Coventry City of Culture collapse: MP calls for greater scrutiny after report published

An MP has called for greater scrutiny around the UK’s City of Culture system following the collapse of the Coventry trust.

It comes as the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report into public funding awarded to Coventry after its City of Culture Trust went into administration in February.

MP Meg Hillier, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said:
“Coventry secured over £170m investment, despite the Covid-19 pandemic dampening the success of its year as UK City of Culture.

“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 failure, including the pandemic, unexpectedly low ticket sales for events and what it said was a significant accounting error.

But the amount involved or the affected element of the programme were not disclosed.

The report said: “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.”

Coventry City Council, which is owed £1m,  has been carrying out its own review.

A spokesperson for Coventry City Council said: “We welcome this independent report by the National Audit Office into what led to the City of Culture Trust entering administration.
“The council’s position remains unchanged in that we want those circumstances to be understood and for any lessons to be learned.

“This report is an important piece of the jigsaw into achieving that and we are aware of two other investigations by the administrator appointed by the Trust and by the Charity Commission that remain ongoing which we hope will provide further answers that are needed.

“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.”