Weeknotes 9

Hello again and welcome to week 9 - nearly at Christmas! This week included a catch up with Giles Turnbull who introduced me to the concept of weeknotes. I'm really pleased with how they've taken off and tallied up a number of positive outcomes from them, including new connections. I hope they are still useful to readers - do let me know if you want more, less, or something different!

Highlights

• Cllr Shaun Davies, Chair of the LGA, ably accompanied by Rebecca Elliot , met with Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England; Laura Dyer, Deputy Chief Executive; and Paul Bristow, Director of Strategic Partnerships. It was a wide-ranging discussion of the challenges facing councils and our good relationship with ACE in supporting councils and the cultural sector to transform in the face of financial pressures. And it resulted in a shared commitment to continue our joint improvement support councils as they deliver cultural services for communities under very challenging conditions.
• On the sporting side, Cllr Liz Green joined the second meeting of the National Physical Activity Taskforce to discuss the recent Active Lives survey, and how Government and partners can support young people to be more active in their daily lives. This was also the focus of the conversation later in the week when I joined the National Sector Partners Group , chaired by Huw Edwards , where the financial challenges facing the leisure sector were also discussed in depth.

Positive progress

1. Reducing inequality and improving access to services is a core goal of all LGA policy work, so I was pleased to meet with Charlotte Goulding in our Partners in Care and Health Team to discuss how culture and leisure services are responding to a better understanding of the needs of people with autism and learning disabilities. As an autistic person myself, it was great to talk about autism friendly libraries and museums, and accessible parks. I didn't have anything on leisure so either that sector's behind the times or I'm not sighted on it - anyone have good examples to share there?
2. Lauren Lucas and I also met with the National Trust to talk about improving connections between Trust properties and their local places, as well as exploring the value in sharing expertise between the Trust and councils, particularly on commercialisation. It feels like there is a lot of potential here.

Things you might like to know

• Our annual Culture, Tourism and Sport conference will take place on 5 March in South Shields Town Hall - kindly hosted by South Tyneside Council. Programme and booking details will be available shortly, but do hold the date in your diary.
• Our four lead members , representing each of the political groups at the LGA, met on Tuesday to discuss the agenda for our Board meeting on 17 January. Lucy Frazer KC MP, Secretary of State for DCMS, is due to attend so we focused on the key messages we want to give about local government, its importance to DCMS as a key deliverer of services, and convenor of partners in place. This will include case studies of effective practice and the opportunities to do more in partnership with central government. We will also mention the challenge of local government finance.
• Lauren Lucas and I spoke to DCMS about their levelling up and devolution work, sharing what's going on in council areas and discussing further ways in which the department can support this agenda (as it wants to).
• Our final Culture, Tourism and Sport bulletin of the year will go out early next week. There's still time to sign up if you're not already receiving it. There's a lot more in it than I can cover in these notes, including funding opportunities. Don't miss out!

Have a great weekend!