Hampshire County Council

Recreation and Heritage Policy Review Committee Item 8

23 March 2006

Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage Item 3

23 March 2006

Public Service Board for Culture

Report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage

Contact: Stuart Dorward, ext 6110 e-mail: [email protected]

1. Introduction

1.1 This report informs members about a current initiative to develop the partnership working between the Recreation and Heritage services of the County Council and other cultural agencies. This is based on the concept of a public service board for culture, which is being piloted with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Arts Council England, South East.

2. Background

2.1 Working through formal and informal partnerships is a fundamental principle of the County Council's approach to developing wide ranging cultural provision for the people of Hampshire. This has levered in substantial funding to support the delivery of the County Council's cultural policy objectives and has allowed some measure of understanding to be developed with partners on desired outcomes, policy aims and specific objectives.

2.2 The conclusions from the review of partnership funding in Recreation and Heritage carried out two years ago included a recognition that, where possible, understandings should be sought with other major funding providers (District Councils, central government agencies etc.) on joint approaches to the funding of key partners¹. With the development of a Local Area Agreement for Hampshire, the climate is right to take this partnership working a stage further by bringing together agencies in strategic partnerships that can jointly plan for the long term development of cultural facilities, pool resources and achieve more cohesive and effective public sector interventions.

2.3 To this end, the Recreation and Heritage Department has had preliminary discussions with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC) and Arts Council England, South East (ACESE) on the development of a closer working relationship which has the working title of a "Partnership Board for Culture". This is pioneering work and could lead to the development of an approach to public service cultural provision that operates on a truly cooperative basis and brings greater benefits for Hampshire people and visitors to the county.

3. Progress to Date

3.1 Over the last ten years, the County Council and BDBC have worked together on a number of cultural projects such as Milestones, the regional craft initiative and, more recently, the proposed redevelopment of Basingstoke Library as a Discovery Centre. Both authorities provide substantial funding and support for cultural organisations in the Borough and there are formal joint management agreements in place for Milestones and the Willis Museum. Both authorities have realised the need not just to work closely on joint project delivery and facility funding, but also on developing a joint strategic vision. With this in mind the management teams from Hampshire's Recreation and Heritage Department and BDBC's Leisure Services met in April 2005 to share their long term plans for cultural services and to try to avoid overlap and duplication. An action plan was developed to progress joint working between the two authorities.

3.2 To enable a more strategic approach it was agreed that further joint work should be carried out to take forward the Partnership Board concept. This would have the potential to establish a joint vision for the provision of cultural services in Basingstoke and Deane. Such a Board would need to include all agencies with a stake in cultural services in the area, including members and officers from both authorities and other regional funding agencies. It is envisaged that ultimately the Board would cover all cultural services as defined by Department for Culture, Media and Sport, but in the first instance the focus is on arts provision.

3.3 An initial meeting was held in January this year between officers of the County Council, BDBC and ACESE to scope out the project. Agreement was reached to carry out an exercise (funded by ACESE) to audit the current involvement of the three partners in the direct and indirect provision of cultural services in Basingstoke and Deane. This would create a `cultural map' of the Borough and assess current provision in terms of how well it will meet the likely future needs of its residents.

3.4 A further meeting is planned for April, when the results of the mapping exercise will be available. Work can then start on the development of a joint strategy for cultural services in the Borough that can guide the decisions of each of the partners. The potential for even closer cooperation on investment planning will also be considered. At a later stage, if progress with the project suggest that the partnership needs to be put on a formal basis, it will be necessary to consider constitutional and governance issues.

Recommendations:

i) That the Committee endorses the current initiative to establish a cultural services Partnership Board with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Arts Council England, South East and requests that a further progress report be made in September 2007.

ii) That the report be submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for her consideration.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1 Published works.

2 Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

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