BECTU response to Arts Council of England Lottery Strategy Consultation

22 February 1999

On behalf of BECTU, I welcome the opportunity to respond to the consultation.

Our general views on a number of current arts funding issues were set out in our response to the Arts Paper included within last year's DCMS Comprehensive Spending Review. I therefore attach a copy of our response. While some of the issues covered are not directly relevant to the Lottery Strategy Consultation, there is nonetheless a significant amount of common ground. I would therefore ask you to take these views into account.

Some specific points worth highlighting are as follows:

1. We assume that the Arts Council policy objective of supporting arts education will inform decisions on future Lottery funding. We therefore hope you will note our concerns about theatre-in-education (paragraph 24 of our document).

2. Stabilisation is, as stated in the Consultation paper, 'a key part of the Arts Council's new funding approach to the arts'. We retain a concern about the problem of accumulated deficits in the regional theatre sector and would hope that further steps can be taken to address this (paragraph 11-12 of our document). Furthermore, we note that a common feature of stabilisation is funding for staff "restructuring", which in our experience is all too often an euphemism for redundancy. We believe that this is a wholly inappropriate use of such funding and undermines the raison de'etre of stabilisation, which should surely be to protect and retain existing arts resources including human resources. We hope that stabilisation funding will not be used in future to the detriment of staff.

3. In the 'issues for consultation' concerning capital awards, we believe that an additional matter which should be taken into account is the staffing implications of major rebuilding and refurbishment programmes. Too often, in our experience, capital programmes of this kind have resulted in job losses among, for example, theatre workers. Adequate attention to detailed and sufficiently early planned staffing levels with the aim of avoiding or minimising such losses should, in our view, be a key criterion in allocating capital awards. We urge meaningful consultation with the relevant trade union representatives rather than bare adherence to minimum statutory obligations.

4. In examining the possibility of developing 'more partnerships with the commercial sector' (point 9 of the issues for consultation), we hope you will take note of our views on business and the arts, and specifically the reservations set out in paragraphs 19 and 20 of our document.

We look forward with interest to the further progress of the consultation.