Recommendation 19

HM Government Accepted

We would refute the Committee’s claim that the Government and Arms-Length Bodies are not joining up with each other, and with local government, to convene and facilitate the collaboration which is key to Levelling Up local cultural infrastructure. The response to the recommendation in Paragraph 61 above sets out a wide range of current and historic examples of strengthened partnership working between Government, DCMS Arms-Length Bodies, and places, including Devolution Deals, and joint approaches to funding assessment and administration. In addition, a range of DCMS Arms-Length Bodies, including Arts Council England, Historic England, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, as well as wider stakeholders, have been involved as Commissioners in the Local Government Association (LGA)’s Commission into publicly-funded culture, which published its Cornerstones of Culture report in December last year.38 Lord Mendoza, DCMS Commissioner for Cultural Recovery and Renewal, also acted as independent advisor to the Commission. The report recognises the potential for Local and Combined Authorities to use locally supported culture, heritage and visitor economy initiatives to deliver benefits across economic recovery, placemaking, social mobility and health inequalities, and uses case studies to highlight best practice examples of places already doing this all over the country - including Weston-Super-Mare, Wakefield, and Luton. DCMS is engaging closely with the LGA on next steps following the report’s publication. On Compacts specifically, the Government acknowledges the positive role the existing compacts have played in bringing together local partnerships and increasing cultural and broader sector capacity in a place. The Government welcomes Arts Council England’s additional support for Compacts, outlined below. However, in the current fiscal climate, further Government investment in Compacts at this time is unlikely. Our preference is rather for the organic development of Compacts, which, for example, we saw to great effect in Sheffield through the Sheffield Culture Collective; or in Herefordshire - a predominantly rural county - following the county’s participation in the Arts Council England and National Lottery Heritage Fund-administered Great Place Scheme, and which saw the partnership go on to be involved in the Hereford Town Deal Board. Arts Council England is now supporting 30 Compacts across England and is in dialogue with partners in a number of other places which are interested in setting up similar arrangements. These Compacts are being offered funding to embed themselves where they operate and to create strategic and partnership capacity for the cultural sector during 2023. This funding is also intended to leverage support from wider local partners. Additionally, these Compacts are members of Arts Council England’s Place-Based Peer Learning Network, which shares good practice and learning across Arts Council programmes which develop cultural opportunity in place–alongside partnerships funded by the Creative People and Places programme, and Local Cultural Education Partnerships. The Network will support development, e.g. sharing expertise on governance structures, and is another example of how Arms-Length Bodies like Arts Council England are working closely with local government, cultural and wider organisations and partnerships, and wider stakeholders to share data, insights, and best practice. Compacts do already serve rural places–both wider Local Authority geographies like Herefordshire, and places which serve wider rural hinterlands like Truro. Arts Council England is specifically considering how compacts can help build capacity in Arts Council England Priority Places that cover rural communities. Arts Council England is also exploring how compacts can help build capacity in Levelling Up for Culture places (LUCPs). Jointly agreed by DCMS and Arts Council England, the 109 LUCPs are areas identified as having historically low cultural investment and engagement. As well as encouraging organisations in these areas to bid for funds and prioritising them for investment, Arts Council England are also exploring how compacts can help build capacity in these areas. In addition, Arts Council England is looking to engage other DCMS sectors with compacts and has opened a dialogue with its partner Arms-Length Bodies about this.