Memorandum from the Arts Council England
(DCH 336)
Arts Council England is the principal funding
and development agency for the arts in England. We distribute
over £500 million of Treasury and Lottery funding to the
arts as well as working to support and develop other funding sources
for the arts in England—from local authority funding to
commercial sponsorship and earned box office income. We provide
long-term funding to a network of over 1,200 arts organisations
and provide one-off project funding through our open-application
Grants for the Arts programme to many more individuals and organisations.
The funded arts sector ranges from large charitable organisations
with an international reach, like the Royal Opera House, to very
small community based organisations that rely on the enthusiasm
of volunteers.
The Draft Charities Bill proposes to introduce
a number of welcome reforms and clarifications to the current
regulatory regime governing arts related charities. The specific
inclusion of "arts, culture and heritage", in the statutory
definition of a public benefit that will establish a charitable
purpose is particularly welcome.
The Arts Council also welcomes the proposal
to create a new legal form for charities—the charitable
incorporated organisation (CIO). This would lead to a simpler
and more proportionate regulatory regime for many arts related
charities. Increasing the financial threshold at which smaller
charities have to be registered will also be good news to many
smaller amateur and voluntary arts organisations.
These reforms to charity law will address a
number of concerns and historic difficulties that many of our
smaller arts organisations have faced.
However, we do have some concerns over the implementation
of any new legislation and the scope for confusion and organisational
uncertainty. In particular, clear advice and information will
need to be available to charities to ensure that they get the
maximum benefit from the reforms and that they adopt the most
sensible charitable structure. This is particularly important
in relation to the introduction of a new legal entity of Community
Interest Company (CIC). Arts organisations will need to access
clear information and advice on which model—a CIO or a CIC—would
be most beneficial to them and their activities.
Arts Council England would welcome the opportunity
to take part in any future consultations of the Draft Bill and
its implementation.
July 2004
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