The Tory years saw real progress, such as Virginia Bottomley's imaginative scheme to designate some regional museum collections as of national importance. Then in 1997 the department was redefined and renamed. There have since been huge advances both in funding and in the place of culture in society. We see evidence of this change every day at Tate Modern where thanks to Chris Smith's commitment to free admission the national collections are evidently being enjoyed by tens of thousands of people who have never before been art enthusiasts or gallery visitors. But the present government has encouraged contemporary culture and when last week Tony Blair held a seminar on creativity in Britain, the discussion showed that the arts are increasingly a factor in the life of many different communities.
Culture influences education, health, employment and national income.
But if it does not remain a discrete entity within government, its more subtle concerns will be doubtless be marginalised. The pity is that this proposal has emerged at a time when there has been real progress in the government's drive to widen access to the arts, with much of the momentum being due to the personal influence of Chris Smith. The closing of the VAT loophole for museums announced yesterday has not emerged out of the blue. On his appointment, he made it clear that free admission to museums would be a cornerstone of his programme. He has maintained free admission where it was in place and steadily delivered change in the charging museums, a step at a time, beginning with free admission for children and senior citizens in 2000.