News and Policy Brief / January 2011
With Parliament in recess and the Christmas break there has been some respite in the pace of cultural policy developments. However, key announcements have been made concerning Local Authority arts funding, the grant settlement to the HECFE and updates to Central Government Department Business Plans.
Local Arts Funding
We reported last month that Local Authorities had begun to announce cuts to arts budgets following the Spending Review. Further cuts have now been announced.
London Councils – an umbrella body for Local Authorities in London and a significant funder of the voluntary and community sector – has decided to cut all funding for culture, tourism and the 2012 Olympics, which currently amounts to £3.4 million, by June 2011. In principle, activities should still be funded by the different London Borough Councils, although this is not a statutory obligation. London Councils currently funds a range of performing and visual arts organisations throughout London.
Read the report on the future role and scope of the London Councils Grant Scheme, here
Museums Journal has also recently published a list of Local Authorities which are considering cuts to discretionary services including, Croydon Council, Lincolnshire County Council, Leicestershire County Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Hull City Council, York Museums Trust, Aberdeenshire Council.
Read the article here
Museums Journal also reported on potentially more encouraging news concerning arts funding in Leicester City Council. As we reported last month, plans for a new contemporary art gallery were shelved following funding cuts. The City Council has now decided to review this decision in the spring when the entire council budget will be available, and funds may be found by making savings in other budgets lines.
More here
Minister for Culture Ed Vaizey speaking on 15 December at a Collections Trust conference at the ICA said the Government should not interfere in Local Authority decisions regarding funding for local museums.
Watch his speech here
We want to ensure that we have up-to-date information so that we can provide appropriate support. If you – or an organisation that supports you – has been notified that your local or regional funding is at risk, please contact us via our Policy Officer, Camilla Buchanan, c_buchanan@craftscouncil.org.uk
Arts Libraries Bill
There is evidence of some parliamentary support for local arts funding; on 1 December Alison McGovern the Labour MP for Wirral South, tabled a bill under the ten-minute rule to amend the 1964 Public Libraries Act. The bill would require library authorities to provide related cultural facilities alongside library services. The bill was allowed to proceed unopposed, and a second reading is scheduled for June 2011.
See Hansard p13.
LEP update
As we reported last month 27 LEP proposals have been invited to progress to the next stage. On 6 January the Prime Minister announced that Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco Chief Executive and a member of the Liverpool City Region Shadow LEP, and Lord Heseltine, who has been appointed Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel reviewing submissions to the Regional Growth Fund, as well as other Shadow Board members, have been commissioned to produce a regional economic plan that will stimulate growth in Liverpool. Shadow LEPs are purportedly being put in place to facilitate transitions after LEP proposals have been approved and before permanent bodies become operational. BIS has also announced that a national LEP summit on growth and competitiveness with the LEP Chairs will take place in the spring.
Read the BIS news item here
Grant Letter to Higher Education Funding Council for England
On 20 December the Government published the Grant Letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The letter, from the Secretary of State for Business Vince Cable and Universities Minister David Willetts, sets out priorities for the allocation of 2011-12 budgets and gives indicative figures for 2011-13, when the new system of student finance will be in place, as well as projections for the rest of the Spending Review period 2014-15. The grant letter, along with an HE White Paper due in March, forms the basis of the Government’s HE strategy.
The letter calls for greater efficiency in higher education, and asks HEFCE to focus resources on ‘policy priorities’ and ‘Strategically Important and Vulnerable subjects’, and sets out the grant details for Science and Research Funding. HEFCE is also asked to consider in 2011-12 which subjects, including arts and humanities, should fall ‘within scope’ in the future.
The letter also points to a potential increase in tuition income for universities, however this is ‘routed through students’ and is intended as a substitute for reduced HEFCE grant funding over the period. As the letter states:
‘The Council’s overall settlement for 2011-12 represents around a 6% reduction in teaching grant against the comparable figure for 2010-11…
…Putting together funding for recurrent grant for Teaching and Research and the BIS loans outlay to HEIs on the upfront costs of graduate contributions, the aggregate effect could be that this total BIS investment in HEIs in England would rise in cash terms from around £9 billion in 2010-11 to around £9.5 billion in 2013-14 and £10 billion in 2014-15…’
Access the grant letter here
Representatives from the university sector have expressed concerns about funding for research and teaching and the number of student places. Amongst them, Professor Steve Smith, President of Universities UK, said:
‘In particular, the reduction in the teaching grant for 2011-12 is disappointing. It will be difficult for the sector to deal with and could do damage before the income from fees comes in…’
‘The strict controls on student numbers means there may again be a considerable number of unplaced UCAS applicants in 2011. This at a time when we expect to see record numbers applying to university.’
‘Furthermore, cuts to Quality Related (QR) research funding will also prove difficult for universities, and flies in the face of statements that science and research are ring-fenced and cash protected.’
Full statement here
Central Government Departments – Structural Reform Plan Updates
As we reported last month, all Government Departments published Business Plans in November which build upon their Structural Reform Plans published in July and outline activity for the next four years. Last month progress updates were made available.
Objectives of relevance to the sector from the DCMS update are all familiar but completion dates are now available:
- Agree with national museums a framework for creating charitable trusts, which will encourage and manage museum donations and private income (due to complete Mar 2011)
- Support Arts Council England in reforming the way regular funding is invested in arts organisations, to ensure a more strategic approach (due to complete Jun 2011)
- Identify options for relinquishing control and sponsorship of each non-national museum currently funded by DCMS (due to complete Apr 2011)
Also of relevance are some ongoing objectives and completion dates in the BIS plan:
- Run the first bidding round for the Regional Growth Fund, whereby private bodies and public-private partnerships (including local enterprise partnerships) bid for funding to invest in sustainable private sector led growth (end Jan 2011)
- Put in place systems and funds to deliver the Regional Growth Fund (end Apr 2011)
- Develop the Government’s response to the Browne Review, including support to students from disadvantaged backgrounds; support for lower-income graduates; and secure greater funding contributions from those who can afford to pay (end Jan 2011)
- Develop a White Paper on the future strategy for higher education to encourage greater choice for students, high-quality teaching, a fair deal for part-time students, and wider participation for students from disadvantaged backgrounds (end Mar 2011)
- Respond to proposals and facilitate the establishment of local enterprise partnerships, including working with those local authorities and businesses who were not immediately ready to establish their local enterprise partnership boards, to enable them to move forward with their local partnership proposals (end Oct 2011)
- Complete RDA projects (stand-alone ongoing major programmes) or transfer to other bodies (end Apr 2012)
Access all department updates here
Further Education BTECs
On December 13, Universities Minister David Willetts announced that new BTEC degrees will be developed. BTECs are work related qualifications equivalent to GCSEs and A levels and are currently available in a range of subjects including art and design. Following the revision, FE colleges, universities and other training providers will be able to offer BTECs at degree level. Willetts said:
‘In the forthcoming higher education White Paper, we want to make it easier to award new high-quality and affordable degrees like BTECs. This is the key to extending opportunity, improving social mobility and raising skills.’
Read the BIS news item here
And see DirectGov for a definition of BTECs.
AHRC, BA and ESRC mid career support
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the British Academy (BA) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) have announced that they are working together in planning and delivering their programmes. This will avoid duplication and address ‘strategic and developmental’ priorities. The announcement stresses the importance of providing a range of funding opportunities across disciplines, particularly but not exclusively for new researchers.
Relevant features of the three organisations’ planned provision for mid career support over the Spending Review period are:
The AHRC: – Provide sufficient volume to build significant new capacity in all priority areas (up to 80 awards per annum)
- Allocate the majority of Fellowships to areas of strategic priority and national capability (e.g. languages, digital humanities, creative economy, heritage, interdisciplinary research with science subjects) and to deliver research of exceptional scale and importance as set out in its Delivery Plan
- Enhance the ways in which Early Career Researchers are developed to build capacity in strategic areas (e.g. languages and design which are under-represented in current provision) for future leadership and in the skills noted above.
The BA: – Supporting the very best individuals at early and mid career level through fellowship schemes and on their integration into the Academy’s ‘intellectual family’ and wider activities (annually up to 50 early career, post-doctoral fellowships over three years and up to 40 mid career fellowships up to 12 months).
- Terminating its project awards (mid career and small grants) and conference grants schemes.
The ESRC: – Introducing new early career grants scheme with emphasis on supporting clearly defined projects for a maximum of two years.
- Terminating its current postdoctoral and mid-career fellowships schemes.
See the AHRC website for details.
Parliamentary Round up
Parliament went into recess on 20 December and the current parliamentary session commenced on 10 January.
