Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed Members, officers and guests to the meeting.

Apologies had been received from Cllr Andrew Western.

Cllr Jonathan Simpson, MBE, attended the meeting as a substitute.

No declarations of interest had been received.

The Chair thanked Cllr Lewis for hosting the meeting in Derbyshire, on behalf of the Board, and thanked Board Members for attending in person.

The itinerary document contained within the agenda pack was noted.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 March 2022 were agreed as an

accurate record.

·       Verbal update

The Chair welcomed Dr Harry Brunjes, Chair of the English National Opera (ENO), and invited Cllr Peter Golds, to introduce the item.

Harry introduced himself and provided a verbal update to the Board, setting out the following points:

• The History of ENO.
• ENO’s current model which consisted of eight months of opera, ten main stage productions, and then in the summer months, a commercial musical.
• ENO Engage:

-        ENO Engage existed to open up new possibilities for opera in people’s lives, working with health trusts, schools, community organisations and partners across the country to deliver projects and activities that support wellbeing, learning and skills development through opera.

• There are three Strategic Areas to our work:

-        Access & Participation - Creating unexpected encounters with opera; breaking down barriers and shifting perceptions.

-        Learning & Skills - Nurturing and developing creative skills and talents; transforming the way in which individuals learn through and with opera.

-        Health & Wellbeing - Supporting the wellbeing of people and communities through ambitious collaborations between opera, health and social care.

• Headline projects:

-        ‘ENO Breathe’ wasan award-winning breathing and wellbeing programme developed specifically for people recovering from COVID-19, who were still suffering from breathlessness and associated anxiety.

-        ‘Finish This’uses specially commissioned operatic works as a creative starting point to inspire students to create and produce their own music through an invitation to respond to, and resolve, unfinished artistic work. A pilot of the programme had been undertaken in Primary and Secondary schools in 2021, and applications were currently open for schools across the country to sign up in 2022. ENO were also running a pilot of the programme in SEND Schools, which began in January 2022.

-        ‘Sky Arts Access All Arts Week’ was a partnership project between ENO, Sky Arts and other leading artists and arts organisations on nationwide arts week for primary schools between 6-10 June 2022, to help bring the arts to every child in every primary school across the UK and Ireland, celebrating the arts and highlighting the importance of supporting the health and wellbeing of young people.

-        ‘Relaxed performances’ were ideal for individuals who benefited from a more relaxed environment, including anyone with dementia, learning disabilities, Tourette’s, an autistic spectrum condition, other neurological conditions, sensory disorders, anxiety, bladder and bowel conditions, and those with young children or babies. ENO had run relaxed performances since 2019 and continued to build on this work each season.

-        ‘Community and School Membership programmes’ had been launched in May 2022. The programmes were open to all state Secondary Schools and all adult community groups and organisations across the country, the membership schemes offered a range of exclusive benefits - including free tickets, pre-show talks, tours and workshops.

-        ‘Youth Casting’ supported the casting of children and young people in ENO productions, which allowed a meaningful and exciting possibility for schools. ENO Engage ran extensive school workshops and wrap-around activity for schools, allowing productions to be a whole-school learning experience.

-        ‘Youth  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Chair welcomed Huw Edwards, Chief Executive Officer (Ukactive), Jack Shakespeare, Director of Research, Policy and Communications (Ukactive), and Kirsty Cummings, Chief Executive (Community Leisure UK), and invited Jack to present a series of slides which related to Ukactive energy costs, the presentation slides covered the following points:

• Energy cost increases and impact
• Operator survey – March 2022 (comparing rising bills and the way in which it translated across the sector)
• Key messaging and activity
• Operator survey – May 2022 (which focused on impact and timeframes).
• Next steps, which included:

-        Monitor and report operator/facility impact;

-        Maintain momentum with coalition to pool live data and insight;

-        Monitor progress and capture case studies;

-        Continue to press central government for dialogue;

-        Further opportunities for collaborative lobbying.

Kirsty introduced herself and provided an update to the Board which related to the work of Community Leisure UK (CLUK), setting out the following points:

• CLUK continued to work closely with partners and Ukactive aligning surveys and collating data.
• Ukactive’s survey showed energy costs for public leisure facilities were projected to increase vs 2021 costs by 150% for 2022 and by 185% for 2023. CLUK’s survey showed similar challenges for providers.
• Local authorities had experienced reduced reserves as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and continued to experience significant financial pressures post-pandemic.
• A preventative approach continued to be taken.

Board Members made a number of comments and asked questions which related to the following points:

• The Chair confirmed that the case for additional funding to support leisure centres in tackling rising energy costs and ensuring that leisure centres were refurbished and fit for purpose continued to be made to government.
• The vital services within leisure centres which benefitted the health and wellbeing system, such as activities to support individuals living with disabilities, rehabilitation, and preventing social isolation and loneliness for the elderly.
• When making the case to government, the importance of the health and wellbeing of the nation needed to be strongly emphasised.
• The need to emphasise the importance of leisure centres and the detrimental impact of the rising energy costs at the 2022 LGA Culture, Tourism and Sport annual conference.
• The sustainability of buildings and the need for regular reviews of buildings in a bid to attempt to reduce energy costs where possible, including support from Government decarbonisation funds.
• Co-location of services is dependent on every service being financially viable and the failure of one undercuts the viability of all of them, so losing swimming pools would put other services at risk.

The Chair asked Board Members to brief the Vice Presidents of the LGA on the issues of leisure centres and rising energy costs, within their own political groups. He agreed to regularly review the important topic and if need be, hold an extraordinary meeting of the Board, prior to the next scheduled meeting in September.

Decision:

·       Board Members noted the report.

Action:

·       Officers to circulate the presentation slides to Board Members.

The Chair invited Ian Leete, Senior Adviser, to provide a brief update on the Culture, Tourism and Sport annual conference 2022.

Board Members made a number of comments and asked questions which related to the following points:

• The opportunity for Board Members to have a tour of The London Coliseum before or after the annual conference.
• The need to emphasise the importance of leisure centres and the detrimental impact of the rising energy costs at the annual conference.
• The need to focus on the recovery of the culture and tourism sectors post-Covid-19 pandemic.
• In relation to point 9 set out within the report, early views from Members would be sought after the 2022 annual conference.

Decision:

·       Board Members noted the report.

·       Verbal update

The Chair invited Lauren Lucas, Adviser, to provide a verbal update on the Culture Commission.

Lauren set out the following points:

• The Commission on Culture and local government was exploring the role of council-funded culture in the national recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The Commission had 16 commissioners and would be chaired by Baroness Lola Young. It would run from March to December 2022. 
• There were four themes for the investigation

-        Sustainable economic recovery;

-        Health inequalities;

-        Social Mobility; and

-        Place

• There was an open call for case studies which continued to be received, an influx of case studies was expected towards the deadline at the end of July.
• Board Members were encouraged to submit case studies and examples of inspirational local government culture to officers for use within the final report and as a resource alongside the report.
• There was a wider stakeholder engagement and research programme taking place, run by Red Quadrant.
• A graphic scribe had been commissioned to produce an illustration based on each of the roundtable discussions. There were also four short films in production, two of which would be featured at the LGA annual conference.
• Next steps (collating case studies and evidence, writing up in Autumn and publishing in December).
• Regular updates would be provided at each Board meeting.

Board Members made comments which related to the following points:

• Cllr Peter Golds offered to contribute at the upcoming roundtable events to promote the positive work of the local government.

Decision:

·       Board Members noted the verbal update.

The Chair invited Lauren Lucas, Adviser, to introduce the report which provided information on the methodology and data sets used by the Government and national arms-length bodies to allocate funding to councils.

Board Members made comments which related to the following points:

• The way in which Arts Council England (ACE) allocate funding and their use of data at a local authority level.
• The need for ACE to be mindful that the radical transformation that could happen through culture would not necessarily happen within the next three-years.
• The importance of ensuring embedment in whole communities and encouraging sustainable growth and development.

Decision:

·       Board Members noted the report.

The Chair invited Ian Leete, Senior Adviser, to introduce the report which outlined the key outcomes and achievements of the CTS team and Board since the last ‘end of year’ report in May 2021.

Board Members commended the report and made comments which related to the following points:

• The importance of working collaboratively.
• Media releases and the results of the releases.

Decision:

·       Board Members noted the report.

The Chair invited Board Members to update the Board on recent activity in

relation to their outside body appointments.

Cllr Chris White provided an update in relation to the Tourism Alliance (TA), he set out the following points:

• Kurt Janson, Director of Policy and Administration, was leaving the TA.
• There had been strong tourist recovery in the following areas this year:

-        UK holidays

-        Paid-for accommodation

-        Out-of-home leisure

-        Dining and pubs

-        Entertainment

-        The UK attraction market

• There had been a couple of concerns highlighted:

-        Highways chiefs at Kent County Council had said that there could be a need to trigger Operation Brock as many as seven more times this year.

-        No explicit requirement for local authorities to consult with their Destination Management Organisations in relation to current government funding rounds.

Cllr Richard Henry provided an update in relation to the London Marathon Charitable Trust (LMCT), he set out the following points:

• Whilst the LMCT were focused on grant- making to London boroughs, there was a significant amount of flexibility to fund other areas and make small grants quickly.

Decision:

• Board Members noted the report and the updates provided.

• Culture and library peer challenges – There had been difficulty sourcing member peers for some peer challenges. Board Members were encouraged to actively let group offices know that they would be interested in taking part in peer challenges and champion the recruitment of member peers with experience in/responsibility for the culture and libraries.

• LGA peer challenge – The LGA would have its own peer challenge in the Autumn. Over the past few years, the Board had had some reflections on how the Board and the CTS team interacted with the rest of the LGA, including press, public affairs and corporate resources, as well as resourcing for the team itself. Board Members were encouraged to contact their political groups in relation to those reflections and whether they felt that the issues and concerns raised previously had been addressed or if there were further changes that could be made.