Been a bit of a busy period on the lobbying front, so time for a catch-up.
Libraries have been looming very large, with an enormous amount of work going into the campaign to save Wakefield music library from extinction. The latest crunch meeting is on Monday 12 December, so we need to see what happens, but there is a little optimism around now that a good solution will be found. While that’s been happening, we have also had a flurry of activity with regards to the Performing Arts Library at New Barnfield in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, which is closing to make way for an incinerator! Although Herts CC has no desire to shut the library, finding suitable alternative premises is proving tricky to say the least, with browsing facilities being seriously at risk.
Government activities have also been occupying a fair bit of time. We have responded (largely) favourably to the consultation on the new licensing regime. Basically the new regime will be much less onerous for events with audiences of under 5,000 (which obviously includes almost all our members) and will almost completely remove the need to license such events where no alcohol is present. Good news and thanks to our Head of Programmes and Development Evan Dawson for handling this consultation activity.
We’ve also been involved with the consultation around the new National Plan for Music Education (in England), entitled The Importance of Music. This has resulted in some significant mentions of the voluntary sector throughout. Doing a quick search for ‘voluntary’ will show you the extent to which our contributions have borne fruit. Music education in the future will be fronted by local ‘hubs’, which has to be bid for, and it is clear that partnerships with local voluntary sector groups should be a part of the hub and will form part of the bid process. So make sure your local hub includes you! Read our response to the National Plan for Music Education.
Finally, it’s clear that our
Gift Aid campaign has now finished successfully, with groups benefitting from the new guidance and receiving in some cases very large windfalls from HMRC. A rough calculation seems to show that on average our members will have benefitted from this negotiation to the extent of 10 times their annual subscription! We are very pleased to have been able to achieve this for our members – had it not been for our huge efforts in this area around £3.5 million at least would have been lost to the sector.
