A report from pressure group 50p for Culture shows how much north east local authorities spend on arts, museums and heritage. The organisation took the total spend of local authority in the country and worked out the per person per week spend.
At the top is the City of London with £70.68 and at bottom eight authorities who spend nothing. They are Wealdon, Adur, Bath and North Somerset, Forest of Dean, Isles of Scilly, North Somerset, Wigan, Wokingham, Huntingdonshire and Selby.
The average spend across the country is 16p.
These are the statistics for North East councils:
| Position | Council | Amount |
| 2 | Middlesbrough | 55p |
| =35 | Newcastle | 25p |
| =43 | Gateshead | 23p |
| =43 | Sunderland | 23p |
| =77 | Stockton | 18p |
| =97 | Darlington | 16p |
| =97 | Hartlepool | 16p |
| =118 | South Tyneside | 15p |
| =167 | North Tyneside | 12p |
| =167 | Redcar and Cleveland | 12p |
| =182 | Northumberland | 11p |
| =182 | Co Durham | 11p |
Leeds comes =19 in the table with 32p and York =68 with 19p. Carlisle was =29 with 27p. Richmondshire in the Yorkshire Dales was =153 with 13p.
Local Government investment figures come from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Revenue account (RA) budget 2013 to 2014.