arts council holds £150 million surplus
April 17th, 2008 • research, theatre
Quote of the day as the Arts Council defends its practice of sitting atop a huge pile of public money, where the argument appears to be “we’re stockpiling slightly less of your money than we were before”:
The Arts Council stands accused of misusing lottery funds after failing to distribute more than £150 million intended for cash-strapped projects. [...]
“A lottery cash balance is not spare cash sitting in the bank. It represents committed funds not yet paid out,” she said. “We have already made significant reductions to our balance - down from £224 million in March 2004 to £152 million at March 2008.”
She added that the surplus target was £140 million, but £10 million of payments due to go out by the end of March were delayed “as the necessary legal charges were not in place”.
The spokeswoman for the Arts Council was unable to say where the £152 million had been committed, and that the accounts team would have to check that information: worth a follow-up story, perhaps?
