On the eve of the launch of the Cultural Olympiad, London has performed particularly badly in the culture block of the Audit Commission's annual Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), with more than half of the city's councils scoring only two out of four for 2007.
This constitutes a slight improvement on London's culture score in 2006, which was characterised by Lambeth scoring only one. But with most of England's councils scoring either a three or a four, with the north-east performing the most strongly, the capital is lagging behind the national average.
A score of two means that the council is operating only at minimum requirements, while a four means that it is well above the minimum standards.
Analysing London's culture score, figures for museum and gallery visits are reflective of the bigger picture. Despite a slight increase in the number of people using London's museums, the number of physical visits has increased only very slightly, while the average number of visits to museums and galleries by pupils in organised groups across the London boroughs has gone down from 5,737
to 5,458.
Asked what he thought was behind the low scores, Graham Fisher, chief executive of MLA London, said: "There is a complex set of factors and interdependencies to do with legacy, building, resources and staffing, to name a few."
In order to improve the scores, MLA London is contributing to a £400m cultural improvement plan, which will also receive funding from Capital Ambition, Arts Council England London, Sport England and London councils.
The agency is backing a peer-mentoring programme for London's local authority culture services, and will also be looking at ways of passing learning from retiring officers to other staff.
A consultant will oversee the programme, and there will be a pot of £50,000 available to any council that has undergone the scheme to make improvements to its culture service.
This constitutes a slight improvement on London's culture score in 2006, which was characterised by Lambeth scoring only one. But with most of England's councils scoring either a three or a four, with the north-east performing the most strongly, the capital is lagging behind the national average.
A score of two means that the council is operating only at minimum requirements, while a four means that it is well above the minimum standards.
Analysing London's culture score, figures for museum and gallery visits are reflective of the bigger picture. Despite a slight increase in the number of people using London's museums, the number of physical visits has increased only very slightly, while the average number of visits to museums and galleries by pupils in organised groups across the London boroughs has gone down from 5,737
to 5,458.
Asked what he thought was behind the low scores, Graham Fisher, chief executive of MLA London, said: "There is a complex set of factors and interdependencies to do with legacy, building, resources and staffing, to name a few."
In order to improve the scores, MLA London is contributing to a £400m cultural improvement plan, which will also receive funding from Capital Ambition, Arts Council England London, Sport England and London councils.
The agency is backing a peer-mentoring programme for London's local authority culture services, and will also be looking at ways of passing learning from retiring officers to other staff.
A consultant will oversee the programme, and there will be a pot of £50,000 available to any council that has undergone the scheme to make improvements to its culture service.
