Culture Counts 24/25 pre-budget scrutiny

Culture Counts 24/25 pre-budget scrutiny
This survey is to inform Culture Counts' contribution to Scottish Parliament Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee’s scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s culture budget for 2024-25.

This questionnaire is designed primarily for Core Members of Culture Counts, many of whom represent the views and realities of their own membership organisations, individuals and freelancers and are conducting their own research. The aim of Culture Counts’ survey is to collate these views and present a strategic and sector wider response.

All the questions contained in the body of the survey are optional, some of these might be more relevant to your role within the sector than others. Please feel free to provide as little or as much information as you like.

If you or your organisation have already completed a response to this consultation, or relevant information exists elsewhere – such as in a funding evaluation document or existing research, please forward this on to us, don’t worry about re-formatting the information to fit the form of this survey.

Please direct emails to Lori Anderson, Director of Culture Counts: lori@culturecounts.scot

We will host a round-table discussion for Culture Counts Core Members on 15 August 10am-11:30am via zoom to discuss strategic issues and top line responses within the consultation. Core members can sign up for this event here

Contextual information about our approach and aims with this consultation, the Scottish Government budet process and the process of Parlimentary Scrutiny is available on our website here.

The deadline for responses to this survey is 15 August at 5pm.
Your data will be held in accordance with Culture Counts' privacy policy, which can be found here
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The Culture Committee's consultation contains three questions. The first of which is:

In our pre-budget report last year, the Committee described the operating environment of the culture sector as facing a “perfect storm” of long-term budget pressures, reduced income generation, and increased operating costs. How has this evolved over the last 12 months? What impact has the Budget for 2023- 24 had on the culture sector?

Answers to our questions included below will inform Culture Counts' response to question one of the consultation
1) How have the last 12 months been? What are the challenges facing your organisation/ those you represent? Are long term budget pressures, reduced income generation and increased operating costs impacting you/your organisation or stakeholders?
2) Are ongoing pressures and uncertainties having an impact on the culture workforce, for your organisation/those you represent/or the sector more widely including freelancers? This could be in terms of staff retention, health and wellbeing, confidence and resilience.
3) Are these challenges impacting on other sources of income generation, such as external funding, sponsorship, partnership working and audience development?
4) Is your organisation/those you represent experiencing a gap between available budgets and needs, how are reserves levels? Can you tell us more?

Responses to our questions below will inform our answer to question 2 of the consultation:

Our report also concluded that that this crisis provides an opportunity to accelerate innovative solutions to the budgetary pressures within the sector. What progress has been made on this in the last 12 months? And at a time of limited resources, what other innovative approaches could the Scottish Government take forward to support the culture sector?
5) In the event that future Government funding were to be cut or remain at standstill, what would the impact be for your organisation/those you represent?
6) Please describe how budget uncertainties are impacting confidence and ability to plan ahead?
7) How are requirements to advance fair work, equalities and sustainability impacting budgets and work programs now and in future?
8) If continued standstill or reductions in Government investment in culture were to take place, what would be the impact on the sector as a whole?
9) Do you have any reflections on how Scottish Government and its agencies create and disseminate policy and make budgetary decisions for the sector?
10) Recent years have seen much conversation between the sector and policy makers regarding cross portfolio working. What do policy makers need to do to take this work forward?

Responses to our questions below will inform our answer to question 3 of the consultation:

The Committee called for the forthcoming refreshed Culture Strategy Action Plan to provide a clear and strategic sense of how the Scottish Government is working to ensure a more sustainable future for the sector. How should the refreshed Culture Strategy Action Plan help to inform future budgetary decisions within the culture sector?
11) If standstill funding for culture persists, there will become a requirement for further cuts in investment (such as Creative Scotland reducing the size of its regularly funded portfolio). In this case, where should funding be prioritised and how should these decisions be made?
12) What should the culture sector be asking of the Scottish Government in the run-up to the next budget?

Responses to the questions below will capture anything we might have missed
13) In producing this response it is vital that we provide the committee with the most relevant and up to date evidence. The consultation paper includes a list of sources of evidence we may draw from. Are there any others that may be relevant that could be used in this policy response?
14) Is there anything else you would like to add not covered by previous questions?
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Culture Counts 24/25 pre-budget scrutiny

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