News and Policy brief - June 2011
June 2011
After a spate of public consultations but some respite in policy developments, the June edition of our brief details Government initiatives on giving, measures to stimulate local growth and a new Crafts Council briefing on craft in rural contexts. Last month’s edition of the brief can be accessed here.
Contents:
1) Central Government
- Review of the High-Street
- Growth Review – Rural Focus
- Craft in Rural Communities
- Giving White Paper
- Big Society Bank
- Departmental Business Plans
- Higher Education Innovation Fund
- Government Response to the Wolf Review
- Regional Growth Toolbox
2) Public Consultations
- Henley Review of Cultural Education, DCMS
- Strategically Important and Vulnerable Subjects, HEFCE
- Talent, aspiration and growth: Is Britain missing out?, Labour Party Policy Review
- Design Education Inquiry, Design Commission
3) Sector News
- Sector Qualifications Strategy
- Launch of new ACE Digital Programme
- Core Museums
- Research on creative industries financing
4) In Parliament
- Crafts Council 40th anniversary launch
- Parliamentary Questions
- Early Day Motion – Arts Funding
- Independent on Sunday – article on craft
1) Central Government
Review of the High-Street
The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister announced on 17 May that Mary Portas, the leading retail marketing consultant, will conduct an independent review into the future of the High Street. The review will identify what government, local authorities and businesses can do to promote the development of more prosperous and diverse high streets.
The review will:
- Examine the case for developing town centres that contribute to promoting economic growth, creating jobs and improving quality of life in local areas.
- Explore new business models for high streets relevant to the modern consumer.
- Recommend what action government, businesses and other organisations should take to create diverse, sustainable high streets where businesses of all sizes and independent retailers are able to thrive.
Growth Review – Rural Focus
The importance of economic growth in rural areas has been highlighted by BIS in the next stage of measures designed to restore the economy as part of the Government’s Growth Review. In our April brief, we commented on initial growth measures set out in the Plan for Growth, which was published alongside the 2011 budget. Significant measures from the next stage of the review include:
- Education and skills – looking across the whole of the education system from schools, FE colleges, universities and other training providers to consider how to maximise economic growth.
- Mid-sized businesses – examining businesses that have expanded beyond the definition of SMEs, considering how to increase the number of firms that show significant growth at this level.
- Rural economy – scrutinizing the constraints, opportunities and risks impacting on economic growth in rural areas, and considering specific issues including labour market characteristics, to support the Government’s commitment to rebalancing the economy.
Read the full list of measures and more about the review on the BIS website.
Craft and Rural Development
Shortly before these announcements, the Crafts Study Centre and Crafts Council co-hosted the event ‘How to Plan the Town of Craft’, with speakers Professor Simon Olding, Director of the Crafts Study Centre; Gavin Stride, Director of Farnham Maltings; textile artist Alice Kettle and Ruth Potts from the new economics foundation (nef) which recently published the report Clone Town Britain. The event examined the potential benefits of introducing and supporting craft as a defining element in local communities, economies and identities and the requisite conditions for doing so.
It also referenced research which indicates that money spent in local economies can engender rich cross-fertilisation between producers and sellers, who are more likely to employ local people, in retail, services and as suppliers. Speakers argued that the high street could become a place where we begin to build a more sustainable world and that town and city centres can be more than places to shop, with craft playing an integral role in some contexts.
The Crafts Council’s latest briefing note, Craft and Rural Development explores all the above, including the current and potential role of craft in areas such as attracting tourism, skills development and as a local economic driver. The briefing also considers the assertion that craft is ‘one of the key drivers of the future creative rural economy,’ and key to the £500m contributed each year by creative professionals to the rural economy of England.
The Crafts Council has also published recent briefings on Craft and Environmental Sustainability, Craft and Wellbeing and Craft and the Digital World.
Giving White Paper
On 23 May the Cabinet Office issued the much anticipated Giving White Paper, setting out policy measures to encourage philanthropy and giving in the UK. According to the Cabinet Office, commitments in the White Paper aim to renew Britain’s culture of philanthropy by working with charities and businesses to make it easier and more attractive to give time and money to good causes. Measures include:
- Over £40 million of funding over the next two years to support volunteering, giving and volunteering infrastructure by way of the Social Action Fund, Challenge Prizes and Local Infrastructure Fund.
- £1 million to support Youthnet which runs the volunteering website www.do-it.org.uk and which will share its data more freely with organisations. Facebook have said that they will make this data accessible through them.
- £700,000 to support Philanthropy UK connecting wealthy people with charities that need their support.
- £400,000 support from Government and NESTA to trial Spice in England which gives volunteers ‘thank yous’ like vouchers or discounts with local businesses when they do good things for the community.
- Establishing a new honours committee to ensure people are recognised and celebrated for exceptional and sustained philanthropy.
- Trial charity promotions on the public service website Directgov that gets around 4.5 million visits per week.
- Open up government buildings to charities and voluntary groups.
- Hold a Giving Summit in the autumn to bring together charities, philanthropists, businesses, technologists and financiers to set the course for the future of giving.
- All ministers have agreed to a one day volunteering challenge.
The White Paper comes after a period of public consultation on the Giving Green Paper which contained the Government’s initial ideas for establishing a stronger culture of giving, and builds on other philanthropy initiatives which, as we mentioned in our April brief, were announced in 2011 budget and included changes to the tax system. These latest measures also form part of the wider Big Society agenda and in a speech delivered on the same day as the White Paper the Prime Minister reaffirmed his commitment to ‘building a bigger, stronger society’.
The Cabinet Office announcement and Giving White Paper are available here.
Big Society Bank
Earlier last month the Cabinet Office approved proposals for the Big Society Bank which is intended to build capacity in the social sector by providing access to investment capital and reducing reliance on donor finance. The fund aims to support the development of an infrastructure for a social investment market, and rather than giving grants will invest in capital intermediaries so that they are able to invest in front-line organisations tackling pressing social issues. The Big Society Bank will become fully operational following State Aid approval and Financial Services Authority authorisation.
As we discussed in our recent briefing note Craft and Wellbeing, craft practice can have important social benefits. The briefing references a number of community based craft programmes which, for example, encourage first steps towards work for people with special educational needs or who suffer from other forms of disadvantage in the workplace. Crafts Council research shows the profound difference these programmes can make to quality of life – building the personal and social confidence that leads to Further Education and work.
Read the Cabinet Office announcement and proposal here.
Departmental Business Plans
On the 13 May the Government published updated business plans for all Whitehall Departments detailing changes that have been made since initial publication which, as we reported previously, took place in November 2010. Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport’s vision statement for the DCMS reads:
‘Our vision is to help create the conditions for growth in the creative, communications, cultural, tourism and leisure economies, removing barriers to innovation and levelling the playing field. Where we judge there is a need for a particular intervention, we will provide real support and set strategy and direction. But we want our sectors and industries to drive their own agenda…
…We will play our part in building the Big Society. We want everyone to be able to play sport and enjoy their local and our national culture. Passion for the arts and sport is instilled at a young age – which is why we want to give all children the opportunity to learn to play sport and play a musical instrument. We want to encourage a culture of giving, so that more of us have a greater connection with the things we care about.
We believe that there should be public funding for the arts and culture. We need to make sure that, during a time when we have to reduce public spending, our world-class cultural institutions can continue to thrive. But funding should not be an excuse for dependence. We want to see our cultural institutions adapt their business models, liberating them to raise and spend money as they see fit.’
Also of relevance are updates to the BIS Business Plan which confirms that the HE White Paper is delayed, with publication likely in June 2011.
Access the Business Plans for each Department here.
Higher Education Innovation Fund
On 26 May, HEFCE announced the final funding allocation of the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) of £600 million for 2011-12 to 2014-15. The fund is directed towards helping universities contribute to economic growth and recovery and will focus on the highest-performing universities working with businesses.
Allocations will be made to 98 universities with an established track record in working with business, public sector and not-for-profit organisations. To release funds, institutions must provide a strategy to be approved by HEFCE. We reported initial announcements of changes to the HEIF in our February brief.
More on the fund here.
Government Response to the Wolf Review
The Department for Education has published its response to the Wolf Review, which was commissioned to examine how vocational education for 14- to 19-year-olds can be improved to promote successful progression into the labour market and into higher level education and training routes. As we reported in March, four recommendations from the Review were immediately accepted by the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove and he has now accepted all further recommendations.
Read the Wolf Review recommendations on the Department for Education website.
The Crafts Council firmly believes in the promotion of balanced education in which a variety of skills are recognised and valued in the schools system. Pupils should have access to rigorous teaching in a broad range of disciplines, including numeracy, literacy and practical subjects, and only qualifications that meet stringent quality criteria should be offered in schools.
We support the initiative to examine vocational learning through the Wolf Review and specific recommendations on facilitating access to apprenticeships and high quality vocational qualifications as well as rigorous qualifications in maths and English to age 18. However, we remain concerned that recent initiatives in school age education signal a renewed emphasis on a core of academic subjects and threaten the provision of practical and cultural education in schools. We hope that recommendations in the Wolf Review also provide benefits for vocational subjects with only the highest quality qualifications and teaching in all disciplines in schools.
Craft practice in schools has enormous educational value, encouraging creative thinking, innovative learning and contributing to learners’ sense of personal agency; research shows that developing haptic skills aids cognitive development.
Engagement with materials and the development of associated skills can also engender important cross-curricular learning benefits and feed into a number of other disciplines, including STEM subjects. In the case of science for example, observing firing processes and glazes on clay can assist understandings of chemical changes in everyday situations.
Regional Growth Toolbox
In further measures to drive growth in the regions, BIS has launched a Local Enterprise Partnership Toolbox, which comprises information, guidance and opportunities for the 34 new LEPs, partnerships between local businesses and local authorities. The department has also announced details of a £5m start up fund which will support the establishment of the announced LEPs and is open for applications until the end of June 2011.
Read more about the toolbox here.
Read more about the start up fund here.
2) Public Consultations
As we reported in our last brief there have been a number of public consultation and reviews relevant to the sector in recent weeks.
Henley Review of Cultural Education
We submitted a response to Darren Henley’s Review of Cultural Education, which was commissioned by the DCMS following his Review of Music Education. The Crafts Council response underlined the importance of craft in the curriculum and set out our vision for the provision of craft teaching in schools. Our recommendations included, reintroducing craft as a statutory subject on the National Curriculum to Key Stage 3, with sufficient lesson length and regularity; increased professional training for teachers to ensure that they can learn and pass on practical skills; further opportunities for craft makers to work in schools; greater flexibility in the apprenticeship and work experience model to take into account the structures of different sectors, including the craft sector, and policy support to address hierarchical distinctions between a core of academic subjects and cultural subjects, acknowledging the important cross-curricular benefits of cultural subjects including craft and restoring practical learning opportunities in schools.
Rosy Greenlees, Director of the Crafts Council has met with Darren Henley about the review.
For further details of the review visit the DCMS website and read our response here.
Strategically Important and Vulnerable Subjects
We have also written to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) detailing the Crafts Council’s position on strategically important and vulnerable subjects (SIVS). HEFCE has had a policy and programme of investments on SIVS since 2005 and is currently seeking to refine its approach following changes in higher education. Results of a recent evaluation indicate that HEFCE’s support has contributed to the continuing provision of SIVS in higher education, whilst enhancing their research capacity and value for money. Our response set out the Crafts Council’s view that craft should be treated as a SIVS, both because of the significant socio-economic contribution of the sector and as a result of recent policy changes which have posed significant threats to the provision of craft throughout the education system.
Find out more about SIVS on the HEFCE’s website and read our response here.
Talent, aspiration and growth: Is Britain missing out?
Finally, we responded to the Labour Party Policy Review ‘Talent, aspiration and growth: Is Britain missing out?’ through which Labour aims to identify the range of factors required to sustain the UK’s competitive advantage in the Creative Industries and examine what the industry needs to innovate and thrive.
Our response articulated the important socio-economic impacts and value of the contemporary craft sector and identified a number of areas for Government intervention including, support for work-experience/apprenticeship opportunities and CPD for makers at all career stages; public funding for the sector to provide seed-funding and leverage for securing private funds, and policy support for craft teaching throughout the education system to develop the pipeline to the sector and ultimately to unlock its important economic and social potential.
In addition to our written submission, we will be attending one of a number of round-table discussions that will focus on different areas of policy for the Creative Industries.
Find out more about the review here and read our response here.
Design Education Inquiry
We will also submit evidence to the Design Commission’s forthcoming inquiry, which seeks to respond to policy changes throughout the education system by establishing the economic and social rationale for design education, both specialised, and embedded in other disciplines. The inquiry is based on the premise that a stronger role for design throughout the education system is critical to helping the UK to continue to compete economically, and for the greater benefit of its citizens – it will test this hypothesis, and look at examples from other nations.
The inquiry is due for completion by autumn 2011, and the deadline for submissions is 17 June.
Find out more about the inquiry and how to respond here.
3) Sector News
Sector Qualifications Strategy
Creative and Cultural Skills has published a revised Sector Qualifications Strategy (SQS) and is now working to deliver the resulting action plans. The Crafts Council fed into the consultation on the Qualifications Strategy in April and our recommendations appear in the revised document. These include the need in the sector for business acumen to match technical skills and recognition that CPD commonly takes place throughout craft careers, in some cases at a lower level than earlier qualifications as a means to develop specific skills. The document also contains priorities and recommendations for each Creative Industries sector as defined by Creative and Cultural Skills series of Blueprints. For craft these are to:
- Prioritise the development of qualifications that support the development of skills for traditional and heritage craft; and
- Emphasise the value of including enterprise, freelance and portfolio working skills within qualifications, and explore the need for CPD programmes that also support this.
- Support the demand for Apprenticeships in Jewellery
- When completing the Action Plan we (CC Skills) will work with stakeholders to compile a business case for Craft occupational qualifications/ Apprenticeships. We (CC Skills) will also scope the opportunity to develop NOS to cover other areas of the sector to inform long-term development planning.
The Crafts Council welcomes the revised strategy and will continue to work with Creative and Cultural Skills on this area.
Read the revised Sector Qualifications Strategy here.
Launch of new ACE Digital Programme
ACE and NESTA are collaborating to develop a programme to help arts and cultural organisations use digital technologies to engage audiences in new ways and create opportunities for new business models.
The programme aims to support projects that can be adapted and implemented by other organisations. As such, rigorous research methods will be used throughout to provide transferable insights for the benefit of the wider sector. The investment in programme activities for the arts and cultural sector in England will be worth £500,000 over 2011/12.
An initial scoping exercise to engage with arts and cultural organisations and determine significant themes and areas was carried out in May. Applications for the funding of specific projects will open in June, with decisions taken in October.
For further information visit the ACE website.
Core Museums
The Museums Association has said that the core museum model is ‘risky’ and ‘untested’ and sent a 13 point proposal the Arts Council England arguing for funding to be spread across the sector.
Maurice Davies, the MA’s head of policy and communications, said: “What we are saying is that ACE funding should be open to more museums rather than be restricted to a handful of core museums…”.
Read the full MA proposal here.
Research on creative industries financing
BIS and DCMS have published findings from an independent report on financing for Creative Industry Businesses. The research shows variations in access to finance across different creative industry sub-sectors, with some sectors more likely to have their finance applications rejected by finance providers. Research showed that Software and Other Creative Content sectors are particularly likely to have applications rejected, compared to other businesses with similar risk profiles. In contrast CIBs in Music/Visual Performing Arts (Creative Content sectors) and those in Creative Service sectors (Advertising and Architecture) experienced rejection probabilities similar to those of comparable non-CIBs.
Conclusions from the research will form the basis of further focussed investigation and discussion by the Creative Industries Council (CIC), a joint forum between the Creative Industries and Government. DCMS and BIS are also currently developing a Creative Industry Funding Guide. See ‘In Parliament’ below for further information on the CIC.
To read the full report click here.
4) In Parliament
Crafts Council 40th Anniversary Launch
The Crafts Council hosted an event at the House of Commons on 19 May to launch the celebrations for our 40th anniversary. Speakers included Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, John Hayes MP, Crafts Council Chair Joanna Foster CBE, Professor Sir Christopher Frayling in his role as one of the Crafts Council’s Craft Champions, and our Executive Director Rosy Greenlees. At the event we set out plans for a new phase of development in the Crafts Council Collection, acquiring more examples of work by leading makers, developing new approaches to touring and loans, building our online resources and establishing digital links with regional collections making the Collection a national hub for information and research.
Read more about the event here.
And our 40th anniversary here.
Parliamentary Questions
Creative Industries Council – 5 May
In response to a question from Ivan Lewis, the shadow culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt confirmed that he will jointly chair the CIC with the business secretary Vince Cable and that membership will comprise business and trade association representatives of each of the sub-sectors in the DCMS remit. He also confirmed that the Council will meet for the first time on 6 July.
See Hansard p83.
Arts Philanthropy – 5 May
Ivan Lewis also asked Jeremy Hunt what estimate he has made for the level of philanthropic giving to the arts in each of the last four years and for the coming four years. Jeremy Hunt provided figures for 2006-10 but argued that the range of factors affecting philanthropy makes future giving difficult to predict. He did however reference recent DCMS and Treasury measures to boost giving.
See Hansard p83.
E-Bac – 17 May
The House of Lords discussed the impact of the English Baccalaureate on the study of arts subjects. Baroness Bonham-Carter cited research which found that 60 per cent of schools indicated that they would no longer be teaching art and design at GCSE level in favour of concentrating on the subjects included in the E-Bac. Lord Hill argued that the E-Bac aims to give children, particularly from poor backgrounds, the opportunity to study the kind of academic subjects which will facilitate access to universities, and argued that vocational, arts and creative subjects are equally important.
See Hansard p5-6.
Economic Contribution of Arts – 23 May
In response to a question from Ivan Lewis, Jeremy Hunt announced that the DCMS alongside Arts Council England is currently undertaking a project aimed at providing a framework for quantifying the economic contribution of the Department’s sectors, including the arts and cultural sector.
See Hansard p81.
Early Day Motion
Arts Funding
In April, Alison McGovern the Labour MP for Wirral South tabled another early day motion (EDM) in the Commons on arts funding. To date the motion has been signed by 29 MPs from across the political parties and calls for the amendment of the Public Libraries and Museum’s Act (1964), to include cultural institutions. McGovern is asking that individuals write a letter to their local MP, expressing their support for her EDM. The EDM reads:
‘That this House is greatly concerned at the damage being done to our cultural industries by the current programme of cuts; recognises the record of success of the arts and culture in the UK, both economically and culturally; appreciates that Arts Council England was faced with some difficult decisions after its 30 per cent. funding cut; and notes that the widespread cuts, starting to be implemented by local authorities as a result of budgetary constraints, will have far-reaching consequences for the arts in the UK and will signal severe difficulties for some, and the beginning of the end for other respected and innovative arts organisations.’
Follow the EDM here.
Independent on Sunday article on craft:
Finally, we thought that a recent article in the Independent on Sunday, ‘Maker’s mark: A new generation of artisans are reviving arts and crafts’, examining craft’s recent renaissance and featuring extracts from an interview Rosy Greenlees would be of interest to our Policy Brief readers.
Access the article here.
