Recommendation 7

HM Government · verbatim extract Acknowledged

Given the myriad of skills and capacity-building training schemes, programmes, and resources already being delivered by Government, Arms-Length 19 https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/training-skills/work-based-training/heritage- apprenticeships/the- hamish-ogston-foundation-heritage-building-skills-programme/ Bodies, and the wider sector - including, as above, the Create Growth Programme - a Government- led training programme at a national level is not required. This would not only risk duplicating existing schemes and reducing awareness of the services delivered by current providers, but could also cause confusion to local organisations and wider stakeholders working in the sector. For example, Arts Council England already supports a very wide range of training opportunities for the sector and wider relevant local and regional stakeholders working in and closely with it. Further details of these training opportunities across five specific highlight areas (Local Authorities, Leadership, Digital Skills, Museums, and Environmental Responsibility) are provided below, though it is worth emphasising that Arts Council England administers many other programmes beyond these. Arts Council England has supported the capacity of Local Authority elected members to provide leadership regarding cultural and creative opportunity in their communities. This includes annual Leadership Essentials–a residential workshop. Following the success of a pilot training course last year for senior cultural officers working in Local Authorities, Arts Council England - in partnership with the Local Government Association (LGA) - will fund the training programme again in 2023. This training is part of a bigger annual programme of work to support and develop the work, skills and capacity of Local Authorities delivering cultural and creative work. In 2019, recognising that leadership is key to the success and workplace culture of all organisations and the increasing challenges for arts and culture sector leaders today, Arts Council England invested £7.3m in a Transforming Leadership development programme for diverse leaders at all career stages. To date 1100 people have benefitted from the programme, with over 75% of these based outside London. The final evaluation report is due later this year. Digital skills within the cultural and creative sectors are also important, and to that end Arts Council England supports the Digital Culture Network. The Network provides support to improve organisations’ digital skills and allows them to explore and harness the benefits of technology. It provides specialist support in digital strategy and marketing, social media, eCommerce, data analytics and insight, website and content creation, and CRM. Local and regional Accredited museums are key civic institutions, protecting important collections and contributing significantly to their place’s sense of history and identity. These institutions need a highly-skilled, sustainable workforce, and to recognise this Arts Council England also funds Museum Development, with approximately £3.2m annually.2020 Skills and workforce development is one of the key universal deliverables for the nine regional Museum Development programmes. This covers Board development for museums, as well as the wider museum workforce - which includes a high percentage of volunteers. Just under 300 training opportunities were delivered by Museum Development across England in 2021/22 engaging nearly 4000 individuals. 20 https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/supporting-arts-museums-and-libraries/supporting- museums/museum- development-programme/museum Finally, Arts Council England has supported Environmental Responsibility skills, training and capacity in the cultural and creative sectors. It does this by contracting the environmental support agency Julie’s Bicycle to deliver four programmes to improve environmental responsibility skills and capacity in the arts and culture sector: • Environmental Champions–a programme to upskill boards to confidently deliver environmental responsibility; • Creative Climate Leadership Lab–a programme to empower diverse leadership • Net Zero–a programme to support those arts and cultural organisations with the biggest environmental footprint to accelerate their carbon reduction; • Leading Resilience - a programme to enable senior leaders to galvanise their organisation’s dynamism, resilience and civic role and to drive place-based partnerships for adaptation. Historic England is also doing a significant amount to build local and regional capacity, and develop skills, for cultural, heritage, and creative activity and initiatives - as evidence submitted to the Levelling Up Select Committee last year highlights.21 Historic England is a key provider of capacity building training for Local Authorities and community organisations, including on the conservation of the historic environment. This includes training for planning and regeneration of historic places t