Speeches by Hinds.

“Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to have heard the last few speeches, which made very important points, but even with five minutes, time is still short for me. I will speak briefly about a couple of aspects of social media and mobile phones. On social media, let us get on with it. We have had this issu…”

“I think that would try Madam Deputy Speaker’s patience. Today is the day that we can take action on those two points.”

“Yes, combined authorities.”

“It just won’t.”

“I am sorry; I should not interrupt.”

“I was going to ask more about tax. I want to come on to the so-called visitor levy or bed tax. This might also fall into the bracket of something that was in the Hodge report. Notwithstanding that you said you agree with all the recommendations of that report, I am not sure you have explicitly endorsed the idea of a be…”

“More on tax: obviously you are an important cultural organisation and have an important role in promoting access to culture. In discussions with your sponsoring Department, do you talk about your role in economic growth, employment and export earnings?”

“That is because they think they are all going to get some of the financial benefits.”

“I do not think it is something that Baroness Hodge made up. She reports having heard from a lot of people through the arts world that it is the case. Why do you think, if it is in your DNA, and it is something that John Maynard Keynes wanted to do from the start, that these conclusions were reached?”

“Baroness Hodge, in her report, draws a distinction between excellence and access to excellence. Obviously the two things are related, but the strong suggestion in her work, and from her discussion with others, is that excellence itself has been downgraded over time in what the Arts Council seeks to support. Why do you …”

“You have a new strategy, or framework, I think, due in the next month or so. We understand it is going to be simpler and less prescriptive, with less bureaucracy and so on. In terms of supporting freedom of expression and the pursuit of excellence—the two things I have just been asking about—will that new framework be …”

“Hang on; you say if it is not there then we are censors. There are negative freedoms and positive freedoms, aren’t there? You do not necessarily have to actually censor something to not nurture it, or to make it not possible. Sir Nicholas, I think you were going to speak.”

“In a time when we sometimes worry about so-called cancel culture, do you see a responsibility for the Arts Council to make sure that a whole range of voices is heard? For things that, to use your phrase, may not be acceptable to say today but may become so—frankly, even things that do not become so, they are still some…”

“Is that one of your published principles—your stated principles in your standard terms, for example?”

“I want to follow on from Natasha’s line of questions, on the arm’s length principle. I just wonder whether you think the greater danger of the arts being directed in a particular direction comes from Government or from what you might call a dominant ideology.”

“Sometimes we call it culture—the dominant ideology. There are definitely themes that run through society, aren’t there? You yourself, Darren, used the phrase earlier: you said there are some things that it is not acceptable to say today which may be acceptable tomorrow. That is a dominant ideology.”

“It is true that the effects of the falling birth rate have been felt most so far in places such as Hackney, but it is coming to many more places, and the effect will be felt in a much more magnified way, particularly in small rural schools. Does the Secretary of State accept that the funding formula will have to change…”

“I think I just heard the Minister say, “We have already solved this problem.” I do not know if any other colleagues heard that. She said that she has written to every headteacher in the country, and it is absolutely the right thing to be in contact with them. Has she heard back from any headteachers or headteacher repr…”

“There are unanswered questions about definitions, what should be in and what should be out, and exactly where the boundary lines are. Parents sometimes talk about social media in a way that professionals might not; parents might exclude certain messaging apps, for example. There are questions to be resolved, but the Go…”

“Will the Minister give way?”