Management of cultural services under the spotlight (From Ledbury Reporter)
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Management of cultural services under the spotlight
3:00pm Tuesday 27th December 2011 in News
NEW ways of managing libraries, leisure services, arts and music in Herefordshire are to be put under the spotlight.
At a meeting of Herefordshire Council’s cabinet members heard a trio of possible options drawn up to provide more efficient ways to deliver a range of cultural services.
The council’s overview and scrutiny committee is now being asked to examine the options and ensure a broad range of views are considered including those who use the services.
Within the scope of the review is Halo, which runs the county’s leisure centres on behalf of the council, Hereford’s Courtyard Centre for the Arts, sports development, arts development and the council’s heritage services.
Councillor Roger Phillips, cabinet member for enterprise and culture, told the meeting the council did not have a statutory duty to provide the services.
He said: “The services are valued and add significantly to the quality of life right across the county. However, we need to look at the way these services are managed in the light of huge reductions in public expenditure. Unless we do this, we will not be able to sustain these services in the future.”
Shirley Burnham says...
6:01pm Tue 27 Dec 11
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An unintended consequence of reporting this statement on its own is that it could mislead.
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Local authorities, under all circumstances, are still bound by their statutory duties and have been reminded of these obligations in letters from the Culture Minister. In that respect absolutely NOTHING has changed.
Your council remains legally responsible for the quality of library service provided even if it proposes that someone else does it on their behalf.
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That is not made abundantly clear by the statement you have quoted.