Beginning in 2012, the Year of Creative Scotland, hopes to take full advantage of the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Culture and External Affairs secretary, Fiona Hyslop MSP hopes to platform Scottish culture and creativity over the next three years. This includes a £6.5m investment of National Lottery money, administered by Creative Scotland, as well as the introduction of a Creative Places Awards, to recognise and celebrate communities with strong cultural and creative records.

As part of their wider digital strategy, Arts Council England has presented the Digital Research and Development Fund for Arts and Culture in a number of cities, over this month. The digital days, which were held in Birmingham, London, Bristol and Manchester, included case studies and Q and A’s about the fund. ACE have one more digital day in Brighton on the 10th August remaining, however presentations from July are now online.

On Monday, the Treasury announced a discussion paper on the civil service green book, which provides guidance on how ministerial proposals should be assessed before committing public money. The discussion paper considers the use of a social cost benefit analysis and recognises the potential value of non-market impacts, for an economic appraisal. The discussion paper opens up the debate, to consider the impact of health, family and subjective wellbeing on people, and ultimately to re-consider the methods for assessing future decisions.

A new report has just been published by Clore Social Fellow Caroline Beaumont which explores moving from fundraising to resource-raising and how organisations can use donated resources as part of an income-generation strategy.

Following the announcements made in the budget, HM Treasury is now inviting views from the sector on lifetime giving. This consultation is part of the wider government commitment to charitable giving agenda and we encourage our members to get in touch with the NCA with comments on the consultation.

ACE announced its new role as the Designated Competent Body for artists entering the UK under the Tier 1 Exceptional Talent route of the points based visa system. The change means that ACE will now have the power to make recommendations to the UK Border Agency (UKBA) about artists applying for a Tier 1 visas.

Supporting Growth in the Arts Economy; a report by Tom Fleming Creative Consultancy released today by ACE, explores the opportunities and possibilities to encourage growth within and across the sector. The report brings together findings from three papers: The arts economy; Place, infrastructure and digital and Towards an arts and creative economy development programme.

Applications are now open for creative businesses focusing on digital content to apply for funding from ACNI. The Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) have announced £4m, to be administered over four years, to encourage growth, creativity and innovation.

This week also saw the Lords discussing the support available for theatre in the regions. Earl of Clancarty, Nicholas Trench, asked the Government about the support available for local theatre, citing Northcott Theatre in Exeter as a local theatre threatened with closure. He expressed concern that cuts to local theatre would prevent the future creation of award winning productions such as War Horse or Jerusalem, which would not have been possible without public subsidies and regional support.

Following the recent recommendations made in the Wolf Review, on the provision of vocational education, the Department for Education is now inviting views from interested parties on the proposed reforms to vocational qualifications. The Wolf Review recommended that, both vocational and academic, qualifications must demonstrate where they can or cannot contribute towards performance indicators at Key Stage 4.

The Home Office has launched a consultation into employment related settlement, tier 5 workers and overseas domestic workers. The consultation forms part of the wider Government reforms to improve the UK immigration system for temporary workers and overseas domestic workers.

Following the announcement from Jeremy Hunt MP, earlier in the year, the Creative Industries Council finally met this week for the first time. The council is a joint forum chaired by Vince Cable (Sec. State for Business, Innovation & Skills) and Creative Industries Minister, Ed Vaizey. The group includes representatives from across the sector including the Design Council, ACE and Harper Collins. A press release from DCMS said the group would provide a forum for action and ensuring a stronger voice for the sector, as well as, a stronger partnership with Government.

Following the abolition of the Museums, Libraries & Archives, from October 2011 Arts Council England (ACE) will take on the responsibility for museums and libraries. As part of making this transition, ACE asked Baroness Estelle Morris to review the 10 year strategy, Great Art for Everyone, and to devise a strategy that accommodates museums and libraries within its framework.

The Government published its much anticipated Open Public Services White Paper this week which presses for radical changes to public services. New measures will see public services markets open up, users given more control, and the encouragement of innovation to drive better services for all, which will encourage a wider range of providers of many public services.

On Tuesday, we also saw the release of the Hidden Wealth report, from Arts Quarter. In response to the wider philanthropy and giving agenda, championed by DCMS Minister Jeremy Hunt, Arts Quarter has updated its research report on hidden wealth and the capacity of arts organisations to respond to the philanthropy agenda.

On Monday, UKTI released the Inward Investment report for 2010/11. The report covers the investment activity over the past year, covering a number of industries including media and creative. This data will provide some interesting reading, particularly following the recent statements from the Government on Tourism policy found here and the UKTI Britain Open for Business corporate strategy back in May, which can also be found here

The deadline for responses to our members’ survey is 20th July. We need to heard from as many as you as possible - we recognise the enormous value that your suggestions, advice and feedback can provide. At a time of huge change in the sector, we would like to hear from you about how you think the NCA can be most effective for the arts, both locally and nationally.

Following the announcements made in the budget, HM Treasury is now inviting views from the sector on lifetime giving. This consultation is part of the wider government commitment to charitable giving agenda and we encourage our members to get in touch with the NCA with comments on the consultation.

The Home Office has launched a consultation into employment related settlement, tier 5 workers and overseas domestic workers. The consultation forms part of the wider Government reforms to improve the UK immigration system for temporary workers and overseas domestic workers.

Following on from last week’s unveiling of the £40m Catalyst Arts fund, the Culture Secretary outlined details of a further £55m that will be used to set up an endowment fund for cultural organisations.