Agenda and minutes

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

No apologies had been received.

No declarations of interest had been made.

Members were advised that the minutes of the previous meeting would be circulated to them after the meeting.

The Chair invited Board Members to update the Board on recent activity in relation to their outside body appointments.

Cllr Chris White was in attendance at the Tourism Alliance conference and spoke on the behalf of the LGA in relation to short term lets.

Cllr Richard Henry had been meeting with the London Marathon Trust. It was reported they were moving to have a more diverse board to include those with disabilities and representatives of more diverse communities as well as branch to outside of London.

Cllr Peter Golds attended the launch of the Chiles Webster Batson report into sport for deprived young people which was an impressive presentation. He also attended the first ministerial meeting with Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Sport, Tourism and Civil Society, and Minister for Equalities), which was positive. There was acknowledgement of local government’s role in joining up different areas such as sport and leisure with public health and community wellbeing.

Action:

The Chiles, Webster, Batson report to be circulated to Board members.

Decision:

Members noted the updates.

The Chair introduced Tom Gibbins, Head of Education and Community Tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) to summarise the LTA’s Break Down Barriers plan.

Aims of the plan included the following:

·        Continuing the growth of LTA serves which engages young people to get active and involved in tennis

·        A flexible and collaborative approach

·        Creating more sustainable and mainstream opportunities

·        Delivering targets interventions to introduce more children and young people to tennis in schools

·        Support more children and young people from the indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) 1 – 4 to develop life skills and opportunities while diversifying the workforce.

Members made the following comments:

·        How to identify talent in children and support them going forward

·        Had role models made an impact

·        Were there enough indoor facilities available

In response to queries, Tom made the following comments:

·        As part of action 3, there were plans to identify talent in children and young people

·        Role models were important to encourage tennis, it was highlighted that role models did not need to be “household names” to inspire young people, and there would be more investment for this in schools

·        There was 95 strategic locations considered where there were gaps for potential indoor tennis facilities that would be explored.

Action:

That a letter be written to the LTA endorsing the programme, following consultation with Lead Members of the Board.

Circulate LTA contact details and information on LTA funding streams to Board members.

Decision:

Members noted the report

The Chair invited Lyndsey Turner Swift, Deputy England Director at VisitEngland to give a presentation and discuss VisitEngland’s work on key issues for the visitor economy. Corporate priorities for 2022/23 included, rebuilding international visitor value, building their future, building the English visitor economy, building their influence and building their team.

Members made the following comments:

·        The approach to look at tourism geographically was welcomed

·        Collaboration with partners and a regional approach has led to good outcomes

·        There should be moves to make tourism accessible and affordable

In response, Lyndsey Turner Swift made the following comments:

·        Authorities were invited to approach VisitiEngland

·        Destination Management Organisations had been working closely with communities and residents since the pandemic so they can be part of the place agenda and have support.

Decision:

Members noted the report.

The Chair invited Sheila Bennett, Head of Libraries Strategy and Delivery from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to give a briefing on the public libraries strategy.

·        DCMS were looking at what government can do to support public libraries

·        They would also consider if there were any obstacles preventing innovation of libraries

·        The LGA was one of the three core organisations to be present at all the panel meetings

·        Baroness Sanderson would deliver her report by early June 2023 which would then develop a draft government library strategy

·        The culture commission had discussed with LGA officials on what work has been done to avoid adding extra burdens on councils

Members made the following comments:

·        Libraries in rural areas as well as cities and county towns should be considered

·        It was noted the role libraries had played in being warm spaces for residents due to the rise in energy prices

·        It was queried if work into encouraging children to read such as summer reading challenges would be explored

·        Other uses to libraries such as events and cinemas were suggested as opportunities for innovation in libraries and to help fund them

In response, Sheila Bennett made the following comments:

·        It was acknowledged that councils had worked hard to provide warm spaces in libraries

·        Politicians were interested and engaged with summer reading challenges to get children to read more

·        A briefing was being put together to look at innovation such as cinemas

·        It was clarified that school libraries were not within the scope of the strategy however they were keen to explore how public libraries can work with schools

·        Members were invited to contact her with any ideas or examples of how to support libraries

Action:

Details of the Deep Dives to be circulated to Board members, and Board members to identify which they can attend.

Decision:

Members noted the report with comments made.

The Chair invited Ian Leete, Senior Adviser, to give an update. There had been positive engagement with the new culture Minister so far. The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) would exclude public sector organisations beyond March 2023. It had been raised with government that the public sport and leisure sector were highly vulnerable and funding and support is needed to help stabilise the sector.

Action:

That Ministers and Shadow Ministers within DCMS be invited to a future Board meeting.

Decision:

Members noted the update

The Chair invited Rebecca Cox, Principal Policy Adviser, to introduce the LGA Plan 2022-25. The LGA Board signed off a new 3-year business plan which out the direction for the LGA as a whole.

Members raised that consideration should be given to the role certain parts of the Boards remit feed into other Boards, for example, sports and leisure is part of public health agenda as well as the culture agenda.

Decision:

Members noted the LGA Plan 2022-25.

It was suggested that Arts Council England be invited to attend a future meeting of the Board.