Ok I am wondering if the Arts Council is after my own heart! They have most data available online in nicely structured excel sheets that can be collated and analyzed. On top of that they provide the information that is not online in a short period of time. I was expecting this process to be going on for months – they have given me most material in three working days. Thursday, December 13, 2012 at 4:22 PM – not even a full week after my initial request on December 7 – and they have responded to two more of my questions, leaving me with only one unanswered question that they will be satisfying by January 10, 2013.

Below is the third response from the Arts Council.

Dear Professor Aceti

We are now in a position to respond to 2 more of your questions.

1) The amounts awarded for 2012 Olympic projects.

Please see the attached spreadsheet.

2) A list of funds requested from the organisations and the amounts of funding actually allocated for each year (2007-2012)

A spreadsheet was attached to my last email which shows the amount of funding given to regularly funded organisations from 2007-2012. If you would like to see a list of future funding commitments from 2012-2015, you can find this information here.

I am sorry but we do not hold “a list of funds” requested from organisations for the period 2007-2012. During this funding period there was no open application process for organisations to become one of our regularly funded organisations, nor was there an established process by which existing regularly funded organisations applied for a specific amount of money.  Their funding amounts were agreed as part of a regular annual review process which took place between the Arts Council and the organisations.

We did however launch our National portfolio funding programme in April 2012 which was created through an open access process. This programmed covers funding for the period 2012-2015. We could provide a list of the amounts that the successful organisations applied for. You can find out more about this programme here. Please let me know if this information would be useful and I will arrange for it to be collated.

I hope the above information is useful.

If you are not satisfied that the Arts Council has complied with the Freedom of Information Act in responding to your request you have the right to an internal review. Please contact me at the address above, explaining what you would like us to review under the Act. Alternatively you can detail your concerns in writing and send them to the Chief Executive, Arts Council England, 14 Great Peter Street, London, SW1P 3NQ.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Kind regards

Senior Officer, Freedom of Information
Arts Council England, National Office