Items
No. |
Item |
1. |
Chair's Welcome, Introductions, Apologies/Substitutes and Declarations of Interest
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed
Members, officers, and guests to the meeting and asked everyone
present to introduce themselves.
Apologies had been
received from Cllrs Brigid Jones, Muhammed Butt, Chris Penberthy,
Dhanisha Patel, Geoff Knight, Bradley Thomas, Guy Nicholson and Barry Lewis.
Cllrs Neil Jory
and Mandy Chilcott attended the meeting as substitutes.
No declarations of
interest had been received.
The Chair thanked
Cllr Clare Coghill for her hard work and dedication to supporting
the work of the Board and asked that this be formally minuted.
Members of the Board supported this.
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2. |
Terms of Reference and Outside Bodies PDF 166 KB
Minutes:
Cllr Golds
nominated Cllr Seeva to be appointed as the Board’s Creative
Industries Council representative. Members of the Board supported
this.
Cllr German
requested that the Terms of Reference be amended to include more
information related to Equalities and Climate Change.
Decision:
- Members
of the Board noted the report and supported the suggested
changes.
Action:
- Officers
to amend the Terms of Reference to include Equalities and Climate
Change.
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3. |
CTS Board Draft Work Programme 2021/22 PDF 393 KB
Minutes:
The Chair briefly
updated Members of the Board on the recent engagements with DCMS
Ministers and expressed the need to continue to push for further
engagement with DCMS colleagues.
Members of the
Board made the following comments:
- Cllr
Seeva commended the positive engagement work with DCMS colleagues
that had already taken place and emphasised the importance of
sharing best practice and using Members’
influences.
- The
Chair confirmed that whilst an invitation to a future CTS Board
meeting had already been sent to the Secretary of State, a
follow-up letter would be sent by officers on behalf of CTS Lead
Members.
- Cllr
German said that it was important to ensure that housing and
preventative health services were included in conversations with
DCMS Ministers.
- Cllr
German referred to paragraph 21 within the report and emphasised
the importance of social prescribing and the relationship between
culture and sport in supporting physical and mental
wellbeing.
- Cllr Tom
Hollis emphasised the importance of linking previous and existing
work to new work and lobbying collectively as a Board.
- Cllr
Howell said that starting and finishing leisure/sporting activities
from home should be promoted to prevent people driving to and from
gyms, leisure centres etc.
- Cllr
Western emphasised the importance of pooling information
intelligence to assist councils and referred to the significant
opportunity with regards to the levelling-up fund and sharing best
practice.
- Cllr
Welburn said that public footpaths needed to be improved across the
country to ensure that natural facilities were
enhanced.
Ian Leete, Senior
Adviser, responded to Members’ comments:
- The CTS
team had received DLUHC improvement funding to develop case studies
on Levelling Up/Covid recovery and the creative
industries.
- Decarbonisation continued to be a topic discussed regularly. The
CTS team is working to ensure that services can access LGA
decarbonisation initiatives and learn from best practice in the
culture and leisure sector.
- Much
work had already been undertaken in relation to identifying best
practice in the culture and leisure sector. Work co-commissioned
with Arts Council, APSE, CLOA and other partners includes case
studies and themed publications, most recently on the future of
public sport and leisure provision. A series of roundtables with
the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England and
Hjstoric England with regards to
accessing funding for place-based collaboration initiatives would
take place through the Autumn.
- The
LGA’s report on social prescribing, which was due to be
launched in April 2020 and delayed by the pandemic is being
refreshed to reflect the impact of COVID-19 on social prescribing
and to include new case studies.
Decision:
- Members
of the Board noted the report.
Action:
Officers to send a
follow-up letter to the Secretary of State, on behalf CTS Lead
Members.
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4. |
CTS Board Draft forward plan PDF 294 KB
Minutes:
The Chair briefly
introduced the item and informed Board Members that in response to
Board members’ requests for more in-depth discussion of key
policy issues, informal stakeholder meetings would be organised by
officers in the coming months to meet with key speakers and
organisations outside of the formal Board meeting schedule., These
meetings would be put in place to allow detailed discussion on key
topics of interest to the Board and better engagement with
stakeholders.
Ian noted that the
Board had previously expressed an interest in holding a meeting
outside London. Members from Coventry and Derbyshire had both
expressed an interest in hosting a future meeting.
Members of the
Board made the following comments:
- In
relation to the stakeholder meetings, Cllr Cross asked whether a
session could be had with the hospitality industry to discuss
sustainable workforce and what local government could do to support
the industry.
- Cllr
Henry said that the stakeholder meetings needed to have benefit to
the Board and emphasised the importance of putting pressure on
government to better understand current positions and
roles.
- Cllr
Golds agreed to the prospect of Coventry or Derbyshire hosting a
future meeting of the Board.
Decision:
- Members
of the Board noted the report.
Action:
·
Officers to liaise with Cllr Lewis and
Cllr Ridley re hosting a future meeting in
Coventry/Derbyshire.
·
Officers to continue to arrange
informal stakeholder meetings.
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5. |
Update on the report "Securing the Future of Public Sport and Leisure Services" PDF 458 KB
Minutes:
The Chair invited
Sam Ramanah, Adviser, to introduce the report.
Sam introduced the
report which set out the views
of local government, leisure providers and wider key stakeholders
on the key actions and changes needed at a national and local level
so that public sport and leisure services could operate sustainably
and deliver the best outcomes for communities.
Members made the
following comments:
- Cllr
Henry and Cllr Kelly emphasised the importance of the value of
sport, leisure and culture in terms of mental health recovery
following the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Cllr
Cross referred to the key findings and report recommendations set
out within the report, the working relationship between DCMS and
DLUHC and financial support for local authorities.
The Chair asked
officers to write letters of thanks on behalf of the Board
to the Association for Public
Service Excellence (APSE), the Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers
Association (CLOA) and Mark Allman, recognising their contribution
and joint achievements on the “Securing the future of public
sport and leisure services” report.
Decision:
- Members
of the Board noted the report.
Action:
·
Officers to write letters of thanks on
behalf of the Board to APSE,
CLOA and Mark Allman.
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6. |
Sports participation and community leisure discussion with Tanni Grey-Thompson
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson to the
meeting and invited her to introduce herself.
Baroness
Grey-Thompson introduced herself as LGA president, Paralympian and
Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords and made the following
points:
- National
Fitness Day 2021 would take place on Wednesday 22 September and was
a chance to highlight the role that physical activity played across
the UK.
- Baroness
Grey-Thompson’s Paralympic career started in 1984 and
overall, she competed in five Paralympic Games. In total in her
Paralympic career, she won 16 medals and also 13 World Championship
medals.
- Baroness
Grey-Thompson emphasised the importance of sport and physical
activity and the vital role that the physical activity sector plays
in supporting mental health and wellbeing. She was interested in
better understanding how physical activity could be promoted and
highlighting the benefits of physical activity to government
departments.
- In
Baroness Grey-Thompson’s role as LGA president, she was
looking forward to working with people that shared her passions and
learning more about the Board’s aims and
objectives.
The Chair briefly
updated Baroness Grey-Thompson on the recent engagements with DCMS
Ministers and expressed the need to continue to push for further
engagement with DCMS colleagues and help them to better understand
all that local government do in the culture, tourism and sporting
sectors at a strategic level.
Members of the
Board made the following comments:
- The
Chair said that the series of slides presented to DCMS at a recent
Board meeting would also be sent to Baroness
Grey-Thompson.
- Cllr
German and Cllr Kelly emphasised the importance of access to
leisure facilities and ensuring that rural communities were not
disadvantaged by the potential leisure centre closures, and the
joining up of leisure and health through Integrated Care Systems
(ICS).
- Cllr
Henry emphasised the importance of ensuring that Ministers and
relevant government departments understood the interconnection
between sport, leisure and culture and the benefits of promoting
positive mental and physical health.
- Cllr
Chilcott asked that Baroness Grey-Thompson emphasise the importance
of interdependency between health, leisure and sport and the vital
need for community services to aid the NHS.
- The
Chair said that without suitable services in place to support
mental and physical wellbeing, the pressure on the NHS would
rise.
Baroness
Grey-Thompson responded to Members’ comments:
- Work was
being undertaken with DCMS colleagues to ensure that they
understood the size and scale of the culture, tourism and sport
sector and the vital role that local government plays. The work
included linking up to the Department for Health and new government
departments re the levelling up agenda and working in partnership
with government.
- Work was
being undertaken in relation to accessibility and ensuring that
appropriate infrastructure was in place to allow people to use
public space for exercise.
- Conversations needed to be had with providers re the cost of
leisure centres and swimming pools to ensure that all people could
access the facilities.
- Baroness
Grey-Thompson provided her e-mail address within the Microsoft
Teams chat to Members of the Board.
Decision:
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7. |
Verbal update on sector survey results
Minutes:
The Chair invited
Lauren Lucas, Adviser, to provide a sector survey results update to
Members of the Board. Lauren made the following points:
- The
sector survey had been sent to the Heads of Culture and Leisure and
was promoted via CLOAs network and the LGA bulletin.
- There
were 70 responses to the survey which represented approximately 20%
of authorities, the results had not yet been analysed in
detail.
- The
survey sample highlighted the extent to which councils financially
supported their providers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic:39% of
councils had used core council funds to provide emergency support
to their leisure provider and 16% had done the same for culture
services. About 40% had waived a sum due to be paid to them by
a leisure contractor. Immediate impact on
budgets does not appear to have been as bad as feared, but there is
still significant cause for concern, particularly in the longer
term. 7 councils reported having to permanently close
or mothball facilities, a third of councils expected their revenue
budget to reduce next financial year and loss of income was
seen as a major barrier to delivering service
objectives. Approximately 30%
of councils reported having a recovery plan for culture already in
place and another 30% of councils had one in
development.
- Approximately 40% of councils reported having a recovery plan
for leisure already in place and a third of councils had one in
development.
- Supporting economic growth and levelling up featured as strong
priorities in the culture strategies, and 100% of culture
respondents said that supporting local economic growth was the top
priority for their culture recovery strategy. Leisure strategies
saw supporting local economic growth as a slightly lower priority,
with a stronger focus on increasing participation and supporting
mental health strategies.
- Further
analysis of the sector survey results would soon take
place
Members of the
Board made the following comments:
- Cllr
Hollis asked about the work that was taking place with Swim England
with regards to swimming pools that were not currently fit for
purpose. The Chair confirmed that the LGA were working closely with
Swim England. Cllr Vernon-Jackson had issued a media response to
the publication of their report and undertaken several radio
interviews on this topic in which he argued that approximately 60%
of leisure centres needed to be re-built or refurbished. He said
that unless government took real action, there would be a
significant reduction in the number of leisure centres available
across the country over the next decade.
Decision:
- Members
of the Board noted the verbal update.
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8. |
Any other business
Minutes:
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9. |
Commission on Culture and Local Government
Minutes:
The Chair invited
Lauren Lucas to introduce the report and invited Members of the
Board to comment.
Decision:
Members of the
Board noted the report.
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10. |
Minutes of the last meeting
Minutes:
The minutes of the
meetings held on 2 June 2021 and 28 July 2021 were agreed as an
accurate record.
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