The duty to co-operate presents potential opportunities for culture and sport. Lead local authorities and ‘named partners’ must co-operate to agree targets in the LAA. They must also ‘have regard to’ the targets that relate to them when carrying out their work. The ‘named partners’ include the following cultural and sports agencies:

• Arts Council England
• English Heritage
• Learning and Skills Council
• Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
• Sport England.

This means that the involvement of the cultural and sports sectors in LAAs has a statutory basis for the first time. It provides a more weighty opportunity for the cultural and sports agencies to:

• engage in joint planning and partnership working
• align funding
• share responsibility for delivering against relevant targets.

Government will be publishing further guidance on what the new duty will mean in practice.

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