Communications and Digital Committee
14 April 2026
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Communications and Digital Committee House of Lords
00:03 - 00:52
Speaker 1
Good afternoon everyone. Baroness Hodger, I'm delighted to welcome you to this meeting of the Communications and Digital Committee. Thank you for coming to speak to us. Now we very much look forward to discussing the findings of your report on Arts Council England, which was published towards the end of last year and was very well received across the sector. It's always heartening, isn't it, to to have that good response?
And the government has now published its response, as has Arts Council England. The government's response, I believe, was very positive. I'm sure you'll you'll tell us what you think, but, accepted all the recommendations you put forward and proposed a fast timetable for reform. So I'd like to start the discussion today by asking what actions do you feel the Government and Arts Council England should prioritize when implementing your recommendations?
00:52 - 02:18
Speaker 2
Right. Well, it is a massive programme for change, but there are two important things that we confirmed. One is we should have an Arts Council, so there should be non departmental body that is responsible for delivering arts funding, and we should absolutely preserve the arm's length principle. In fact, we think it should be restated and and I think, really, it's my report, I think it should be restated and reaffirmed. That a vital safeguard ensuring creativity isn't stifled by political whim.
So those are the things that we think safe. But there is a massive program of change. And I think just dealing with that first first, that will require sustained determination and leadership from within the Arts Council. And during my inquiry, I met a lot of people who weren't who worked for the Arts Council who were very keen to promote change, you know, were very willing to sort of grasp the agenda of change and recognized that there'd been a sort of loss of trust really in the way the Arts Council operated by its clients. But there needs now to be at the leadership level a real determination to grasp the agenda, not just to pay lip service to it, but to grasp that agenda and to and and and it from the top.
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