News

The National Culture Forum has launched the recruitment drive for Year 3 of its influential Leading Learning Programme.  The Programme aims to equip senior Cultural Services managers and those they commission to take on the greatest challenges and most senior roles in local government with confidence.

Culture First is offering bursaries of up to £1,500 for emerging leaders in the Eastern region.

DCMS have now published their policy statement setting out the Government's future vision for public libraries, which reinforces the commitment to a free and statutory library service.  The report also sets out the challenges faced and areas for improvement, including reversing the current trend of decline in library usage, limited public resources, the opportunities presented by digitisation, 24/7 culture and people's changing expectations.

The Departments for Children, Schools and Families and Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have published good practice guidance on providing positive activities for young people.  The guidance aims to encourage local authorities to combine resources and work more effectively by commissioning a diverse range of culture and sports activities.  

The DCMS commissioned evaluation into the impact of A Passion for Excellence finds that the strategy has provided a focus for many local authorities to address performance issues within culture and sports services, helping bring partners together as part of a co-ordinated approach.   

The recent budget has seen NI10 - Visits to museums and galleries, removed from the National Indicator set along with 17 other indicators including NI2 (% of people who feel they belong to their neighbourhood) and NI3 (civic participation in the local area). The rationale is to reduce the burdens and increase flexibility for local areas. 

Adult social care is facing some major challenges – while life expectancy is increasing, healthy life expectancy is not. By 2026 there will be 1.7 million more adults who need support to help them live with conditions that seriously reduce their quality of life. Culture and sport can play an important role in supporting adult social care to deliver better outcomes for older people.

A report launched this month highlights the £12.4 billion contribution that cultural heritage makes to the tourism sector. A crucial part of our tourism offer, with visits to English heritage properties up by 17% during the summer of 2009, this sector can play an important role in supporting individual authorities to move out of the recession.

A Passion for Excellence One Year On sets out the successes that have been achieved as a result of the improvement strategy, and looks at developments in the sector that are occurring now and in the near future.

The Active People survey is the largest single survey of sport and active recreation. Data from the Active People Survey (APS3) was published on 17 December.

We want to hear from you and are looking for examples of efficiency and innovation around the following themes; health and well-being, community cohesion and worklessness.