DCMS to streamline regions

The eight Regional Cultural Consortiums (RCCs) are due to disappear within 12 months, as responsibility for regional arts and sports issues is handed to Arts Council England (ACE) Regional Offices in partnership with other Government agencies, under new plans unveiled by Arts Minister Margaret Hodge. Following a review of the DCMS’s regional infrastructure, ACE will work with Sport England, English Heritage and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) “to jointly deliver a core set of shared priorities across the culture and sport agenda” in a plan to “strengthen DCMS engagement in regional policy”. The four agencies will “continue with their existing and continuing sector specific responsibilities, but will also introduce a way of using contributions from all regional partners in a more targeted and effective way”. The priorities identified for the scheme include Regional Strategies, Local Area Agreements, Local Government commitment to culture and sport; Place Shaping; and liaison with the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) concerning 2012 and the Cultural Olympiad.

The abolition of the nine-year-old RCCs is, according to Hodge, the result of a shifting regional landscape. “With the new Local Area Agreements imminent and Integrated Regional Strategies on the horizon we need to put delivery at the heart of the debate,” she said. The DCMS has told AP that the exercise will save £1.72m, but that “there will be associated wind up and transitional costs in the short term”. The London Cultural Consortium, which is the responsibility of the Mayor of London, will be unaffected.

MLA Director, Paul Lander, said the scheme would “ensure government’s contribution to culture and sport is planned in a cost effective and joined up way at a regional level”, and that it is “good news for frontline services”. Lorna Brown, Chair of nalgao (the National Association of Local Government Arts Officers) welcomed the announcement, in particular “the intended development of joint regional action plans to deliver stronger cultural support and direction. The new relationship will… redirect and deliver long-term savings that will be reinvested directly into culture and sport provision.” However, Olivia Grant, Chair of Culture North East, expressed concerns to AP about the decision. “I think that now is not a good time to rationalise regional capability,” she said. While expressing her support for MLA and ACE, she said that “at a time when many parts of the cultural sector…are having to review the extent of their capability within regions, a decision to close the RCCs, with the expectation that the other parts of the sector would be able to absorb the strategic level of operations that the RCCs have been doing, is questionable.” [[the agencies will jointly deliver a core set of shared priorities across the culture and sport agenda]]

Jane Edwards, Executive Director of Living East, said that “the time is right for this new approach and [we] will work with regional agencies to ensure a smooth transition”. Although welcoming the “mainstreaming of RCC work into the core activities of the cultural agencies”, she added that work on “the creative economy and a joined-up approach to research and evidence gathering” should not be lost. “We recognise that the capacity to maximise these and other opportunities in the region are at risk, given the fact that the DCMS regional presence is going to be significantly reduced,” she said.