House of Commons
Monday 14 October 1996
The House met at half-past Two o'clock
PRAYERS
[Madam Speaker in the Chair]
DEATH OF A MEMBER
Madam Speaker: I regret to have to report to the House the death of Terry Patchett Esq., Member for Barnsley, East. I am sure that hon. Members of all parties will join me in mourning the loss of a colleague and in extending our sympathy to the family and friends of the hon. Gentleman.
Oral Answers to Questions
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Museums and Galleries
1. Mr. Mans: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how much her Department is spending in the current financial year on capital projects at museums and galleries. [37920]
8. Mr. Pope:
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will make a statement on the funding of museums and galleries. [37930]
The Secretary of State for National Heritage (Mrs. Virginia Bottomley):
The 17 museums and galleries sponsored by my Department will receive over £205 million in grant in aid. The lottery has made 139 awards totalling over £250 million to capital projects at museums and galleries. The Government's position on the funding of museums and galleries was recently set out in "Treasures in Trust". Copies were sent to hon. Members and placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Mans:
Has any of that money gone to service museums and, in particular, to any museum in Lancashire?
Mr. Skinner:
It has all gone to Gilbert and Sullivan.
Mrs. Bottomley:
I hope that it will be possible in due course for lottery money to go to Gilbert and Sullivan and the D'Oyly Carte, but its arm's-length relationship with the Arts Council is not a matter for me to comment on. I am sure that many hon. Members would favour that proposal strongly.
I can tell my hon. Friend the Member for Wyre (Mr. Mans) that a substantial amount has gone to service museums, including £6.5 million to the imperial war museum's new American air museum at Duxford and £61,000 to the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment museum in Lancaster.
Mr. Pope:
The Secretary of State mentioned "Treasures in Trust", which made no reference to the introduction of compulsory competitive tendering in local authority museums. Can she assure the House that CCT will not be introduced?
Mrs. Bottomley:
There are no plans to introduce CCT in local authority museums. The document is an excellent framework for the standards for which we should all be looking in museums, ranging from the great national museums to the equally important local museums. It is a timely account and a spur to action which I hope will unite the House.
Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman:
May I thank my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the welcome donation to the museum in Lancaster? It is a superb museum already, but it will be infinitely better when it is
Madam Speaker:
Order. This is Question Time. I did not hear a question.
Dame Elaine Kellett-Bowman:
I said, "Would she accept my thanks?"
Madam Speaker:
Order. That is hardly the sort of pertinent question that we get in this House. If the Secretary of State wishes to make a brief comment, I will accept it but I would like to hear questions in future.
Mrs. Bottomley:
I accept the thanks of my hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster (Dame E. Kellett-Bowman), and I should add that that museum uses a lot of volunteers. Volunteers are the life-blood of museums, which are the focal point of many communities. I hope that the additional resources from the national lottery will lead to greater use of museums by both young and old.
Mr. Fisher:
Do not these figures reveal the truth--that the Government are using the receipts from the national lottery to conceal and compensate for their inadequacy in meeting the capital needs of the galleries and museums for which the Secretary of State is responsible? Are they not covering up for the past 17 years of neglect? Did not the Prime Minister promise that lottery money would not be used in that way? Is that not yet another broken promise from the Prime Minister?
Mrs. Bottomley:
One of the most enjoyable features of recent months has been watching the Labour party's agony as it tries to cope with the formidable success of the national lottery, which has produced more money than anyone expected. If Labour had had its way, it would have increased operating costs, reduced the amount of money going to good causes and meddled with the distribution. I am delighted that, in addition to the £205 million given to the key 17 museums, a further £250 million has been provided by the lottery. As the document sets out, another £500 million is likely to be provided between now and the end of the century.
3. Mr. Simon Coombs:
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many tourists visited Britain in the first six months of (a) 1996 and (b) 1995. [37924]
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley:
The latest figures indicate that there were 11.8 million visits to the UK by overseas tourists in the first half of this year. That is an increase of nearly 14 per cent. on the 10.4 million visitors to the UK during the same period in 1995.
Mr. Coombs:
I thank my right hon. Friend for that encouraging answer, which demonstrates once again that a small island like Britain can hold up its head and compete successfully with the fine weather giants of the tourism industry. What lessons does she think that we
Mrs. Bottomley:
My hon. Friend, who is extremely knowledgeable on these matters, is right: Euro 96 was a formidable success. Our earnings for overseas tourism in June this year were £1.2 billion--20 per cent. higher than for the same month last year. I have asked David Quarmby, chairman of the British Tourist Authority, and the English tourist board to chair a group with people from the sports, museums and arts worlds to find out how we can do more to promote British tourism by building on many of our great sports and arts events.
Dr. John Cunningham:
In respect of the right hon. Lady's recent activities on tourism, does she recall that the day before the House rose in July the Prime Minister told us
Mrs. Bottomley:
Anyone who thought the only way to speak to me was to pay £500 would be wasting a great deal of money. It is well understood that I am only too easy to meet in any number of settings, particularly in the tourism industry, where there is huge potential. The meeting was very successful. It is my understanding that if one wants to go to one of the Labour party's nosh-ups in Park lane, one has to pay £1,000.
Mr. Gale:
Tourists to the United Kingdom in 1995 and 1996 will in the main have been spared exposure to the sort of hard-core pornography in our hotels that they might experience elsewhere on the continent. What steps will my right hon. Friend take to ensure that the rest of the residents of the United Kingdom are also spared such exposure?
Mrs. Bottomley:
I have already made an order proscribing a recent porn satellite channel; that makes it a criminal offence to sell equipment and smart cards or to market or provide any programme material for such channels. With the huge development of cable, satellite and television channels in this country we will not be a centre for filth and pornography and I intend to take every action to make that clear.
4. Mr. Kirkwood:
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what funds she provides for the support of rugby union. [37925]
The Minister of State, Department of National Heritage (Mr. Iain Sproat):
The Sports Council, which is funded by my Department, provided £125,558 in
Mr. Kirkwood:
The Minister's well-known concern for and interest in the game are acknowledged. I have even seen him recently at Border Sevens competitions and that is welcome--I am sure that it was in the course of his ministerial duties. However, the large amount of new money that has found its way into the game has come in at a national level. None has reached the junior clubs or the district level of the sport. The welcome work that the Government have done in creating new opportunities through academies of sport and all the rest has been at the elite end of the sports world. The sums that the Minister announced are welcome, but can he not do more and find more resources to produce extra facilities for the junior clubs and the district level, which after all is the level at which future stars are bred?
Mr. Sproat:
I will certainly use my good offices, such as they are. Even as we speak, the home countries rugby football unions are discussing with the television authorities the money that they might get from televising games. I agree with the hon. Gentleman about wanting as much as possible of that money to go to youth and district sport and about ensuring that clubs that he knows well, such as Hawick, Gala, Jed Forest, Melrose and Kelso, do not fall out of the game because they are in towns with small populations. I hope that the professional game would never drive out their great tradition of rugby.
Sir Donald Thompson:
Does my hon. Friend agree that the best thing that he could do would be to knock a few heads in rugby union together? Both the professional sports association and the RFU have seriously embarrassed us in the past year. Will my hon. Friend take note of what the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire (Mr. Kirkwood) said and ensure that the money goes to the grass-roots until the big boys learn how to behave themselves?
Mr. Sproat:
I will do everything I can that is proper to ensure that the governing bodies know the view of the Government--and, indeed, of the House--that as much as possible of the money that they get from television sports rights should go into youth sport.
"No one can buy access to Ministers"?--[Official Report, 23 July 1996; Vol. 282, c. 144.]
Why then did the right hon. Lady charge tourism industry people £500 each to have breakfast with her last week in Bournemouth? The letter sent to people clearly states:
"For £500 you would be able to discuss issues of concern to you . . . over breakfast with Virginia Bottomley and members of her National Heritage team."
Is that proper? Does it not make the Prime Minister's statement to the House in July absolute rubbish?
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