National News

George Osborne’s first round of cuts have added a further £19m to the already announced £4m cut to ACE’s budget for this year. Including the £6.5m administrative savings, ACE are taking an overall 5% cut from the DCMS, compared to 3% across the rest of the department.

An online petition to encourage support for arts in mental health is nearing its deadline. The petition on the Downing Street website makes a call for greater resources available within the NHS and Local Authorities for the use of arts as an aid to recovery, wellbeing and social inclusion for people with mental health problems. The deadline for signing the petition is 10th July 2010.

Following the new Government’s implementation of £6bn of cuts across Whitehall, Arts Council has announced that it will be required to make cuts to its budget of £19m in this financial year. The Arts Council has said it will be impossible to make these savings solely from running costs so some cuts are likely to funded organisations and grants.

The Scottish Development Centre for Mental health has carried out  a large scale quantitative research project amongst the Scottish population to explore the link between arts attendance and participation, and levels of mental health and wellbeing.  The research found that “attendance of and participation in the arts is an activity that is perceived to have multiple life-en

In reaction to the fast approaching general election Arts Quarter have set up an online survey to gauge views from across the cultural and wider not-for-profit communities throughout the UK. The results of the survey will seek to influence policy decisions that will need to be made by whichever party is elected to government on 6th May.

On 19^th January, Arts Council England (ACE) opened their consultation on future priorities for the arts. ACE identified areas for development in the arts over the next ten years and asked for views to inform its long term strategy and next set of investment decisions.

Just published is the Fair Society, Healthy Lives, Marmot Review, set up by Secretary of State for Health Alan Johnson in response to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health in 2008.

On 23^rd March the results of Design for Patient Dignity, a programme from the Department of Health and Design Council which brought together leading UK designers and manufacturers with frontline healthcare staff to help solve privacy and dignity issues for patients, were unveiled by Health Minister Ann Keen at the Design Council.

The Sustainable Development Commission is urging health professionals to rate the sustainability of their organisation by signing up to their online toolkit ‘Good Corporate Citizenship’.