Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (): Further to the written
statement made by my Right Honourable Friend the Member for Mid
Bedfordshire () on 23 February 2022(opens in a new
tab), I would like to update the House on Arts Council
England’s (ACE) 2023-26 Investment Programme. The provisional
outcome of this competitive funding round has been communicated
to applicants, and will see 990 ‘National Portfolio
Organisations’ and ‘Investment Principles Support Organisations’
offered £446 million per annum in funding over the next three
years.
These provisional offers fulfil the ambitious and challenging
targets set for Arts Council England by my predecessor.
Specifically - including National Lottery funding - these offers
would see nearly an extra £45 million in each of 2023-24 and
2024-25 invested outside of London, rising to nearly £53 million
extra in 2025-26. This will result in 215 new organisations being
funded outside of London (a net increase of 135 organisations).
This extra investment outside London is supported largely by the
overall uplifts agreed by the government at the Comprehensive
Spending Review, and Arts Council England decisions about its use
of National Lottery funding.
DCMS worked with Arts Council England to agree on a list of 109
Levelling Up for Culture Places, which are areas identified as
having historically low cultural engagement. The provisional
funding offers that have been announced will increase the number
of funded organisations in Levelling Up for Culture Places by 79%
(from 107 to 192 organisations) and will increase the level of
investment in Levelling Up for Culture Places by 95%, or £21.2
million per annum. This funding will play a vital role in
fulfilling the government’s intention to tackle cultural
disparities, and ensure that everyone, wherever they live, has
the opportunity to enjoy the incredible benefits of culture in
their lives.
Funding agreements will be finalised over the next few months, so
are subject to change, but alongside the levelling up progress
that has been made, I would like to highlight the following:
-
10% of all Library Services in England are now National
Portfolio Organisations;
-
20% more organisations will be funded to deliver work for
children and young people, with a total of 79% of the
portfolio delivering activity specifically for children and
young people, up by 6 percentage points from the 18-22
portfolio;
-
Improved diversity on Boards;
-
Overall more days of cultural activity provided.
Finally, it should be noted that these are preliminary decisions
which will be negotiated further with organisations. Arts Council
England will need to work closely with organisations to review
the aims previously submitted in their applications for this
programme to ensure they are still achievable in the current
economic context. In particular, my predecessor asked all
organisations receiving more than £2 million per annum to work to
increase their outreach to Levelling Up for Culture Places by 15%
(as a cohort). Given the economic challenges, this target will
not apply for this funding round, noting the considerable
outreach work these organisations are already doing.
Arts Council England will also support organisations leaving the
portfolio by providing transition funding, and I am glad to
inform the House that they have been able to more than double the
budget for this. This means that any organisation currently in
the portfolio, but due to leave, will have the opportunity to
apply for funding to support them until next October while they
adjust to their changed income.
I am sure members across the House will be interested to see the
outcomes in their local area, and I would direct them to the Arts
Council website where all the provisional offers are listed.
