RESPONSE

Richards Commission – Response from the Arts Council of Wales

This response is not intended to address the breadth of issues being considered by the Commission, but rather focuses on some specific issues regarding currently non-devolved powers which impinge on the work of the Arts Council and also more broadly, particularly in the field of Lottery distribution.
The Arts Council of Wales was formed following the dissolution of the Arts Council of Great Britain and this has allowed for a concentrated focus on the arts in Wales, which might otherwise be marginalised in a UK context. The devolution of most artistic matters to the National Assembly has greatly assisted the development of the arts in Wales, and has created a clear policy framework within which the Council operates.
However, in addition to distributing funding on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government, the Arts Council is also a Lottery distributor and responsibility for the lottery is not devolved in practice, it has proved possible to achieve considerable levels of synergy between the funding streams and to operate within a single strategic framework and within a single set of grant schemes. Nonetheless, it is evident that the Lottery is driven by UK government priorities and that the synergy would be greater if there were a single framework of government framework which could be achieved through the devolution of responsibility for Lottery distribution to the National Assembly.
The recent review of the Lottery has highlighted the confusion caused by the current arrangements, with consultation tending to exclude non-London based distributors and the devolved administrations. This is not unexpected as the London based distributors clearly have links with government in Whitehall in the ordinary course of their work, which is not the case with those based in devolved administrations. A similar issue regarding consultation arose with the Licensing Bill which is currently being considered by Parliament. This has significant implications for Welsh culture, is a non-devolved area, and the consultation tended to focus on England.
There are also issues of accountability which particularly affect the accounting officers in the Arts Council of Wales and Sports Council of Wales, who are separately accountable to the National Assembly, and DCMS. It has proved difficult to establish precisely where accountability lies, and this is evidently unhelpful and potentially problematic.
Devolving responsibility for overseeing Lottery distribution would allow for the creation of a single strategic framework, and ensure that prioritisation of Lottery spending complemented other Assembly priorities. It would ensure that particular issues affecting Wales, including the use and promotion of the Welsh language, could be fully taken into account. It would also resolve the current fuzzy accountability, and ensure that consultation took appropriate account of issues specific to Wales.