As part of the ongoing changes to the points-based system of immigration, Parliament has announced changes to the Tier 1 category. 

Creative Scotland has released its first corporate plan outlining how it will manage its inherited responsibilities from Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Screen. 

The DCMS is conducting a Taking Part questionnaire refresh to ensure the survey meets the needs of its users. 

Not all city councils are targeting arts organizations as a source for savings. Worcester City Council voted to keep funding for arts organizations at the same level even though overall spending will fall twenty per cent. 

The Cultural Learning Alliance, of which the NCA is a member, has written to Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, highlighting potential terms of reference for the follow up Henley Review into cultural education. 

NCA board meeting; Louise Norman, SOLT/TMA; David Brownlee, Audiences UK and Ed Vaizey MP, Minister for Culture, Communications & Creative Industries.

Following a debate on the Live Music Bill, reintroduced into the House of Lords by Lord Clement-Jones, the Government has given its backing to the Bill, subject to certain amendments.

A good news story about the power of the arts lobby has emerged from Northern Ireland this week. The Arts were facing a proposed £4.2 million budget cut, representing a real terms reduction of 23% with inflation. This budget cut was disproportionately high compared with other sectors.

On Thursday, 10 March, the House of Lords debated “the Government’s assessment of the points-based system introduced in November 2008 as it affects non-European Union artists, performers, academics and others intending to work in the United Kingdom”.

The Secretary of State has embarked on a letter writing campaign to the CEOs of the FTSE 100 to encourage more of them to support the arts. This is all part of the Government’s drive to boost philanthropy and to make 2011 the Year of Corporate Giving. The NCA is pleased that the Mr Hunt is actively leading this initiative from the front but notes with concern some comments reported in the Financial Times which state that “it was ‘unrealistic and unreasonable’ to expect the private sector to pick up funding in areas from which government has retreated.”

Alan Davey, Arts Council England; Robin Simpson, Voluntary Arts; members of the arts Participation steering group; an excellent and enjoyable production of Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe.

While the arts sector awaits the announcement of Art Council England’s National portfolio, ACE has released their annual report on Regularly Funded Organisations.

As part of the Mayor of London’s ongoing music education strategy, an audit is being conducted on the scale, accessibility and quality of music education in the capital. 

Following the Migration Advisory Council’s [MAC] release of their recommended ‘graduate level occupations’ to qualify under Tier 2, MAC have released their recommendation on jobs to be removed from the UK shortage occupation list.

The NCA is delighted to announce that Selina Mehra will be joining the NCA on 14 March as Campaigns and Events officer. Selina will be taking over from the NCA’s Campaigns Manager, John Munro, who leaves the NCA today to take up a public affairs position with the British Retail Consortium.

Lord Clement-Jones’ Live Music Bill is to receive its second reading on Friday 4 March.

On Thursday 3 March, voters across Wales will have the opportunity to vote in a referendum on transferring more law making powers to the National Assembly.

Major entertainment companies and internet service providers attended a roundtable on online content in the digital age. 

The spring edition of nca newswill be published in April. The theme for this edition is ‘Localism, the Big Society and the Arts’. We are looking for a front cover image that conveys this idea. 

Caroline Miller, Dance UK; Audiences UK summit in Derby; presentation to a Chinese delegation from Hunan Province about the economic importance of the arts. [Interesting fact: Hunan's culture industry generated 87 billion yuan (US$11.76 billion) in economic value in 2007, a major contributor to the province's economic growth. The industry accounts for 7.5 percent of the region's GDP - 0.9 percentage points higher than the previous year.]