Councils help give Scotland's arts more cash than rest of UK

But spending per head is sharply higher in Scotland than in other parts of the UK.

The survey by the university’s Centre for Cultural Policy Research points to some critical issues for the forthcoming Scottish Executive review of cultural policy.

One is that Scotland’s advantage over the rest of the UK depends heavily on spending by local authorities. Scotland was the only UK country where local authorities spent more on the arts than central government.

There are huge differences between councils. Other recent surveys have shown that while Glasgow spends 21 per head on the arts and Edinburgh about 15, South Lanarkshire sets aside just 88p and Midlothian only 50p.

The issue of local-authority spending is thought likely to be high on the agenda of the Scottish Executive’s new culture commission, with the current chairman of the Scottish Arts Council, James Boyle, at its head.

Local authorities in Scotland - unlike their English counterparts - have a statutory duty to make "adequate" provision for the arts.

There is no exact definition as to what "adequate" means. The Executive’s arts policy, however, puts strong emphasis on universal "cultural rights".

The percentage of total public expenditure that goes on the arts has not changed since Labour took power in 1997.

"It has been half of 1 per cent since the mid-1990s, and I think that will be a real test of the executive’s commitment to the cultural review, whether that proportion is going to change," said Susan Galloway, research fellow on the survey.

The Scottish Executive was bullish in its reaction to the figures yesterday.

"Cash for culture went from 121 million in 2000-1 to 160 million in 2005-6. That’s an extra 39 million per year, a 32 per cent increase over five years, a real-terms increase of 18 per cent," said a spokeswoman.

"If you compare it, that is more than is spent in England and Wales," she said. "The fact is that we have done a lot of really good things that we can talk about. This is a realistic study that recognises how much we do for the arts."

Arts spending has been rising, the study shows, but Scottish Opera, struggling with heavy debts and the prospect of major redundancies, has been on standstill funding for three years. The company says its expenses have been surging.

Central-government spending on the arts in Scotland ran to 73 million in 2001-2, the last year covered by the survey - against a total expenditure figure of 32 billion. Local- government arts spending was 83 million.

Estimated arts expenditure accounted for 0.49 per cent of public spending in Scotland, 0.39 per cent in Wales, 0.36 per cent in England and 0.31 per cent in Northern Ireland.

In England, by contrast, the figure for central government was 526 million and for local spending 361 million, against a total spend of 246 billion.

Total public spending on the arts per head in Scotland was 31, against only 18 in England, 21 in Northern Ireland and 23 in Wales. Local authorities in Scotland spent more than twice as much per head (16) as their English counterparts (7).

It is often claimed that a lack of funding and opportunities in Scotland have driven talent south.

The actors’ union, Equity, has been campaigning for Scotland to spend 1 per cent on the arts. The union’s Scottish chief, Loren Boswell, said: "All of our arts organisations - the orchestras, theatres, galleries - are operating on incredibly taut budgets.

"Because we’re a small nation, that distorts things. The UK or England can put down a small percentage that produces a large amount of money."

The researcher, Ms Galloway, said the survey showed that much of the increase in funding nominally for the Scottish Arts Council has been "ring-fenced" by the executive for particular projects.

The executive’s grip on where the money is spent has already been strengthened.

They include the cash for the new National Theatre of Scotland and for music tuition in schools.

"If you look at the basic Arts Council grant, that has not been growing," she said.