The Earl of Clancarty (CB)

My Lords, at this moment in the Government’s lifetime it feels important to make, or at least re-emphasise, some basic points. The arts, as opposed to the wider creative industries, are themselves an engine of growth. The more financial support there is from the Government, the more jobs are created and the greater the financial rewards, many times over, for the Treasury. This is aside from the democratic necessity of both the arts and arts education, which are part of the same ecology. I say this now because of the very worrying signs that this message about the importance of the arts to the industrial strategy is simply not getting through. The signs include the hugely disappointing cuts to DCMS funding, which, as has been said, are drops in the ocean in relation to overall Treasury funding; the decision to stop state funding of the international baccalaureate, which is so important for the arts and critical thinking; and the complete axing of ITT bursaries for all arts subjects, including music, which the Independent Society of Musicians described as a damaging decision just before the final report of the curriculum review. These savings are false savings; they save very little money but are potentially devastating for the arts. With the eight music and dance schools in England, we are talking about the achievement of excellence in the arts alongside an inherent commitment to social mobility, a double whammy in a good way, and a no-brainer, surely, for the £4 million funding required to enable these schools just to survive. This is yet another test case of how much this Government are willing to make that commitment to invest in the arts that the Prime Minister himself promised for both the arts and arts education 18 months ago.