Call for greater City of Culture scrutiny after Coventry collapse

There should be more scrutiny around the UK's City of Culture operations after the collapse of the trust running Coventry's 2021 stint, an MP said.

It comes as the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report into public funding awarded to Coventry.

Coventry City of Culture Trust went into administration in February.

MP Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said authorities should "step up" to ensure chosen cities retained legacy.

The collapse of the Coventry trust has jeopardised legacy plans. The body was supposed to deliver a three-year, multi-million-pound programme of projects beyond 2021 but saw 50 redundancies instead.

Ms Hillier, Labour member for Hackney South and Shoreditch, said it was a "shame" to have seen the trust go into administration.

"Coventry secured over £170m investment, despite the Covid-19 pandemic dampening the success of its year as UK City of Culture," she said.

"It is now for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport [DCMS] and Arts Council England to step up their support and monitoring regimes to ensure Bradford 2025 retains its legacy."

Published on Tuesday, the NAO report outlined the causes of financial difficulties that led to the trust's downfall, including the pandemic, unexpectedly low ticket sales for events and what it described as a significant accounting error.

The report, however, did not mention the amount involved or the affected element of the programme.

The findings are instead largely factual and avoid issues such as value for money and the actions taken by bodies, apart from those directly linked to central government.

Other groups were said to be leading more in-depth inquiries, with the NAO report stating: "Several other organisations are investigating the trust's insolvency, including the administrators, who aim to understand how the trust became insolvent, and the Charity Commission, which is conducting a compliance investigation of the trust.

"This briefing is intended to complement the other reviews."

The NAO report showed the DCMS and other bodies paid £21.3m to the trust over its lifetime.

When the BBC asked the Public Accounts Select Committee, which oversees government expenditure, whether it would conduct its own hearing into what went wrong, it said no decision had been made.

Coventry City Council was left more than £1m out of pocket following the collapse of the trust. It has been conducting its own review of the issues.

A statement from the local authority said the NAO report was an "important piece of the jigsaw" in the investigation into the trust's collapse.

The council added it was aware of two other investigations, from the trust's administrators and the Charity Commission, which would help to "provide further answers".

"In the meantime, the council will continue to focus on working with local, regional and national partners to deliver the arts and cultural legacy for the city, that we hoped the trust would be able to do," the statement read.

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