mrs. Renée Short) in producing what I presume the Times Literary Supplement would call …a weighty volume without which… Together they might prompt the hon. Member for Carshalton (Captain W. Elliot) to address himself to the need for more lady orchestral conductors. I thought that that was a singular lack on his part. He seemed to concentrate only on the men.

The tenor of the debate has shown what an enormous variation of approach exists, at least what could be heard through the screech of grinding constituency axes. I urge the Leader of the House to consider carefully the establishment of a new Select Committee which would more satisfactorily shoulder the burden which has already been shouldered ably and effectively by the Estimates Sub-Committee. That new body could keep under continuous review our progress in the arts. This suggestion may not commend itself to many Ministers. However, my right hon. Friend who always welcomes nagging to enable her to further her work, might welcome the establishment of such a Select Committee. I hope that she will give some thought to the possibility of the excellent work that has been done by the Estimates Sub-Committee being usefully continued in this way.

Paragraph 116 of the Report deals with the British Film Institute, of which I have the honour to be a governor. It is an interesting body of which to be a member, and it is noteworthy that the Arts Council's work outside the sphere of films is paralleled closely by the work done by the B.F.I.

Some of the details of the work of the B.F.I. contained in the Report are symbolic and characteristic of what the Arts Council is doing in other spheres. For example, the question of grants is dealt with rather cavalierly in paragraph 116, which tends rather to dismiss the work of the B.F.I. and says: Unlike the Arts Council, it is not primarily a grant-awarding body"— and adds, rather as an after-thought (though it does make grants … The B.F.I. certainly does make grants and most important of its grant-making functions is the establishment of regional film theatres. Here I must pay tribute to the efforts of my right hon. Friend in spreading artistic activity and appreciation away from London and into the provinces.

To give a progress report since the Estimates Committee's Report was published, there are now 33 regional film theatres open and another six are to be opened in 1970–71. About £100,000 of capital grant is made available annually by the B.F.I. towards the establishment of these regional film theatres, and each year we subsidise their running to the tune of more than £30,000, thereby catering for an audience of about 800,000 We work throughout with the collaboration of local authorities; and since much has been said about the efforts of local authorities in the arts, I am glad to add my tribute to those efforts.

We naturally have the occasional failure. This is regrettable and, in the context of the three-year rolling programme, I must tell the House of an unfortunate experience which we had at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 1966, the B.F.I. gave an undertaking to contribute £100,000 to develop a film theatre there as part of a big arts centre. The city authorities were to quadruple that contribution over a period of time. Unfortunately, in 1969, owing to the pressure of financial shortages, we had to withdraw from that project—at a time which made things extremely embarrassing for Newcastle-upon-Tyne and even more embarrassing in some respect for the B.F.I.