Off limits

FROM Alan Davey
Chief Executive, Arts Council England

It’s a pity that ArtsProfessional chose to misrepresent both the content and the rationale for the Arts Council’s changes to its RFO delegation limit (ACE slashes regional powers – AP202). The changes to the delegation limit do not, as AP reported, mean that RFOs which receive over £800,000 per year will have their funding levels determined by National Office. In fact the changes mean that final sign-off for these
RFO funding decisions will be made by our National Council, a body on which all the Chairs of our regional councils sit.
The change to the delegation limit in no way takes regional offices out of the decision-making process. Regional Officers will continue to make recommendations to their Regional Council who will in turn submit their recommendation for final sign-off to National Council. This new process ensures funding decisions take full advantage of both regional expertise and a national overview of the arts, giving a more consistent strategic and artistic insight to the Arts Council’s investment decisions. The need for this was clearly set out in the McIntosh review and our intention to look at delegation between National and Regional Councils was part of my response.
The new delegation limits were made publicly available through the minutes of the May Council meeting, available as always on the Arts Council website. We chose not to formally announce the changes as they form part of an ongoing review of our decision making processes, in the light of both the McIntosh Review and our £6.5m saving on administrative costs. In addition, as current RFO funding is guaranteed until 2011, very few funding agreements will be affected by the new process in the short term. We will of course be announcing any changes to our RFO criteria and decision making processes well in advance of the next investment strategy.
I have always been clear that we must improve the way we make decisions and ensure all RFO investments are consistent, transparent, take full advantage of all available expertise and make sense for the overall arts ecology of the country. This measure is one small part of doing just that, and is a direct response to criticisms levelled at the last review of RFO funding.