GOVERNMENT FUNDING OF THE ARTS

That this House is distressed to learn that the Government has decided to significantly reduce public investment in UK arts and broadcasting budgets; is especially shocked because the nation's creative industries have beenshown latelyto be the country's greatest success story providing numerous examples of Britain punching way above its weight in artistic endeavour and production, best seen by the latest DCMS figures which estimate the economic contribution of the performing arts alone to be around 3.7per cent. of the UK's gross domestic productper annum in terms of gross value added, with that Department's own sectoral coverage also indicating that music alone contributes nearly 5 billion per annum to the UK economy; and calls on the Governmentinstead totake stock of the facts which show the reality that, despite the nation's arts budget being tiny compared with other sectors, less than half a pint of milk per person per week, it manages to employ nearly two million people in the creative and cultural industries, all of whomwill be put at risk if its expressed options are pursued.