Coventry City of Culture Trust debate to take place in Parliament
Parliament will hold a debate on the collapsed Coventry City of Culture Trust next week as a local MP calls for answers.
Coventry North West MP Taiwo Owatemi will raise an adjournment debate on ‘Government support for Coventry City of Culture Trust’ on Wednesday (14 June).
This type of debate takes place for half an hour at the end of the day’s sitting, allowing a backbench MP to raise an issue and get a response from a government minister.
It comes a week after news that public spending watchdog the National Audit Office will be looking into government funding and oversight of the Trust.
The Trust was a charity set up to run Coventry’s City of Culture year and a planned three year legacy programme. It received millions of pounds in government funding and a £1 million loan from Coventry City Council last year.
But the organisation went into administration in February and is unlikely to repay over £4 million to its creditors, who include several Coventry groups - most notably is the city council, which is owed £1.6 million.
The collapse also led to the loss of fifty jobs, the closure of popular gallery The Reel Store closed and uncertainty over planned legacy projects.
Following this, in March Ms Owatemi called for a debate on the the Trust on government time, “to ensure that there is proper oversight.”
She was advised by House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt that it would be a topic for an adjournment debate as it is a “highly local issue.”
Since then Coventry councillors have written to the government calling for a public inquiry into the circumstances of the Trust’s collapse.
Labour MP Ms Owatemi said she is “pleased” to get the debate and hopes it will highlight the impact of the Trust’s collapse on groups in the city.
She also said there’s a need for the organisation’s finances to be transparent and called for people who oversaw mistakes to be held to account.