My incompetent staff, by Arts Council chief

THE CHAIRMAN of the Arts Council, Gerry Robinson, has attacked the quality of staff he inherited a year ago, claiming that the most excited voice when he took over "was the automated voice in the lift".

Mr Robinson said, in an exclusive interview with The Independent to mark his first year in office, that there was a lack of enthusiasm and competence among those responsible for distributing Britain's pounds 200m a year arts funding. He has cut the staff by a third.

Mr Robinson, was once described as "an ignorant, upstart caterer", and was rumoured to have been put in post to abolish the Arts Council. Instead, he has gone native with a vengeance.

He revealed plans to triple the amount of public money going into the arts. He proposes an American style system of making donations to the arts tax deductible. A campaign for tax breaks to encourage donations to the arts was fought last year by The Independent and The Independent on Sunday.

More could come from government. "Let's face it," he said, "an increase from pounds 200m to pounds 600m a year for the arts is four or five fighter planes. It is a blip on the graph." That sort of language will astonish many who painted Mr Robinson as a philistine.

Full interview, page 7