Culture and Libraries Panel

HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

CULTURE AND LIBRARIES PANEL

Friday 18 November 2005

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES FOR CULTURE

Report of the Director of Children, Schools and Families

Author: -Annie Hawkins

Tel: -01992 556231

Executive Member: - Robert Ellis

1.Purpose of the report

This paper proposes the incorporation of culture as a key strand of delivery against the Hertfordshire County Council Challenges and the Local Area Agreement and proposes a strategic direction for culture over the next three years.

1. Summary

The aim is to ensure that Hertfordshire County Council {HCC} and the county of Hertfordshire strengthen their position in the wider cultural arena. HCC wants to be recognised as an enabler and supporter of cultural developments and an excellent authority in our approach to culture.

Culture can support:

• the HCC challenges
• departmental and local aims
• the Local Area Agreement
• regeneration initiatives

The aim is for Hertfordshire to be an even more innovative, thriving, cultural county in which to live, work or visit. Working in partnership will enable us to achieve this.

3.Conclusions

Members of the Panel are asked to endorse the priorities as set out in this report.

4. Background

4.1 National

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport [DCMS] advised all Local Authorities that they needed to develop cultural plans for their area. DCMS now state that culture and sport must be included in community strategies but Local Authoritiesare no longeradvised to have individual cultural plans.

DCMS has established a Cultural Excellence Network, which meets four times a year. The County Cultural Officer and Head of Libraries represent Hertfordshire at these meetings. The Cultural Excellence Network has been involved in developing the performance measures for the cultural block in comprehensive performance assessment.

The Local Government Association [LGA] is taking a keen interest in culture and regeneration, and in particular tourism.

The Regeneration Board has responsibility for LGA activity in the areas of the economic development and regeneration of communities, including issues of tourism; culture; sustainability and relations with Regional Development Authorities and other relevant agencies.

The Board objectives are as follows

to enhance councils profile and promote their role in implementing regeneration, cultural and tourism activities by developing effective relationships with regional bodies and sharing good practice

to influence resources for councils to implement regeneration, cultural and tourism activities

4.2 County

Enjoy! a cultural strategy for Hertfordshire was published in 2002, prior to that time there was no established guidance or policy in place for culture in Hertfordshire. Enjoy! was developed through the Herts Cultural Partnership, which is made up of the County Council, the Districts and other culturalstakeholders. The Herts Cultural Partnership believes that it is important to maintain and review a cultural plan and so, Enjoy! will continue to be the overarching plan for culture in Hertfordshire.The current plan runs to 2007 so the Cultural Partnership will be reviewing and evaluating Enjoy! over the next 18 months.

4.3Partnership Working

For Hertfordshire to be an even more innovative, thriving, cultural county in which to live, work or visit, we must not undervalue our grass root providers and facilities which sit at the heart of our communities. These include the local library, our schools, the park, community and village halls, pubs, restaurants and local events. This provision needs to be valued, nurtured, encouraged and supported. Working in partnership can help us achieve this.

HCC colleagues also attend community and local strategic partnership meetings in the Districts to help ensure that culture is being included in their community strategies. Officers attend various regional and national meetings in the cultural sector to keep up to date on regional issues and to ensure that the voice of Hertfordshire is heard.

4.4Implications of Comprehensive Performance Assessment

The proposals for the culture block in CPA which will take effect from this year went out for consultation in December 2004.

It is proposed that the culture block in CPA will be broken down as follows:

Sub-block Key assessment issues

The transitional arrangements for service blocks in CPA are:

2005 - Will be based on 75% inspection, 25% on new performance indicators

2006 - Will be based on 37.5% inspection, 62.5% on new performance indicators

2007 - Will be based on 100% new performance indicators

Proposed Performance Indicators

The proposed culture performance indicators [PIs] for CPA reporting in 2005 are largely based on National Standards. Seventeen out of the twenty two PIs for CPA in 2005 are based on National Library Service Standards.

We must focus on our expected performance, against these PIs. It is anticipated that we should aim to have 50% or more of the PIs scoring in or above the upper thresholds.

Our weaker areas are:

• Aggregate scheduled opening hours per 1,000 population for all libraries
• Total number of electronic workstations with access to internet & library catalogue per 10,000 population
• Library visits per population
• Percentage of total length of footpaths and other rights of way that were easy to use by members of the public [based on Best Value Path Inspections]

Future Performance Indicators {PIs}

The remaining proposed PIs for 2005 are based on resident satisfaction surveys and relate to sport, leisure, libraries, museums, galleries, parks, open spaces, theatres and concert halls. With the exception of libraries and some open spaces, the Districts are largely responsible for these areas. The CountyCultural officer and the HCC Cultural Group will address these issues through Herts Association of Cultural Officers {HACO} and other cultural partnerships. We know that residents will not necessarily recognise county /district boundaries. Additional PIs will come on stream in 2006 and will include the arts, sport and leisure. We need to be positioning ourselves alongside our Partners and ensuring that appropriate data is being collected.

How Will We Achieve CPA?

To achieve an excellent rating in CPA, we must aim to get a rating in the higher thresholds for each PI. To do this we will:

• Test our current performance against each PI.

• Identify our strengths and weaknesses
• Improve performance in areas of weakness

Clearly the PIs for 2005 are our priority but we must also do a health check against the proposed PIs coming on board in 2006 and 2007.

5. Cultural Priorities

5.1 Economic and Cultural Well Being

Cultural regeneration can bring economic benefits by providing employment and generating revenue. It attracts people and businesses. The economic and cultural well being of an area can be assessed by measures such as inward investment, job creation and retention, and tourism.

Our aim is to ensure that Hertfordshire County Council and the county of Hertfordshire strengthen our position in the wider cultural arena. It is recognised that the cultural sector is a critical economic driver. Cultural activities can make a big difference, in support of education and learning, public health, community safety and sustainable regeneration. Culture can help HCC support:

the HCC challenges

departmental and local aims

the Local Area Agreement

regeneration initiatives

The challenge is to think creatively as to how culture can help us deliver our statutory services. We want to be recognised as an excellent authority in our approach to culture.

The following four cultural priorities are being proposed as areas of development for the County Council:

Cultural Priory No 1

a] to raise the profile of culture by the development of an embedded

cultural infrastructure within HCC.

Benefits

This will:

• support the delivery of HCC Challenges, the LAA, cross-cutting themes and departmental aims
• support delivery of local issues
• ensure that HCC colleagues recognise the benefits that culture can bring to a project: culture can deliver in a way that other things cannot
• mainstream culture across HCC service areas, the aim is for ‘the golden thread of culture’ to run from the top to the bottom of the organisation
• encourage colleagues to think more creatively in how they deliver their statutory services and to sell the business case for culture
• help HCC to achieve the excellent rating in CPA that is desired

Cultural Priority No 2

b]Position HCC to be both influential and supportive in creating and

developing cultural hubs or cultural areas in communities i.e. are in a

strong position to be a key partner when an opportunity arises for the

development of a cultural hub in a District

Benefits

This will:

• Provide increased value for money
• Develop more robust partnership working
• Improve service delivery
• Support regeneration initiatives eg. town centre developments
• Align jointaims and objectives
• Ensure strategic aims are delivered locally
• Provide opportunities for the enhancement/ re-branding of libraries and other HCC services
• Help to identify priority areas
• Allow partners’ knowledge and expertise to be used creatively as part of the solution and decision making process
• Identify key district and agency contacts to agree potential sign up to particular activities andthis would take into account the following:

Property needs

Service needs

HCC and other partner needs

Community needs

Business needs

Cultural Priority No 3

c] To forward plan to maximise the benefits of the 2012 Olympics to Hertfordshire

Benefits

This will:

• Maximise the opportunities for those who live and work in Hertfordshire to benefit from the games and provide opportunities for everyone to enjoy the games

• Maximise the ‘legacy’ opportunities that will be created in Hertfordshire for new infrastructure, improved transport, regeneration, new business potential, job creation, volunteering and tourism
• Identify project priorities in order to access future Olympic funding opportunities
• Increase value for money through partnership working
• Maximise this opportunity to support the delivery of local strategic aims eg. health/young people
• Result in Hertfordshire’s contribution to 2012 being recognised for it’s excellence
• Provide the opportunity to showcase Hertfordshire

Cultural Priority No 4

d] The establishment of the Hertfordshire Initiative Fund

It is recommended that Hertfordshire County Council support cultural and creative excellence in the fields of the arts and sport through the establishment of the Hertfordshire Initiative Fund. This will raise the profile of HCC being seen as an enabler and supporter of culture.

It is recommended that HCC support creative and cultural excellence by the following initiatives:

Sport

• The allocation of bursaries/sponsorship to gifted and talented young athletes. This would be given to support their development and training in their sport.
• To sponsor the annual Herts Youth Games.

Arts

• offer sponsorship to significant events and professional art organisations

Benefits

• HCC to be recognised as an enabler and supporter of cultural activity

• Further strengthen our cultural partnerships
• Demonstrate effective leadership for culture
• Raise the profile of Hertfordshire

It is proposed that these activities will be financed through the sale of works from the County Art Collection. The level of financial contribution will depend on how much the artworks realise at auction over the next few months. The proposed administration of these activities is outlined in a separate paper.

6.Financial Implications

The cultural activities in this paper will be supported through existing resources. The exception being the establishment of the Hertfordshire Initiative Fund which will in the short term be funded through the proceeds of the sales of artworks from the County Art Collection.

7. Useful Documents

Enjoy! a cultural strategy for Hertfordshire

DCMS 5 year Plan: Living Life to the Full

DCMS Culture at the Heart of Regeneration

Culture: a catalyst for change Living East

Creating Opportunities, DCMS

A Cultural opportunity: an introduction to the cultural pathfinders, LGA/DCMS

Leading the Good Life: Guidance on integrating cultural and community strategies, DCMS

Local Area Agreements Guide, ODPM

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