The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) has helped to develop a cultural services assessment as part of the Audit Commission’s comprehensive performance assessment of English local authorities.
In addition, DCMS is engaged in a three-year programme, in partnership with the Improvement and Development Agency and national cultural agencies, to develop a self-improvement strategy for local authority cultural services.
However, the extent of local cultural service provision is a matter for local authorities to decide.
The Local Government White Paper: Strong and prosperous communities proposed a new performance framework for local government which included introducing a set of up to 200 national indicators related to the Government’s priority outcomes for local areas.
These priority outcomes will be defined through the current Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).
As part of the CSR, DCMS is working to ensure that the new set of national indicators will contain an appropriate focus on local government’s role in relation to national priorities on culture.