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Dear colleagues,
It has been a busy start to the year for all of us, with further challenges posed by the level of infections and the third national lockdown.
The Board met on 20 January to discuss our key priorities in the coming months. Working to secure further support to address the continuing pressures on leisure services will be a priority for us, and we have already briefed MPs ahead of parliamentary questions on the subject, and in our response to the House of Lords Committee on Sport and Recreation, which I gave oral evidence to before Christmas.
I was pleased that we helped secure two extensions to the deadline of the National Leisure Recovery Fund, and that its scope has now been expanded to include costs related to the third lockdown. I understand 100% of eligible councils were able to complete their applications on time, and that money should start flowing shortly. However, we will continue to push for additional funding for leisure centres across the country, and Sport England will be using the data collected through your applications to do the same.
Tackling the challenges facing our leisure provision was also the focus of our Future of Public Leisure conference on 21 January, attended by over 200 of you, and presentations are now available on our website. Thank you to our excellent set of speakers, and we will bring you further news on the development of a vision for public leisure as the project progresses.
Despite the unprecedented challenges of the past year, your perseverance in developing innovative solutions to continue the delivery of our services is commendable. Some examples from the previous lockdown have continued to be showcased on our COVID-19 best practice page and I know there are many more examples out there.
As always, if you have any issues that you would like raised at a national level, or cases of best practice you would like to share, please contact us directly at CTS@local.gov.uk.
Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson CBE
Chair, LGA Culture, Tourism and Sport Board |
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The LGA Culture, Tourism and Sport Team
Visit our Culture, Tourism and Sport webpages and follow us on Twitter @LGAculturesport
Share good practice or raise an issue for the LGA to look at via e-mail cts@local.gov.uk
Sport England publishes new 10-year strategy - Uniting the movement
Sport England: Uniting the Movement will focus time and resources on the following three key objectives:
- Advocating for movement, sport and physical activity
- Joining forces and collaborating on five big issues
- Creating the catalysts for change
And the following five key issues:
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Recover and reinvent: recovering from the biggest crisis in a generation and reinventing as a vibrant, relevant and sustainable network of organisations providing sport and physical activity opportunities that meet the needs of different people.
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Connecting communities: focusing on sport and physical activity’s ability to make better places to live and bring people together.
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Positive experiences for children and young people: unrelenting focus on positive experiences for all children and young people as the foundations for a long and healthy life.
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Connecting with health and wellbeing: strengthening the connections between sport, physical activity, health and wellbeing, so more people can feel the benefits of, and advocate for, an active life.
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Active environments: creating and protecting the places and spaces that make it easier for people to be active.
The LGA's response to the strategy welcomed the emphasis on communities, particularly BAME communities and those with disabilities who have been severely impacted by the pandemic.
Support for tour and coach operators, and English language schools
Speaking at a debate on golf tourism, Tourism Minister, Nigel Huddleston MP, encouraged councils to consider these organisations for their discretionary grants: "To be clear to those local authorities and those businesses, although the ultimate decision is at the local authority's discretion, the fund can, and in my opinion certainly should, be used to provide grants to tour operators, coach operators, school travel companies, English language schools, event organisers and similar businesses, all of which serve as vital facilitators to the tourism industry even if they do not sell to consumers directly on a specific premise. I therefore encourage and expect local authorities to be sympathetic to applications from those businesses and others that have been impacted by covid-19 restrictions but are ineligible for the other grant schemes."
Councils many want to bring this to the attention of their teams coordinating the distribution of these grants.
Statues to require planning permission before removal
The removal of any historic statue, whether listed or not, will now require listed building consent or planning permission, communities secretary Robert Jenrick has announced.
Under the new regulations, if the council intends to grant permission for removal of a particular statue and Historic England objects, the Communities Secretary will be notified so he can make the final decision about the application in question.
Historic England and the Secretary of State will apply the new policy of 'retain and explain', meaning historic statues will only be removed in the most exceptional circumstances. We will be scrutinising the full proposals when published, and will update members through our bulletins.
Arts Council England digital grant for public libraries
Arts Council England has awarded £152,000 to public library services to help meet increased demand for digital materials during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Each of England's 150 library services will receive £1,000, with a further £2,000 going to the membership body Libraries Connected, which will distribute the funds.
The money will go towards buying in-demand e-books and e-audio products.
Funding available for musical services for people with dementia
The Paul & Nick Harvey Fund is officially open for applications. The £500,000 fund is aimed at funding organisations who currently deliver musical services to people living with dementia in the UK. If you know of any providers that may wish to apply, please forward this information to them.
Government announces £7.5 million funding to tackle loneliness during winter
The funding package is to help tackle loneliness over the winter period. £3.5 million of this has been awarded by The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to national charity; The Reading Agency, for their Reading Well and Reading Friends programmes, which will be delivered through library services.
ukactive calls for sector-specific government financial support
The new lockdown restrictions have led ukactive to call on government for a physical activity plan and financial protection for the sector that supports the immediate survival of operators, their recovery as we reopen and the fulfilment of their longer-term potential to support the health of the nation.
ukactive has also calculated that continued lockdown of the fitness and leisure sector will cost £7.25m in missed health savings and £90m in revenue every week.
Archives reveal cataloguing grants
The Archives Revealed cataloguing grants programme has now re-opened for a fourth round, following a comprehensive review. The grants of up to £45,000 from this partnership programme allow archives to catalogue their collections and make them accessible to the public for research and enjoyment. The deadline for expression of interest is 11 March 2021.
Guidance under government lockdown restrictions
Government has issued guidance outlining what residents can and can't do until further notice. Residents are legally restricted to leaving their home for basic necessities, exercise, medical assistance and for work wherever it is not possible to work from home.
Guidance for DCMS sectors now that the UK has left the EU
Government guidance on working safely during COVID-19 has been updated, outlining how lockdown restrictions will impact businesses and the support available during a period of closure. You can find guidance for the following sectors:
LGA - options for councils in supporting leisure providers through COVID-19
Many organisations have looked for alternative options to ensure facilities are in a position to reopen when social distancing measures are relaxed. We have produced a note on options for supporting leisure providers, which sets out some of the key considerations including cost factors associated with bringing services back in house.
Libraries services recovery toolkit
The Libraries Connected Toolkit has been revised to reflect the new national lockdown restrictions. Decisions about what services will be offered within each area is the responsibility of the relevant library authority (or organisation responsible), and should be based on robust risk assessments, involving those working in libraries and unions, with a view to ensuring the safety of both staff and service users.
Cabinet Office has confirmed that people providing library services can be regarded as key workers during this period. Libraries Connected has also released a statement regarding the safety and wellbeing of staff, volunteers and library users.
Guidance for group exercise professionals
EMDUK, the national governing body for group exercise, has developed a free resource for instructors to help them prepare for the resumption of group exercise. It includes checklists, risk assessments and diagrams of socially distanced studio spaces.
The creative industries face a jobs crisis
The Policy and Evidence Centre and the Centre for Cultural Value have conducted research into the employment crisis in the cultural and creative industries. Research indicates a collapse in working hours across the creative industries, job losses of 55,000 (one third of the workforce), and a significantly higher proportion of people leaving creative occupations compared to previous years.
Healthier lifestyles motivated by COVID-19
A public health survey of 5,000 adults reveals that seven in ten adults are more motivated to lead healthier lives this year as a result of the pandemic. To support the public in making these changes, Public Health England has launched its latest Better Health new year campaign to encourage the nation to work towards a healthier lifestyle.
Loneliness annual report: the second year
The second annual report on tackling loneliness provides a progress update since the publication of the cross-government Loneliness Strategy in October 2018. Marking a shift in the way we see and act on loneliness, the strategy contained 60 new policy commitments from across nine government departments.
Call for examples of improving the mental health and wellbeing of young people
We are working with the Centre for Mental Health to understand the role councils and councillors play in improving the wellbeing of young people in their communities. We are interested in hearing about local initiatives supporting young people (ages 14-25) which also work with their families and households. If you are interested in sharing ideas, please contact louis.allwood@centreformentalhealth.org.uk.
Calling all creative practitioners, community health professionals, link workers and nature connectors
UCL and their partners are conducting a Community COVID Research Project to find out how organisations are connecting with people who are vulnerable, isolated, shielding, or from disadvantaged backgrounds. Please share your experiences by completing this short survey and let them know if you would be interested in attending a workshop exploring this topic.
Sharing the COVID-19 experiences of vulnerable groups
UCL is also recruiting participants from vulnerable groups who are willing to share their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Please get in touch if you can help them to connect with to participants, or if you would like to be involved or for further information: Dr Rabya Mughal, Culture & Health Research Group, UCL Biosciences, University College London, Email: rabya.mughal.14@ucl.ac.uk
Arts Council England: COVID-19 impacts on the cultural sector
Arts Council England are conducting research with the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, The Audience Agency and leading academic researchers, to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the UK's cultural sector. A blog, bringing together some of the emerging findings, has been written by researchers Karen Gray and John Wright.
Call for evidence: current understanding of heritage threats and future opportunities
Historic England are interested in hearing from the sector regarding threats to the historic environment as well as potential future opportunities, calling for evidence. This will help shape their understanding of heritage at risk from a broad range of threats, including climate change, and its relationship with social, economic and environmental considerations. The survey will run until close of play on Monday 15 February.
LGA culture, tourism and sport annual conference
1 - 3 March 2021
The details of our first virtual culture, tourism and sport conference are now online. The event will take place across three webinars with the theme 'How can culture, tourism and sport support our national recovery?' For more information and to book onto the conference, please follow the links below:
Culture webinar: 1 March, 10.30am - 12.00pm
Tourism and visitor economy webinar: 2 March, 10.30 - 12.00pm
Sport and physical activity webinar: 3 March, 10.30 - 12.00pm
Hearts for the Arts Awards
3 March, 3.00 - 4.00pm
Join us for the annual Hearts for the Arts Awards, which celebrate the unsung heroes of local authorities who are championing the arts against all odds. Book your place.
BBFC cinema ratings webinar
26 February 2021
Join the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and guests for a webinar that will explore BBFC theatrical ratings, cinema licensing and some of the challenges that the COVID pandemic has presented for the sector.
first magazine
LGA's membership magazine 'first' is received as a hard copy by over 18,000 councillors and 400 chief executives. In a response to demand, we have made it easier to read online by creating a dedicated first magazine website.
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