22/01/2012 Sunday Politics West Midlands


22/01/2012

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And in the Midlands, what price philanthropy. As donations to the

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arts for by a quarter. Said Doug Ellis tells us about the

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1767 seconds

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Welcome welcome to the Sunday Politics in the Midlands.

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Coming up, a sharp fall in donations to the arts. If poor will

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pick up the mantle of this great Midlands philanthropists of the

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past? First, let us meet our Mac guests,

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the new Conservative MP for the West Midlands, Anthea McIntyre,

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under Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East, Pat McFadden.

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Unemployment up again, nearly a quarter of a million Midlanders.

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How can Labour say that you would do anything differently for them

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given that you would not know reverse the spending cuts? It is

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really worrying. Unemployment is at a 17 year high. It is even more

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worrying among young people, where one in five are looking for work.

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My own constituency has a worse problem than average.

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But you have muddled your message by saying you would not reverse the

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cuts, but in many ways are driving these figures? The we are in an era

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of less money. We fought the election campaign, on having the

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deficit of four years, and I have always said, had Labour won the

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election there would be a lot of tough decisions. But that does not

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mean we agree with the pace and scale of the deficit Reaction

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propos de -- double -- reduction programme. If we do not agree with

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abolishing the future jobs fund. What it does mean is, in three

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years' time, we are going to have to take the situation as we find it.

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Anthea, not on the is there evidence your policies are working,

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there is evidence that they are not. The most important thing is to

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recognise that the way to get employment to increase is actually

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through stimulating small businesses to grow, and to get to

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the private sector to mop up the unemployment figures that we are

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seeing inevitably from the cutbacks in Government spending. So it is

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important to come up with the incentives that make employers in

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the West Midlands want to take on people. Let us now get to grips

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with our tops story, the increase in serious untoward incidents at

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Stafford Hospital. It is already the subject of two public inquiries

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into failing standards of care. In another development, the reopening

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of of a night A&E, originally planned for March, will almost

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certainly be delayed. Our health correspondent, Anthea McIntyre.

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Appalling standards of care at Stafford Hospital were confirmed in

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2009, but despite a focus on quality, a number of serious

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incidents continued to rise. Although this may in part be back -

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- down to better reporting. At a public meeting this week, but

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reasons were openly challenged. you look at the period 2009-2010,

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and the subsequent year, the numbers seem to have almost doubled.

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When accident and emergency at the hospital closed overnight, if

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patients' safety was the reason given. The trust was struggling to

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recruit key staff. Progress is now being made, but the reopening of

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A&E is likely to be delayed. What have we learned about the long-term

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future of A&E in Midlands hospitals? The nature of care that

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week the nature of care that we provide is changing. We need to

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make sure that we deliver care for patients out of hours, and that

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they can access it easily and get the advice they need. That they

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means that hospital care has to change.

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As the Labour Government fine when it closed Kidderminster Hospital's

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A&E, it is political suicide. The junior minister lost its seat. In

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opposition that intensive said they would stop the forced closure of

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A&E and maternity wards. Now they talk of urgent care centres. What

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do they mean? What it does mean is not a conventional although Mike

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A&E at every district hospital. Pat, New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton

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in your city is one of the cities that is taking the strain of a

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night from Stafford, so you have a direct role in this.

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I think it is really sad to see Stafford Hospital running into

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trouble again. There have been to victims of what has happened there.

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Unnecessary deaths, was directly those who died and their families,

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but more directly I think the population in Stafford need to have

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trust and confidence in their local hospital, and with new figures

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coming out that are worrying, with problems in the A&E, I think there

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is an urgent task now for this hospital to rebuild its trust and

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confidence with the local population.

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And fear do you think that trust and confidence can be rebuilt?

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People are going to be concerned about what an urgent care centre

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means. Do they not expect overnight they need to mean just that?

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think everybody wants urgent care when they need it. A&E care.

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Yes, and I think the most important thing is to get to grips with

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management. I spent many years as a management consultant and I think

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poor performance nominee equates to poor management. I think we have to

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look very carefully at the governance of the hospital. There

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needs to be complete transparency. The public needs to feel that they

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can go in, see what is happening, if your relative is not receiving

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proper care you need to fear you can say something and not feel

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frightened by what the results may be. That is all-important. As I

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understand it there is a shortage of middle ranking emergency

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specialist doctors. There have been staff problems there, staff there

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were cut too much in the past, but I think we have to stand back and

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say there is no reason why a place the size of Stafford cannot have a

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good hospital, cannot have a A&E department, and cannot run a local

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health service that has the trust and confidence of local people.

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Michele Paduano made the point that political suicide is what is

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involved with hospital sometimes if they go badly. It did not go well

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for David Lock in why Forest, or David kidney in Stafford. This is

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really politically a very sensitive issue for all the main parties.

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obviously we have said that we will maintain funding for the NHS, and

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that is very important. Even though it is being fragmented. What people

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are worried about is getting the care they need when they need it.

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The Organisation to the individual is not that important - let us

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sorted in a way that we can see that we are getting the care we

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need, and that we can trust the clinicians to do their job, and

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management to allow them to do it. And to monitor and to measure what

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is happening, and ensure that we are increasingly getting good

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standards. So far the world has not caved in overnight using this new

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arrangement. When we left office at the general election, satisfaction

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levels with the general -- NHS were running at their highest ever

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recorded. A lot more staff had been recruited, but sadly what we had

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seen since then is waiting times going up, an increase of all the

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40% in the number of people waiting more than 18 weeks for treatment.

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And I think there must bring the NHS needs in the circumstances it

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is another huge reorganisation, which the Government seems

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determined to push through. Next up, a sharp fall in donations

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to the arts here in the Midlands is revealed in figures just out. The

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Treasury has since introduced policies to increase donations, but

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will we ever buy into the idea of philanthropy American-style? Those

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who do give have been talking to reporter two.

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He the Big Society - whether it is ideology or a way to plug gaps left

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by cuts, it means individuals doing and giving more. The Staffordshire

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Community Trust helps support good causes like this Riding Centre for

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the disabled near stock. It is convinced wealthy locals to donate

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�2.5 million in the last two years. This is very much the Big Society,

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but are you having to twist people's arms to persuade them that

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it is a good idea to give away money?

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Well thing people want to know that their hard earned money is going to

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be used in the right way. -- wealthy people. And that is where

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community foundations across the country really score highly.

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The Government wants it to become the norm for everyone to leave

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money to charity when they die, and in an effort to boost this Big

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Society idea, in the Budget the Chancellor announced a deal. Leave

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10% of your estate to good causes, and get a 10% discount on

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inheritance tax. But there is concern that whatever

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the encouragement, it will not be enough. The first ever survey of

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the arts industry showed a sharp decline in donations.

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Across England there was a drop of 11%, while the West Midlands or

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decrease of nearly a quarter. The report says the region has "some of

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the lowest contributions from business, trusts and foundations,

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and individual giving". Needing one MP to conclude, the

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rich need to do more. The poor give more of their money in terms of

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percentage income than the rich. And actually the middle classes and

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the rich needs to give more of their money.

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For Man therapy is nothing new. Men like Josiah Wedgwood and George

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Cadbury believed that with great wealth came great responsibility.

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So do today's super rich share their sense of duty? Former Aston

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Villa on a diet Ellis was knighted in the New Year Honours List for

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his charitable work. -- Dodd Ellis. I know what I know what it is to be

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humble, and poor, and if I can help poor people, I will do it.

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A lot more people would be involved in charity in some way or another.

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And there are so many causes that need money.

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The question some will be asking, is whether the Big Society will be

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big enough. Time for some of that responsible

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of popular capitalism, perhaps. Also with us here today, a

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representative from the Arts Council in the West Midlands. No

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surprise in the present times that donations are going down, but maybe

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the speed at which they have gone down in are part of the country?

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Those figures were over the three years up to 2009, 2010. But I think

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the figures are a fair reflection of the impact that the recession is

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having on the region, and also the creation of a very tough climate

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for arts organisations. They are looking to attract money from the

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private sector and from individuals. Is one of the worry is that if you

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look at the top end, the big organisations like the City of

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Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, they have got very sophisticated fund-

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raising operations - smaller, more community focused organisations may

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not have a so many sophisticated means? It is much harder for arts

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organisations in the region outside of London, and those that may be do

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not have the profile and the connections that some of the larger

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organisations do. That is why we have been working with Government

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and the Department of Culture on a new scheme to try and incentive

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fires and match new money... does that work? It is a scheme,

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with �100 million investment, although the next few years. One of

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the aspects is about increasing endowments, particularly for larger

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fund raisers, but there is also something about building the

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capacity and looking at helping organisations find more innovative

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ways of making that money. Every pound raised will be matched out of

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that �100 million national programme. Anthea, presumably part

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of the idea is to wean the arts of the public purse? I think it is

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great to see public involvement, people spend their money more

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wisely, and let us encourage it. We have a terrific history in the

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Midlands of philanthropy over the years, the proprietor of the

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Birmingham Daily Post, half of the art galleries are due to him. If we

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can encourage more people to be like Doug Ellis, that is fantastic.

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It is not really the role of the state to be like a zoo keeper at

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throwing fish out to performing seals, it is much better if they

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get direct ownership in what they are doing? I think of public and

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private sector and private giving have a role to play here. I do

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think Government has its job to do here, but I also hope, we heard the

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names like Josiah Wedgwood and George Cadbury - their equivalents

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today do have a role to play. This is important, not just in terms of

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the arts as quality of life, we do not live by bread alone. But we

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should not underestimate the economic impact. The creative

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industries on the hall are now about 7% of our economy. This is an

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area where Britain excels. So we should back what we are good at, as

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our economy changes in the future. Have the arts in the past been

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guilty of a kind of dependency culture as far as state handouts

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are concerned? I think one of the rules strengths of the English

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funding system is that mixed funding model. So that you get that

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relationship between the public, the private, and individual giving.

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When you have a dependency on any one sort of funding, the

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Organisation has become less resilient, and ought not in a

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sustainable. One thing Tristram Hunt said, the less well off,

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proportionally are more generous, does that tally with you reading of

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this? We have heard a lot about responsible capitalism lately,

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including from our party, and I have got no objection to somebody

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working hard and doing well and enjoying the rewards, but I hope

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people are in that position -- I hope that people in that position

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to put something back, for the cultural well-being of society and

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also because it has a good economic impact too.

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We have seen Doug Ellis, we also know others - but where is the new

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generation coming from? I think a lot of people are contributing at

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as much smaller level to their local community. In my own region,

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the local community have taken on a dilapidated old community centre,

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complete the turned it round, local businesses have done it, and it is

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a will committee assets now. Do you think we have been meeting of

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minds? Yes, but I think there is a real challenge in terms of in some

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devising new money from the private sector. Not as a replacement for

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public funding, but to complement it. Individual givers will always

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want to see their contributions making a difference and adding

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value, not replacing the sort of revenue funding... So there is an

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incentive for business to get involved? That is what our scheme

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will provide - to really start to change that culture of asking and

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giving in to the arts. Now for our summary of the

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political week in the Midlands, with BBC WM's Breakfast presenter

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Staff at a Birmingham primary school will walk out on Wednesday

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over plans to convert it into an academy. They say they have been

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kept in the dark. Labour MP and former union leader

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Jack Dromey had to apologise for breaking financial roles. If he

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failed to declare almost �30,000 from the unit -- Unite union.

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I want to apologise unreservedly to the house, and I will in future

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fully abide by the Rules of the house.

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Two months ago they won a High Court battle to keep

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Gloucestershire's library is open, if but now campaigners fear new

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plans are being drawn up. It is thought proposals would affect

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three fewer libraries this time. After being incinerated on the

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Government's quangos, British Waterways is preparing for life as

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a charity. They want volunteers to work on the Midlands locks fall

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stop and start at BBC Birmingham what out on strikes this -- walked

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out this week over plans to move gardener's World and farming Today

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to Bristol. Taking up that story about the

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proposed academy, they feel that they are in the dark - so much for

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community focused... This academy is a top-down idea by Michael Gove.

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No, individual schools have applied to become academies. I do not know

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about that particular case, but in the majority of cases it has very

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much been a case of staff, governors, joining together and

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saying they want to take the school forward. If there are many places

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who want to become an academy. academies were also involved during

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your watch. We have got to developing in

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Wolverhampton, and I am very strongly in favour of that. We

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could not tolerate a situation where children, often the children

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who were not built the best hand in terms of advantages, were

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continuing to get poorer education results, and academies are a way of

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addressing that and really lifting aspiration and standards.

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Turning to the case of Jack Dromey, your political opponents have said

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it provides yet again the question surrounding the relationship

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between your party annual union paymasters? Jack gave a statement

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of apology in the House of Commons, he was found to have broken the

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rules on funding, and I think it is important if somebody has broken

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the rules, but they apologise for that, because after everything that

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has happened between funding and politics in recent years, it is a

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real job to restore trust. And fear, is there a serious political point

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to this? -- and fear. I think he has done the right thing in

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apologising - it has become very important for all of us in any of

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this that we can rely on each other, in every party, to do the right

:50:54.:50:57.

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