What the future funding of Scottish Opera will be.

Scottish Opera has proved in recent years that it is capable of a standard of performance of international class. The productions of Das Rheingold at the Edinburgh Festival last year and of Madame Butterfly have been enthusiastically received by critics and public alike. In addition, its educational and outreach work has proved it capable of reaching out to a the widest possible audience. We should congratulate the company on this excellence and take pride that Scotland is the home of a company capable of delivering such quality.I am determined that the company should continue to play the role in the cultural life of Scotland set out in the national cultural strategy for our national companies. It will not be able to do that without significant support from the Scottish Arts Council.I have carefully considered the future levels of funding in the light of the circumstances of the company and of the competing pressures within the arts sector and taking into account the comments of the Scottish Arts Council. In preparing that advice, the council invited Sir Peter Jonas, formerly Chief Executive of English National Opera, to review the business plan. Among his observations was that in terms of the level of subsidy and staffing levels, Scottish Opera compares favourably with a number of other companies with which he is familiar.I have also taken account of the effects of the period of extreme financial difficulty and uncertainty faced by the company, which led to the emergency payments of £2.1 million in November 1999. I am determined to avoid similar crises occurring again. It was evident at the time of that emergency support that a period of adjustment was necessary before the Company would reach a position of financial stability. A new Chairman, a new board and new management team have taken a grip of the company and are addressing the formidable challenges in creating that stability. Nevertheless this year has not been easy, despite the considerable artistic success. In order to control its costs, the board took the difficult decision to go dark in the last quarter of this year when there have been no main scale productions.I have also taken particular account of the exceptional costs imposed on the company by the ambitious project to perform the Ring Cycle over this and the next three years. I firmly believe that this will be seen as an artistic triumph and bring great credit to the company, to the Edinburgh International Festival and to Scotland generally. I am therefore pleased to confirm that significantly increased resources will be available to the company in this and the next three years. In total, over these four years support from the Scottish Arts Council will amount to £30.634 million. The annual grant for next year, and each of the subsequent two years will be £7.473 million. The support in this year will ensure that the company enters the next three-year period in as stable a financial position as possible.This is a generous settlement, but it still imposes severe financial discipline on the company. It will have to seek cost savings and plan its future programme within strict financial constraints. The company now has the management and artistic team in place to ensure this and that it lives within its means and fulfils its potential.