Corporate report

Leadership for Libraries Taskforce: six month progress report (October 2015 - March 2016)

Published 13 April 2016

1. Introduction

Public libraries exist to help everyone progress. Supported by a valued workforce, they provide resources and opportunities for everyone to use within safe and trusted spaces in their communities.

Libraries play a vital role in achieving social, economic, cultural and education policy goals, which contribute to individual and community wellbeing. Books and reading are of core importance to the overall libraries agenda. Libraries are essential in supporting literacy, education and the acquisition of information and knowledge. They can also make an important contribution to bridging skills gaps, particularly in a growing and changing economy.

Following a recommendation in the Independent Library Report for England (published December 2014), the Leadership for Libraries Taskforce was established by the chair of the Local Government Association’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board and the Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy in March 2015. The Taskforce published its first 6 monthly progress report (covering April to September 2015) on 26 November 2015.

This second report, covering October 2015 to March 2016, sets out how the Taskforce has delivered specific actions against agreed priorities through the individual and collective input of its members. The report includes:

• an update on the Taskforce’s achievements, highlighting successes to date
• a summary of existing Taskforce activity
• proposed next steps and suggested areas of focus over the next 6 months

Annex A sets out background information on the Taskforce, and Annex B lists meetings with government departments and partners, and library visits.

2. Update on Taskforce achievements

The Taskforce continues to undertake a wide variety of activities through collective and individual member actions. This unified approach has helped to build stronger links in the library sector, as well as making better use of resources to promote the continuing value of libraries.

The main project in this period has been the development of Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in England 2016-2021 which sets out the Taskforce’s vision for public libraries in England. The Taskforce is seeking views on this draft document between 23 March and 3 June 2016 and it will then work with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to publish the final Ambition document in summer 2016.

2.1 Successes to date include:

Digital enablement

Through the collective efforts of Arts Council England (who administered the funding announced in Budget 2015) and local authorities, 99% of public libraries in England will be providing free and upgraded WiFi access to their users by April 2016.

The Taskforce has been working with a variety of partners to ensure this WiFi access is used to provide a range of digital support to communities across England. Partners include Barclays; BT; Halifax; and the BBC.

Demonstrating how libraries add value

The Taskforce has continued to meet with various government departments to highlight the value of libraries and the work they do to support policy agendas such as providing Life Chances for all. This has resulted in a greater appreciation and awareness of the value of libraries to communities.

Working with the Ministry of Justice, in February 2016, the Taskforce launched a 3 month pilot across a number of libraries in 2 London boroughs to provide dedicated work spaces (commuter hubs) for use by civil servants. There has been considerable interest from civil servants from a range of departments in using these libraries and there is a growing demand to locate other suitable sites.

Using library space like this helps reinforce the image of libraries as vibrant and flexible places that support and enable a wide variety of agendas, as well as helping libraries to generate additional income.

Best practice

The Taskforce published its first toolkit, Libraries shaping the future: good practice toolkit, on 16 December 2015 in ‘beta’ version (meaning that it is being continually tested and improved). This Toolkit is aimed at chief executives and library portfolio holders. It:

• emphasises how libraries are trusted spaces, free to enter and open to all
• describes the role of libraries as places people can explore and share reading, information, knowledge and culture
• shows how local authority priorities are supported and delivered by libraries
• provides information on alternative governance models
• introduces ideas on smarter ways of working

The Taskforce has started to gather evidence on how it is being used by councils and others to inform their decision making. There have been 10,000 views of the toolkit and 6,500 views of the associated case studies on the website between publication and the end of March 2016.

Alongside this Toolkit, the Taskforce worked with DCMS to publish guidance on the legislative framework for public libraries. This includes points to consider if an authority is reviewing its library service, incorporating learning from previous case reviews and inquiries.

The Taskforce has met with a number of council leaders and library service portfolio holders to highlight the range of options that they could consider when designing changes to their existing library service. This has included sharing best practice as well as providing relevant contacts.

The Taskforce recognises that some local authorities are, for various reasons, considering moving some libraries into community management - and several have already have done so. The Taskforce does not endorse this approach but, if that path is taken, the Taskforce want to ensure that all parties involved make informed decisions: understanding the pros and cons and learning from others who have gone before, so a high quality service is provided to local people.

On 23 March 2016, the Taskforce published a second toolkit: Community libraries: good practice toolkit. This provides guidance to local authorities working with volunteers and community-led libraries, as well as to those communities who are thinking of taking on the running of a library. It includes information gathered from library partners and a wide variety of community-run and volunteer-run libraries.

Workforce development

On 20 October 2015 the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) and the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) hosted a workforce development workshop with the assistance of the Taskforce team. This considered what the future workforce needs to look like, as well as collating details of current workforce learning and development programmes. It identified gaps and investigated how they could be filled.

The Taskforce team hosted 3 library secondees during the second half of the year (August 2015 to March 2016) as part of its contribution to workforce development. This gave the secondees the opportunity to see more closely the workings of Whitehall and to lead on a number of national projects. It also enabled the Taskforce to benefit from ready access to ‘on the ground’ experience from the library sector, and to wider library contacts.

The Taskforce evaluated the secondment programme in February 2016 and concluded that this programme had been a very helpful learning intervention for the secondees, their home organisations and the sector more broadly. It also provided significant additional benefits for the work of the Taskforce (both through knowledge sharing and providing additional resources to deliver priority projects). As a result, the Taskforce team will be providing other secondment opportunities in 2016/17.

Communications

The Taskforce created a dedicated web presence which includes links to its terms of reference, publications and the minutes of all Taskforce meetings. The Taskforce also established a blog and Twitter presence which it uses to highlight its work along with activity and good practice from across the library sector. By late March 2016, the Taskforce twitter account (@LibTaskforce) had over 1200 followers. The Taskforce has published over 40 blog posts and the account has over 100 subscribers.

The Taskforce team and partners joined together to have a more focussed promotion of National Libraries Day (6 February 2016). This achieved a higher media profile of the value of libraries. The central push this year resulted in:

• over 800 events registered on the website
• over 150,000 impressions on tweets from @NatLibrariesDay
• 43,330 Facebook users
• a social reach of 650,761 through the Thunderclap

The Taskforce members also promoted through a variety of channels.

The Taskforce worked with Wolff Olins and other partners on the creation of a new library narrative. This gives greater emphasis to how libraries add value to their communities every day, whilst recognising funding and other pressures that local authorities are under. The material generated has been used in the Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in England 2016-2021 document.

Other successes

The Taskforce has secured continued funding of £500,000 a year for the next 4 years (2016/17 to 2019/20) to support Taskforce priorities. This covers the costs of the 5 core staff members in the Taskforce team as well as administration costs for Taskforce events, etc.

The Taskforce held a public library service data workshop in December 2015 attended by over 30 representatives from various organisations and individuals. It looked at existing data sets, how to improve and increase usage and make them more accessible, what data was needed in the future to inform decision making, and how to bridge gaps in the short, medium and long term.

The Taskforce facilitated a workshop with a range of partners in October 2015 to discuss potential solutions to building an effective public library service which reconciled changing public expectations with available resources. The main considerations and outcomes have been included in the Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in England 2016-2021 document.

The Taskforce successfully ensured that public libraries were referenced in the EU Joint Report on the implementation of the strategic framework for European co-operation in education and training (ET2020). This meant that public libraries are recognised for the strong role they play in non-formal and informal learning.

3. Summary of existing Taskforce activity

3.1 Digital enablement

The Taskforce continues to work with government departments and partners to investigate options to ensure that all public libraries have access to digital devices and training to help meet the growing digital demand.

SCL and the Taskforce have explored a number of digital inclusion partnerships to identify how best to exploit the free WiFi in libraries and pilot options for digital engagement. The most advanced is a pilot with the Tinder Foundation that focused on new approaches to building digital skills in socially excluded, hard to reach groups. This finished at the end of March with a full report on the outcomes and learning due in early May; an interim report was featured on the Taskforce blog in March 2016.

Following the success of an initial pilot with Halifax’s Digital Champions running tailored sessions in a couple of public libraries around Leeds, a phased rollout has begun with various libraries spread across England. Further partnerships are being explored with the BBC, Teentech and Maplin, with pilots in certain cities planned to begin in Summer 2016.

SCL ran a ‘Cracking the Code’ event at Clapham Library on 1 March for over 70 library representatives and 30 partners. This was to enable them to share knowledge and best practice on how to set up and run coding clubs, digital engagement sessions and digital making opportunities.

BBC Make IT Digital

The Taskforce is supporting the BBC’s initiative on Make it Digital. This aims to inspire a new generation to get creative with coding, programming and digital technology. It is especially focussed on helping younger audiences discover their creative potential. SCL has worked closely with the BBC to develop new opportunities for libraries to engage with BBC campaigns such as Weather Watchers which encourages people on their first steps into the digital environment. It allows them to develop basic digital skills such as uploading content to the web or sharing their report cards on social media. This is supported by local libraries to help those people currently offline to use the library to get online and develop their skills.

The Make it Digital programme is also targeting the current digital skills shortage through the BBC Make it Digital Traineeship which will help up to 5,000 young unemployed people boost their digital skills and get a foot on the jobs ladder. Libraries will continue to work with the BBC to see how they can complement and support the range of programmes on offer especially through targeted events they already run such as coding clubs.

3.2 Other digital projects

Unifying digital presence for public libraries in England

SCL published its report, commissioned from BiblioCommons, on the potential for a Single Digital Library Presence (SDLP) in January 2016. This examined the potential for public libraries across the country to develop a single digital presence offering existing and potential users of libraries a more engaging and interactive digital experience.

The report highlighted the urgent need for public libraries to have a compelling national digital presence which could help retain existing users, attract new ones and change the perceptions of public libraries. The Taskforce has established a SDLP Steering Group to take forward the project, with the first meeting being held on 31 March 2016.

E-Lending

Workshops were held on 26 October 2015 and 26 January 2016 involving representatives from libraries, publishers, booksellers, authors, agents and the Public Lending Right team from the British Library. The group are considering actions to increase and extend e-lending in a voluntary and phased approach. This has also helped to build more positive relationships between all parties.

Access to Research Journals

Following an evaluation of the 2 year pilot, it was agreed that the Access to Research Journals in public libraries be extended. This gives free access to over 10 million academic articles to users in public libraries. It forms part of SCL’s Universal Learning Offer and is available across the library network.

4. Libraries adding value

Libraries provide access to a wide range of services including supporting government prioities. The Taskforce continues to work across government and with other partners to highlight the increasing importance of libraries as a source of information and a gateway to self-improvement.

SCL’s Universal Offers have been a driver for significant innovation. Increasingly they provide a framework for partnership development at a national level, which is delivering tangible benefits to library services within local communities. SCL secured £300,000 per annum for the next 2 years from Arts Council England to enable them to build on and embed the Universal Offers across the library network as well as develop a new cultural offer.

Business and economic growth

The highly successful Business & Intellectual Property (IP) Centre (B&IPC) in the British Library celebrated its 10th anniversary in March 2016. The British Library has further developed plans to expand on its 8 existing B&IPCs to other city libraries by the end of the decade. These centres currently provide support to business owners, entrepreneurs and inventors with free access to a comprehensive collection of databases and publications, as well as the option to attend practical workshops, one-to-one advice sessions and talks. They transform city libraries into engines of innovation, economic growth and social enterprise.

The expansion of B&IPCs could help libraries lever knowledge and resources to spark local economic growth. There is potential to share this enterprise and innovation with other libraries, especially in areas of rural and social deprivation. This can create opportunities for people of all backgrounds and from all walks of life to engage in entrepreneurial activity and economic growth.

Libraries already support growth and jobs since they signpost to information, provide access to databases and business start-up / shared work spaces (eg. Wimbletech). The Taskforce were pleased to see the recommendation from the Julie Deane Review, into self-employment in the UK, which notes, ‘consideration should also be given to incorporating such a space in local libraries and community centres bringing commercial activity and life to underutilised resources already in place’.

Health and wellbeing

The Taskforce and its partners are building on and promoting the Reading Well Books on Prescription programme and highlighting its benefits to key healthcare partners. This programme is led by SCL and The Reading Agency as part of the Universal Health Offer. A new list for young people with mental health issues will be launched at the Wellcome Trust in mid-April, involving the Minister for Public Health.

SCL, with support from The Reading Agency, has a new partnership with Wellcome Trust. To date, Wellcome has granted £180,000 funding to SCL and The Reading Agency for the further development of the Books on Prescription scheme. This has been matched by Arts Council England. In addition, SCL and The Reading Agency are working with the Wellcome Trust to scope the potential for research to provide better evidence of the impact of Books on Prescription.

Wellcome Trust is hosting an SCL library secondee for 6 months. The secondee is identifying a range of potential projects and programmes which Wellcome may wish to support in libraries. A workshop to identify potential projects took place in February 2016 with over 30 participants from the SCL Universal Offer leads, library services, the Taskforce, the British Library and Wellcome Trust colleagues.

Reading

The Taskforce continues to support a range of programmes which promote reading for pleasure and literacy including key Reading Agency programmes such as the Summer Reading Challenge, Reading Hack, World Book Night and Chatterbooks.

The Taskforce also supports BBC’s Get Reading programme which aims to promote reading for pleasure, particularly in public library settings. This involves partners such as:

• The Reading Agency
• BookTrust
• the National Literacy Trust
• SCL
• the Scottish Library and Information Council

This kicks off in spring with the BBC Shakespeare Festival 2016.

Over the summer, there will be a season of children’s books on the BBC, at the heart of which will be programming marking the Roald Dahl centenary. This will also tie into this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, ‘The Big Friendly Read’, and be an important point for public libraries throughout England to engage with the Get Reading Campaign.

In the autumn, there will be a landmark season on BBC Two featuring the nation sharing its favourite books.

Learning

SCL has developed a new Universal Learning Offer which was launched by the Minister for Culture and Digital Economy and the chief executive of Arts Council England on 5 November 2015. This is available in almost all library services across England and brings together hundreds of unique self-directed learning opportunities for library users, and broadens the range of learning opportunities on offer in local libraries.

The Universal Learning Offer in public libraries has started by developing learning opportunities so children, young people and families can build their confidence with their creativity, coding and digital skills. It will give families more opportunities to learn together, on a variety of subjects, and help to move through from literacy to fluency. People will grow new skills, find more job opportunities and stimulating experiences in their local area, in a friendly and welcoming environment. As the Learning Offer develops it will provide broader programmes of activity for other demographic groups.

On the same day, SCL also launched ‘Code Green’ which provides libraries with a detailed Digital Making Kit, a how-to guide to give customers hands-on experience in computer programming (coding), designing and making 3D objects, building robots, creating apps and many other creative activities for all ages.

4.1 Best practice

The Local Government Association continues to support and promote sector-led improvement. It has a range of practical support available, on a free of charge and/ or subsidised basis, to enable local authorities to exploit the opportunities that this approach to improvement provides.

With funding from Arts Council England, they have supported more than 20 councils through:

• 3 library peer challenges
• 1 library leadership seminar for portfolio holders at The British Library on 15 September
• new case studies to share how libraries are helping councils to achieve wider priorities.

Peer challenges are a proven tool for improvement. This is a process commissioned by a council and involves a small team of local government peers spending time at the council to provide challenge and share learning. The process involves engaging with a wide range of people connected with the council and the findings are delivered immediately.

As part of the evidence gathering for the Toolkits, the Taskforce team has visited a range of libraries and gathered information on the services and facilities they provide. This learning has informed the Toolkits and been captured in a series of case studies linked from them.

In March 2016, the Taskforce hosted a meeting with a selection of libraries on sharing good practice on loaning digital devices. This identified existing good practice in libraries for the loaning of devices (laptops, tablets, e-readers, MiFi, digital communication devices, etc), as well as some of the barriers that need to be overcome. The learning will be shared with all library authorities so others can adopt and use the model more widely.

4.2 Workforce development

Approximately 80 library leaders have now taken part in SCL’s Digital Leadership programme. This has created insight into digital services across the country; it has developed leadership capability and confidence, and provided a forum to share best practice across the sector. The new Universal Learning Offer will build on SCL’s Digital Skills Training programme that has reached 14,000 library staff.

SCL has developed a new e-learning module on Universal Credit which is being rolled out to all library staff from early 2016. The training will enable frontline library staff to provide effective support and signposting help for anyone affected by Universal Credit changes.

CILIP undertook a workforce mapping survey in Summer 2015 to map the existing skills in the public library workforce, as well as information and knowledge professionals more broadly. The key findings were published on 24 November. This will be used by the library workforce as a self-assessment tool for professional development and to demonstrate their unique skill set to employers. It is also a framework that can be used for future skills analysis, staff training and development plans.

4.3 Data

The Taskforce believes that having access to timely, accurate, comparable library data is critical to monitoring the delivery of library services and improving their quality. The Ambition document also highlights the need for evidence driven decision making.

The Taskforce will continue to work with the sector and interested parties to ensure that there is more accessible, real time library data for users, the library workforce and decision makers.

5. Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in England

In the first six monthly progress report, the Taskforce recommended that there should be a document Ambition for Public Libraries in England: Making it Happen that set out the government’s and the Taskforce’s shared vision for public libraries in England. The government strongly supported this recommendation and asked the Taskforce to produce a draft for consultation.

The Taskforce has now developed Libraries Deliver: Ambition for public libraries in England 2016 – 2021 (#LibraryAmbition). This sets out a bold and dynamic direction of travel for the next 5 years, describing public libraries in England that deliver transformation and progress for people, communities and society as a whole.

The Taskforce are consulting on this via an online questionnaire from 23 March to 3 June, and workshops are being held during this period to engage with a wide cross-section of users, workforce, friends groups, local authorities, and campaigners.

The Taskforce will then work with DCMS to publish the final Ambition document and accompanying action plan in summer 2016.

The document echoes many of the themes from the government’s Culture White Paper which was published on 23 March. These include that:

• everyone should enjoy access to culture and the opportunities it offers, no matter what their background
• culture is integral to communities and has the potential to transform a place
• cultural investment, resilience and reform are important to help support and develop the sector

6. Proposed next steps and areas of focus for next 6 months

The Taskforce will:

• consult on the Libraries Deliver: Ambition for public libraries in England 2016 – 2021 document, and then work with DCMS to support publication of the final document which will include an action plan to provide the focus for future Taskforce activity
• continue to promote the value of libraries, including highlighting national campaigns such as World Book Night, and through work with the BBC on their Get Reading campaign
• gather and respond to feedback on Toolkits 1 and 2 to continuously improve them, as well as continuing to add new case studies
• complete and evaluate the wide range of pilots and programmes begun in 2015/16 (eg. the WiFi rollout, Tinder Foundation digital inclusion projects), using lessons learned to inform future projects / proposals for wider rollout

7. Annex A: Information on the Taskforce

7.1 Background and structure

Information on the background and structure of the Taskforce was set out in the first 6 month progress report. The terms of reference were updated in January 2016.

7.2 Taskforce priorities for 2015/16

These were:

• digital enablement – including the provision of universal WiFi access, e-lending, digital shared network and quality content
• libraries adding value – making stronger, strategic links between libraries and other policies such as health and wellbeing and business and economic growth
• best practice – helping local authorities and library services through sharing and linking to existing/new best practice and building sustainable long-term models for libraries/community hubs
• workforce development – building the skills needed to help the library workforce deliver these priorities and to take on new roles as part of wider service provision
• communications – promoting the value of libraries, highlighting innovation and good ideas

7.3 Taskforce meetings

Since the last progress report, the Taskforce has held the following meetings:

• 19 November 2015 - Newcastle City Library
• 21 January 2016 - BBC, London
• 10 March 2016, Northampton Central Library

7.4 Funding for the Taskforce team

DCMS provided initial £250,000 funding for 2015/16 to set up and support the Taskforce. In 2015/16, Arts Council England provided:

• £100,000 to fund the secondment of library staff into the Taskforce as part of the workforce development programme
• £74,000 to provide consultancy support for SCL in developing their bid to become a supplier on the Assisted Digital / Digital Inclusion Framework and to support the Taskforce in gathering specific evidence on the financial and other benefits that libraries deliver

Continued funding of £500,000 per year for 2016/17 to 2019/20 was confirmed as part of the DCMS Spending Review on 25 November 2015. This covers the costs of the 5 core staff and Taskforce administrative costs (eg. for the Ambition workshops the Taskforce is running). The Taskforce is working to identify other possible funding and resources to support the key priorities, including through discussions with foundations and trusts.

7.5 Taskforce Staff

The Taskforce team comprises 5 full time staff:

• chief executive
• PA and administrative support
• secretariat (post being amended to policy and secretariat manager from April 2016)
• communications lead
• programme and project manager

The Taskforce team were supported by 3 library secondees during the second half of the year (August 2015 to March 2016). The secondees gained the opportunity to see more closely the workings of Whitehall, as well as to lead on a number of national projects. It also enabled the Taskforce to have ready access to ‘on the ground’ experience from the library sector and make wider library contacts.

A number of other individuals and organisations provided support to the Taskforce on a pro bono basis. This included support from:

• Wolff Olins
• Bloomberg
• Deloitte

The Taskforce is very grateful to them for their assistance.

8. Annex B: Meetings with government departments, key partners and library visits

8.1 Government departments

The chief executive and chair, along with William Sieghart (chair of the Independent Library Report for England), have met with and/or requested meetings with various government departments at official and ministerial level. This is to highlight the value of libraries and the work that libraries are already undertaking to support various policy agendas, including specific manifesto commitments. These meetings also seek to identify future opportunities for collaboration and options for library investment. Some of the most important meetings are listed below; other meetings have also been held with policy officials on an ad-hoc basis:

• Cabinet Office - Special Advisers on 23 October 2015
• Department for Business, Innovation & Skills - Special Advisors on 18 November 2015
• Department for Culture, Media and Sport - John Whittingdale on 18 November 2015 and regular meetings with Ed Vaizey and Special Advisors
• Department of Education - Nick Gibb on 12 October
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs - Rory Stewart on 29 October 2015
• Department of Health - Jane Ellison on 13 October
• Department for Work and Pensions - Justin Tomlinson on 26 October 2015; a further meeting with Lord Freud is due to take place in the spring
• No 10 - Special Advisers on 23 February, 7 and 8 March 2016

The chief executive has also met with a wide range of individuals and organisations from the library sector and beyond. In addition to Taskforce member organisations, these have included:

• BBC Make it Digital
• booksellers and suppliers
• CIBER Research
• Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
• City Read
• Clore Leadership Programme
• corporate partners
• Datakind
• DCMS - Taking Part Survey
• devolved administrations
• digital engagement partners
• foundations and trusts
• Fun Palaces
• Lego Education
• LG Inform
• library campaigners
• Library Management System suppliers including technology suppliers and aggregators
• London Deputy Mayor, Education and Culture
• Makerspaces
• Office for National Statistics
• Public Libraries 2020
• Teen Tech and Maplin
• The National Archive
• Tinder Foundation

8.2 Visits

The chief executive and Taskforce members have visited a range of local authorities and libraries to get a better understanding of the different models and offers that they provide to their communities. These visits have included discussions with the library workforce and users, as well as meetings with senior councillors and local authority chief executives and directors to:

• promote what libraries do to support delivery of their services and agendas
• highlight the range of delivery models possible for library services
• identify good practice and highlight good practice taking place elsewhere
• seek views on how the Taskforce can help reinvigorate public library services

Visits over the last 6 months include the following library authorities:

• Birmingham
• Buckinghamshire
• Camden - ministerial visit
• Cheshire West and Chester
• Dorset
• Essex
• Gloucestershire
• Hillingdon
• Leeds
• Manchester
• Medway
• Merton
• Northamptonshire
• Newcastle upon Tyne
• Peterborough - ministerial visit
• Poole
• Sheffield
• Southwark - ministerial visit and library opening
• Staffordshire - ministerial visit and library opening
• Swindon
• Warwickshire - library opening
• Wirral
• York

The chief executive attended the American Library Association conference in Boston followed by meetings with library colleagues in Boston and New York in January 2016. The learning from this conference and meetings has informed the work programme of the Taskforce and enabled the wider sharing of good practice.

The chief executive and / or chair have given presentations at the following conferences / events:

• Internet Librarian International on 20 October 2015
• Local Government Delivery Council on 2 November 2015
• Speak up for Libraries Conference on 14 November 2015
• The Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians Conference (Life Changing Libraries) on 14 November 2015
• Delivering Community Libraries Conference on 20 November 2015
• Tinder Foundation’s Digital Evolution Conference on 25 November 2015
• Local Government Association’s Annual Culture, Tourism and Sport Conference on 25 February 2016