The Spring Review leaves questions over support for the arts and leisure-time music sector.
On 11 June, the Chancellor delivered her Spending Review which sets limits for governmental department spending for the next three years.
Having read all and any information I could on this, the only thing I can say with confidence is that no one seems entirely sure who – if any – the winners are.
Certainly there is a lack of clarity where the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is concerned: their spending is cut, but they are also, like all departments, asked for cost savings in how they run themselves – so what will the net outcome be?
But the significance of the Spending Review for the leisure-time sector is further complicated by the fact that funding to a number of departments – not just DCMS – will have an impact, e.g. the Department for Education, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, perhaps the Department for Health and Social Care (with an increased emphasis on Social Prescribing, for instance) and/or Treasury, responsible for creative tax reliefs.
In addition, as far as the arts are concerned, it’s not ‘just’ funding, say, via Arts Council England, there are also the plans to unlock dormant assets to help young people get involved in music, drama and sport; the new National Centre for Arts and Music Education; the capital investment into arts and heritage buildings; the increased funding to local authorities; and the impact of devolution (in England); and the reorganising of local government (reducing the number of tiers, creating larger unitary authorities) to consider.
Certainly, what this government say is positive: that they understand the value of the creative industries (the leisure-time music sector, as far as Making Music is concerned, is an integral part of that) to the economy, to employment, to population health and happiness. We believe what they say – but whether that means the Chancellor and her colleagues have identified the right mechanisms to support those creative industries is perhaps the question here.
A lot will become clearer and depend on the Autumn budget, where we understand also that we should be re-focussing our efforts in terms of securing creative tax relief for choirs – not something covered in the Spending Review. We will be writing to you in due course on how we think that ask is now best taken forward, because take it forward we will.
