Corporate report

Libraries Taskforce: terms of reference (March 2019)

Updated 18 April 2019

This was published under the 2015 to 2016 Cameron Conservative government

1. Terms of reference

1.1 Introduction

The Chair of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) Culture, Tourism and Sport Board and the (then) Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy jointly set up the Libraries Taskforce as a body to take forward the recommendations of the Independent Library Report for England, published on 18 December 2014.

In March 2015, the Chair and members were appointed, and priorities and resource for 2015/16 agreed. Funding for a further 4 years (2016/17 to 2019/20) was approved via the Spending Review in November 2015.

The terms of reference, work programme and resources for the Taskforce are regularly reviewed by the Chair of the LGA’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Libraries Minister.

1.2 Role of the Taskforce

The Taskforce provides leadership and support to public library services in England. It published Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in England 2016 to 2021 on 1 December 2016. This sets out the government’s and Taskforce’s vision for, and commitment to, public libraries in England and provides a focus for joint action.

The Taskforce is a sector-led body that:

• creates and promotes a strong and coherent narrative around the contribution public libraries make to society and to local communities
• promotes public libraries to national and local government and to potential funders
• builds upon and adds value to existing good practice, partnerships and other activities, providing practical guidance and support for public libraries
• brings together the main organisations who are delivering, partnering or supporting the sector, to share information and perspectives on major issues facing it, and to identify where closer partnership working (acting as a network of delivery organisations) might lead to greater success and impact
• provides a focal point for potential partners to talk to the library sector as a whole rather than having to approach a number of organisations separately
• acts as a collective sounding board/critical friend for projects being progressed by individual member organisations
• develops, implements and monitors the action plan which sits alongside the Ambition document; and reports publicly on the progress against it every 6 months
• reviews the Ambition document and action plan every year to ensure they continue to reflect the ambitions and needs of the sector

Taskforce membership is set out in Section 1.5 below.

1.3 Taskforce work programme

The Taskforce work programme and priorities are set out in the Ambition action plan.

The Taskforce:

• commissions activity and allocates resources needed to achieve its work programme (from its members or third-parties as relevant)
• may set up working groups to lead specific projects, agreeing their membership, remit, resource and reporting requirements
• regularly reviews resource allocation and progress achieved against its work programme
• identifies risks to achieving the work programme and how they can be tackled or minimised

All Taskforce members have committed to keep the Senior Manager at Arts Council England updated on progress against agreed priorities, as well as providing information about any major new projects that they are embarking on. Taskforce members will work collaboratively with each other on individual and collective actions.

1.4 Taskforce meetings and reporting

Arts Council England has responsibility for organising Taskforce meetings and any other meetings deemed necessary to achieve the work programme.

The Taskforce meets quarterly, with papers sent out a week before the meeting. Any information that is sensitive or confidential is marked accordingly and not shared beyond specified organisations/individuals.

Minutes of each Taskforce meeting are circulated to the members within 14 working days and then published on GOV.UK once agreed (within 1 month of the meeting having taken place unless exceptional circumstances arise). The Taskforce submits 6 monthly progress reports to the LGA and DCMS Libraries Minister. Once agreed by both, these are published on GOV.UK.

1.5 Membership

The membership of the Taskforce is:

• Chair - local authority chief executive
• local government - represented by senior officers and/or councillors from nominated local authorities, the LGA and the Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers Association (cCLOA)
• Central government - DCMS officials leading on libraries policy
• Arts Council England
• BBC
• British Library
• CILIP - the UK library and information association
• Libraries Connected
• NHS England
• Public Health England
• The Reading Agency

Further information on the member organisations and their contribution to the Taskforce is at Annex A: Role and remit of Taskforce member organisations.

Membership of the group may vary depending on the Taskforce’s work priorities. The Chair, in consultation with the Taskforce, may appoint additional agreed representatives.

Members of the Taskforce are expected to attend each meeting or send along a suitably briefed and empowered alternate wherever possible. When a member or their alternate is unable to attend, they should notify Arts Council England.

Where an organisation has not been able to attend 3 consecutive meetings due to other commitments, the Chair will contact its representative to discuss its continued involvement.

1.6 Role of Taskforce members

Taskforce members bring their expertise and particular interests from their representative bodies; see Annex A: Role and remit of Taskforce member organisations.

The role of members is to work together through the Taskforce to:

• share information and perspectives on external and internal factors which may affect the sector and delivery of library services
• identify where partnership working might lead to greater success and impact
• develop, agree, implement and monitor specific programmes of work set out in the Taskforce’s action plan, including using Taskforce meetings to update on projects that they are pursuing and, where appropriate, seeking Taskforce members’ collective views on how that project might best be taken forward
• act as a conduit for information, bringing feedback from, and promoting/reporting back to, their respective organisations and members on the work of the Taskforce

Some members of the Taskforce may also take on a personal lead role for championing a specific aspect of the Taskforce’s work; for example, maintaining an overview of progress, and leading strategic discussions, on one of the 7 Outcomes mentioned in the Ambition document.

Members must declare any concerns and/or actual or potential conflicts of interest in matters that might be considered by the Taskforce. The Chair will then consider how this should be handled; for example, the organisation’s representative might be asked to withdraw from the meeting during consideration of the issue(s) in question.

1.7 Ways of working

The Taskforce has agreed some principles to govern its ways of working. They are to:

• recognise that councils are responsible for their own performance and improvement, and are accountable to local communities for their library service
• harness and further develop councils’ collective responsibility for libraries improvement, drawing upon the contributions of local government and of relevant partners who may bring expertise and different perspectives
• build upon and add value to existing good practice, partnerships and other activity that is already supporting public libraries
• take ownership of tasks they have agreed to lead on and ensure they are completed to schedule and agreed standards
• be transparent, inclusive and timely
• be accountable to local and central government through joint reporting to the Chair of the LGA’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board and the DCMS Libraries Minister

More details on Taskforce members’ ways of working are set out in Annex B: Ways of working.

1.8 Communication channels

Arts Council England will send out regular updates to Taskforce members. Taskforce members are encouraged to share any updates that they send to their sector.

Arts Council England will send other information by email to Taskforce members on an ad-hoc basis.

The Communications Lead for the Taskforce shall:

• develop and execute a shared communications plan in accordance with the aims of the Taskforce, including assets and joint messaging
• work with communications representatives from Taskforce member organisations to deliver the communications plan where relevant
• provide input into individual or collective Taskforce member’s blogs, communications and social media when requested
• promote (for example, by retweeting) information from Taskforce members and their organisations

Each Taskforce member will nominate a communications representative from their organisation to liaise between themselves, to amplify and reinforce each others’ messages wherever appropriate.

Taskforce members will represent / speak on behalf of the Taskforce when requested (diaries permitting) and are asked to notify the Communications Manager at ACE of these requests in order to ensure external messaging is consistent.

1.9 Taskforce members working with external partners

Taskforce members will continue to liaise with their existing external partners. If any partnership arrangements are ‘exclusive’ (for example the partners have agreed to work together on a topic and not involve others), then, without impacting on the partner’s independence, this information will be shared with other Taskforce members to avoid any unintentional conflicts.

If the Taskforce and any of its members are approached by new contacts and where, following initial discussions, the issues raised appear to relate to the Taskforce’s work plan or priorities, they are encouraged to:

• put the contact in touch with other Taskforce members where relevant, for example, if another Taskforce member is leading on a particular strand of work in the Taskforce Action Plan
• alert other Taskforce members (via correspondence or at a meeting) if the issue being taken forward is likely to be significant, high-profile and/or controversial
• provide regular updates on any resulting work through the roadmap / update at a Taskforce meeting

If Taskforce members plan to approach new partners (for example because they think these may have something to add to a particular piece of work) and they are aware that other Taskforce members already have a relationship with that partner, they are encouraged to build on those links whenever possible.

2. Annex A: Role and remit of Taskforce member organisations

Professor Steven Broomhead is the Chair of the Taskforce as well as being the Chief Executive Warrington Borough Council, where he is responsible for a wide portfolio of customer facing services, including libraries.

Arts Council England is the development agency for libraries in England, and builds on the vision and priorities set out in Envisioning the library of the future. Arts Council England has awarded over £23 million to library applicants between October 2011 and 31 January 2019, including £6.2 million through the 2018-22 National Portfolio. These awards may encompass arts activity as well as library activity. Across the country it convenes cultural conversations connecting the arts, museums and libraries with senior council and university leaders. It currently supports 6 libraries through its National Portfolio Organisation funding, and Libraries Connected as a Sector Support Organisation. Since December 2018, Arts Council England has been responsible for the delivery of the Taskforce’s work.

The British Library is the national library of the UK, underpinning research, innovation and enterprise in the UK’s knowledge economy. It has built, and is expanding on, various partnerships with public libraries, particularly including the Business and IP Centre network, administration of the Public Lending Right and a Living Knowledge Network to support its mission to make our intellectual heritage accessible to everyone, for research, inspiration and enjoyment. It leads on a project to develop a Single Digital Library Presence.

The BBC supports the Libraries Deliver: Ambition document’s aspirations to ensure libraries remain a vital part of public life. It continues to support libraries by building on various activities to encourage reading, literacy and digital enablement. Within the Taskforce, it recognises the role that digital technology can play in transforming public libraries and is helping to explore what digital capability and infrastructures would most benefit libraries and how these can be rolled out over time.

The UK library and information association (CILIP) is the professional body representing library and information workers across the UK. It provides leadership and advocacy for the profession, investing in the development of skills and competencies to meet the current and future needs of communities and businesses. Along with Society for Chief Librarians (SCL) (now known as Libraries Connected) it developed and published a Public Libraries Skills Strategy in 2017. As a member of the Taskforce, CILIP supports the development of a fresh vision for the public library network in England, promoting enterprise, information literacy and equality of access to knowledge and information.

The Chief Cultural & Leisure Officers Association (cCLOA) represents senior strategic leaders managing public sector cultural, tourism and sport services. It seeks to influence the development of national policies and to lobby for positive change in the cultural and leisure sectors. Members are often the senior strategic leader for libraries, amongst a wide portfolio of other services.

Senior officers or councillors from nominated local authorities - representing local councils’ interests and accountability.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is the joint accountable body for the Taskforce and has responsibility for central government policy relating to public libraries in England. It is the sponsoring government department for Arts Council England and the British Library.

Libraries Connected is a subscription-based membership body, open to the heads of the 177 library services in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It takes a leading role in the development of public libraries through advocating for the power of libraries, sharing best practice and helping to shape the public library service now and in the future. As a Sector Support Organisation for the Arts Council, their role is to:

• represent the public library sector nationally, regionally and locally
• connect partners to local libraries, by brokering national partnerships
• improve the provision of local library services
• drive innovation and new thinking around the role of libraries in a modern society

The Local Government Association (LGA) is the joint accountable body for the Taskforce, and a national voice for local government.

NHS England leads the National Health Service in England, setting the priorities and direction of the NHS and encouraging and informing the national debate to improve health and care. It wants everyone to have greater control of their health and their wellbeing, and to be supported to live longer, healthier lives by high quality health and care services that are compassionate, inclusive and constantly-improving. Public libraries can be a source of trusted information which can help people self-manage their health, contribute to the design of better services and make contact with community groups able to offer advice and support.

Public Health England (PHE) leads on protecting and improving the nation’s health and wellbeing and reducing health inequalities. It does this through world class science, knowledge and intelligence, advocacy, partnerships and delivery of specialist public health services. Many of these programmes are delivered through, or linked with, public libraries.

The Reading Agency is a national charity that tackles life’s big challenges through the proven power of reading. It works closely with partners to develop and deliver programmes for people of all ages and backgrounds, working towards a world where everyone is reading their way to a better life. The Reading Agency is funded by Arts Council England.

3. Annex B: Taskforce ways of working

Taskforce members have adopted the following general principles to govern their working practices and relationships.

They will:

• work together collectively towards common goals
• co-operate and support each other to achieve agreed priorities
• ensure future sector policy issues are identified and discussed to develop shared positions
• respect the role, knowledge, skills, experience and achievements of other Taskforce partners
• challenge others constructively and respectfully
• share information in a timely manner
• communicate clearly and in a consistent manner, supporting the collective decisions of the Taskforce, including highlighting when a piece of work has been delivered by one or more organisations within the membership
• understand and manage the impact of their policies and activities on those of Taskforce partner organisations

The Taskforce will embrace change by:

• being receptive to new ideas
• regarding it as an opportunity, and taking an active part in the process
• challenging assumptions in a constructive way

The Taskforce will foster high performance by:

• inspiring and motivating others to achieve
• making effective use of available resources, information and feedback to improve performance

The Taskforce will solve problems by:

• taking a holistic view when analysing problems
• identifying opportunities for innovation
• working creatively to develop innovative and workable solutions

The Taskforce will deliver an excellent service:

• by clearly identifying requirements and managing expectations
• planning and organising workloads to ensure that deadlines are met within resource constraints
• seeking to deliver the highest quality of work

The Taskforce will take personal and collective responsibility to:

• be aware of their own behaviour and how it impacts on others
• take ownership of tasks and ensure they are completed to schedule and agreed standards
• make timely decisions in line with level of responsibility