Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Becky Gittins, Cllr Jemima Laing, Cllr Gary Ridley, Cllr Bradley Thomas and Cllr David Jeffels, with Cllr Jonathan Simpson, Cllr Luthfur Rahman, Cllr Chris Dey and Cllr Neil Jory serving as substitutes.

For the item concerning Arts Council England, Cllr Barry Lewis informed the Chair that he currently sits on the Arts Council Midlands Area Council.

The minutes were approved as an accurate and correct record of the meeting.

Heather Wills, Principal Adviser (Improvement), presented on behalf of Naomi Cooke, Head of Workforce, who was unable to attend the meeting, a report which summarises the LGA’s policy and improvement activity to address workforce capacity challenges in local government.

Her presentation included the following points:

· Workforce capacity challenges are widespread and impacting across all government services.

· Factors such as pay are common to all services, but there are also other issues which are specific to individual services. 

· The paper is being brought to all policy boards for consideration.

· The Board was asked what actions they believed should be prioritised.

Members made the following comments

• The need to develop apprenticeships to enable young people to develop necessary skills.
• The Chair noted money is lost due to people leaving their posts to work at agencies.
• How to use volunteers effectively along with the existing workforce.
• There are ongoing issues in parks employees’ roles becoming generalised as posts are combined, resulting in a loss of horticulture skills, for example.
• A Member believed that careers in local government are not recognised properly as a brand in the same way that teaching is.
• Heather noted there was support from the LGA around apprenticeships but would feed the matter back.

Decision: 

The Culture Tourism and Sport Board fed back their views of the priority issues for future policy and improvement activity to address workforce concerns.

Action:

Heather Wills will feed back Members’ views regarding apprenticeships. 

The Chair invited Ian Leete, Senior Advisor, to update the Board on the LGA’s response to the omission of leisure centres from the Government’s additional energy support package. 

Key points from the update included the following:

• A letter was sent in January to the Chancellor and Secretary of State regarding urgent support for public sport and leisure through crisis and transformation. 
• The LGA has worked with 8 local government representative bodies to send a letter to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up.
• Details have been included in the LGA submission to the spring statement.
• There is a template letter that will be available to councils wishing to write to their local MP. 
• Ian informed Members of an extraordinary meeting of the Board on the 27th of February, which would be attended by the Minister for Sport.

Decision: 

Members noted the update and the letter.

The Chair invited Jane Ashworth OBE, Vice President of StreetGames, and Mark Lawrie, Chief Executive of StreetGames, to present their findings of the Batson Commission, which explores the importance of sport for young people and their communities.

Key points from the presentation included:

• The Commission’s investigations focused on the contribution that place-based intervention can make in tackling the issues and the best way to maximize the reach and effectiveness of those organisations which are working on these issues.
• The intention was to review the most effective way of maximising the value of sports in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
• Informal recreation (young people socialising, etc.) was found to be of key importance. 
• Plans for roundtables were disrupted by the pandemic, reducing the number of visits and making engagement mostly virtual. Original plans were to put together roadshow pop-ups all over the country bringing local opinion formers together.
• Mixing with peers is critical in the development of adolescence.
• StreetGames is in a position where they can come and talk to people about the way to maximise the value of sport by using the theory of change and the relationships that local authorities have with these community organisations.

Board Members made several comments and asked questions which 

related to the following points:

• Members welcomed the report and its findings.
• The report should be shared across councils and the LGA, to ensure the work of the Commission is known.
• A Member was concerned by the figure of £3.65 and assured the rest of the Board that football is not accessible to everyone. 
• The issues of young groups not getting access to grounds for practice by adult sporting groups. 
• Members highlighted the sporting provisions and challenges in their own localities.
• A Member queried ways to bring the recommendation forward, suggesting the option of a task force and action plan overseen by the LGA. The Chair noted that StreetGames would have to be consulted on this as it is their own report. Jane welcomed the suggestion. 

The Chair asked Members to volunteer on the working group to be established to promote the Commission. Cllr Pandor, Cllr Middleton, Cllr Anwar, Cllr Golds CBE and Cllr Seeva agreed to discuss setting up a task force and action plan to bring forward the recommendations of the report. Ian Leete said that the Policy Team would look at resourcing. 

 Decision: 

Board members noted the report.

Action:

Cllr Pandor, Cllr Middleton, Cllr Anwar, Cllr Golds CBE and Cllr Seeva to discuss setting up a task force and action plan to promote the recommendations of the report. The Policy Team will consider resourcing.

Laura Dyer MBE, Deputy Chief Executive, and Paul Bristow, Director, Policy and Partnerships, of Arts Council England, shared with the Board an overview of Arts Council England (ACE)’s latest National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) funding round.

Key points from the presentation included:

• Efforts are made that senior staff work across the country in area teams, so that all expertise is not in headquarters. 
• Investments of £406m were made annually into 840 National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) in the 2018 to 2023 period.
• The Secretary of State instructed ACE to redistribute £24m annually from London by the end of 2024/25.
• There are 54 Priority Places across England, including 5 London boroughs.
• Funding will be made for 990 organisations in this NPO round
• Investment has increased by £38 million overall.
• Funding in predominantly rural areas has increased by 22 per cent. Funding to Core Cities has increased by 15 per cent.
• Place and levelling up remain a theme in their Delivery Plan, which runs until 2024.
• ACE is keen to work with local and combined authorities that are negotiating devolution deals with government. 
• Although they prioritise investment in Priority Places, they have a universal offer including the Place Partnerships Fund and Creative People and Places Programme.
• They will be working to agree a new shared statement of purpose with the LGA, recognising local government and ACE as important strategic partners.

Members made the following comments:

• A Member noted the positive impact of redistributing funds to projects in other parts of the country and the impact of Government decision making in relation to levelling up. They noted the value Arts Council England contributes in terms of expertise and national perspective.
• Another Member thanked the Arts Council for providing funding to her council area and for its work across the country. She also invited Paul and Laura to visit the locality in the future. 
• A Member expressed concern about ACE’s funding decisions in relation to the English National Opera. Laura Dyer replied that difficult decisions had to be made but emphasised the importance of opera and that 40 percent of music spending was opera related. She acknowledged that there were different opinions on the matter. The Chair queried the level of input, if any, from local government to informing decisions that reflect local impact and insight. Paul replied that it can be difficult to include local government in NPO decision making as they are often applicants to the portfolio. There was a discussion about the importance of utilising local intelligence in the future and how this could be achieved without compromising the competitive bidding process. 

Decision: 

Board Members noted the contents of the report and shared their views on the NPO round.

Board members agreed to the principles for the shared statement of purpose and requested the final version be signed off by lead members. 

Action:

Officers will incorporate the Board’s views as they develop their Shared Statement of Purpose with Arts Council England.

Samantha Ramanah, Advisor, updated Members on the Culture, Tourism & Sport Conference

Key points included:

• The conference is on the 15th of March. It will be a hybrid event. 
• Members are encouraged to promote through their own networks and councils.
• Key themes will include cost of living issues, the energy crisis and impact of the pandemic.
• The Minister for Sport has been invited to speak. 

Ian Leete, Senior Adviser, provided an update on the CTS annual conference and LGA annual conference.

• The LGA annual conference will take place in Bournemouth in the summer. 
• Two sessions for culture, tourism and sport were successfully secured, one of which will be a parallel plenary session and will focus on some of the information from the Culture Commission. The second session will focus on the challenges facing public leisure facilities.
• The Innovation Zone is a key part of the conference, allowing councils to showcase innovative practice. Members are encouraged to submit relevant projects.

Decision: 

Members noted the updates.

The Chair asked Jacqueline Smale, NGDP Graduate Jacqueline Smale, NGDP Graduate, to update members on the progress of the Commission on Culture and Local Government. 

Key points included:

• The launch event was successful, with diverse speakers and organisations in attendance. 
• Positive statistics demonstrated the impact of the launch (case study film viewings, social media, press coverage, etc.) 
• There are plans for regional roadshows with local partners around the country as well. Members were asked to contact the Policy team if they wanted to get involved. 

A Member welcomed the update and asked that the work of the Commission continue to be promoted. Another Member asked if a virtual presentation could be arranged for any councils with an interest. Ian Leete agreed to this. 

Decision: 

Members noted the contents of the report.

Action:

A virtual presentation will be provided for any councils with an interest.

Cllr Richard Henry informed Members of the launch of the London Marathon Group.

a)    Extraordinary meeting with Stuart Andrew MP, Minister for Sport

b)    21 June Board visit To Plymouth

The June Board meeting will be held in Plymouth, and arrangements are being put in place for the visit.

There was no other business reported.