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The main governmental department in charge of cultural affairs in the United Kingdom used to be the Office of Arts and Libraries, but in April1992, the Department of National Heritage (hereafter referred to as the DNH) was set up in a reorganization of the governmental departments. The DNH has come to deal uniformly with various fields of cultural police, which until the time of its establishment had been managed only in a sporadic manner.

The United Kingdom has a long tradition of maintaining freedom and independence in the area of art. Except for direct expenditures to national museums and art galleries, the DNH has adopted a policy of conducting cultural programs through the instrumentality of such special corporations as the Arts Council of Great Britain. The breakdown of the DNH's budget for the year 1993 is shown in Table l-4-4.

Table 1-4-4 Budget of Department of National Heritage

One notable policy of recent years has been in effect since 1984, and encourages support of the arts by the granting of a certain amount of governmental subsidy to an artistic activity in proportion to the amounts donated to that activity by private firms.

Concerning cultural exchange with other countries, the British Council, which was established for the purpose of introducing British culture abroad through education and training, publications, English language teaching, and arts and so on, is actively conducting international cultural exchange activities with subsidies from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other agencies.

The Arts Council of Great Britain not only covers England but also have committees for Scotland and Waies (which are called the Scottish Arts Council and the Welsh Arts Council respectively). Northern Ireland has an independent Arts Council as well. Local authorities also have their own museums and art galleries under their own direct management.