The government will begin a review of Arts Council England funding “imminently”, the culture secretary has said. 

Speaking to the Culture, Media and Sport committee yesterday, Lisa Nandy said the government would undertake a review of Arts Council England funding, with plans to conclude it before the end of next year.

The previous government had commissioned a six-month review of ACE in March and had appointed Dame Mary Archer, chancellor of the University of Buckingham and a former chair of the Science Museum Group, to oversee the review. 

But the review was paused due to the general election and has been on hold since. 

Nandy said the Labour government would embark on its own review of ACE funding “imminently”. 

She said that a new chair, the review’s terms of reference and its advisory panel would be announced “shortly”, ideally before Christmas.

Nandy said the timetable for renewal of funding for ACE’s national portfolio organisations meant the government’s review would need to be concluded by the end of next year.

She said the review’s terms of reference would be “very focused” on avoiding the “deadening debate between access and excellence”, saying: “It has to be both, and the last review was very much framed around those two competing priorities.”

Nandy said the review would also aim to make sure that arts funding was “enriching the lives of people in every part of the country regardless of their background”.

She said: “I’ve been very concerned about the way in which arts and culture has become something that young people can only afford if their parents can pay.

“So we went away and did a piece of work looking at mapping out across the country where people have access to arts and culture, who is consuming that and who is benefiting from that.”

Nandy had also given ACE a “steer” regarding the next round of national portfolio organisation funding, she said: “I want them to do far more at working with local organisations to fund what is already there in communities to be able to grow and expand.”

Nandy said: “My own experience with Arts Council funding is that too often people are brought in to do culture and arts to a place and I think that’s not had the benefits that communities would expect.”

When asked how she would restore stakeholders’ trust that ACE funding is completely independent from the government, she said: “We want to be incredibly transparent about how we go about this.”

Nandy said that stakeholders would have the opportunity to feed into the ACE review, adding: “By the end of it, our intention is that they will see their voices and their priorities reflected in what comes out the other side of that review, whatever reform is necessary.”