Memorandum submitted by the Natural History
Museum
The Natural History Museum welcomes the opportunity
to provide the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee with
information regarding the impact and implications that free admission
has had on our institution.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
— Our main recommendation to the Committee
is for proper levels of support from Government to enable the
national museums to carry out their statutory obligations, reward
their staff and maintain their heritage buildings in a manner
that befits the nation's collections.
— Charging visitors to enter the Natural
History Museum was one of a variety of income generating streams
that the Museum has developed in recent years, as a reflection
of the various activities which we undertake (section 4).
— The compensation for free admission
is now part of the grant-in-aid allocated to the Museum under
the funding agreement. It is critical that both the free admission
element and the baseline grant-in-aid are at least preserved in
real terms over the long term. There is recent and historical
evidence to suggest that this will not be the case.
— The compensation for free admission
was based on the assumption that it would result in a 20 per cent
increase in visitors. We have received 70 per cent more visitors
since 1 December 2001 and invite the Committee to recommend full
compensation for the number of visitors we receive, that this
compensation is preserved in real terms, and that the grant-in-aid
is at least preserved in real terms (paras 14-16).
— One of the main statutory obligations
of our Trustees is to ensure the national collections are cared
for and available for the public to see on display or to study
(paras 21-27). The second phase of the Darwin Centre will ensure
that over 80 per cent of our collections are not only housed in
state-of-the-art conditions, but also that levels of access to
them will be enhanced. The Committee is invited to recommend that
the Government should contribute to the second phase of the Darwin
Centre.
— Trustees are answerable to Parliament
for safeguarding the national collections, and for the correct
management of the Museum. These powers are provided under the
British Museum Act (1963). As a public body funded by the Department
for Culture, Media and Sport there is a financial memorandum that
states how public money provided by the grant-in-aid should be
spent. The Committee is invited to note the primacy of Trustees
and their ultimate responsibility for the care and management
of the collections, and that if grant-in-aid is eroded the Natural
History Museum will introduce admissions charges (paras 51-54).
— There is significant congruence between
our aims and those of DCMS, and we are pleased to be able to work
towards common objectives where this is the case. Where DCMS's
objectives are peripheral to our own we are reluctant to contribute
to their delivery at the expense of carrying out our own statutory
obligations. We would invite the Committee to recommend that where
such non-core activities arise they should be funded separately
from our grant-in-aid, with specific ring-fenced funds to undertake
such work (para 62).
— The relationship with DCMS is in
need of modernisation and we are pleased to be provided the opportunity
to air our views on this issue. We invite the Committee to recommend
that during the period of our 2003-06 Funding Agreement, DCMS
works in partnership with the Natural History Museum to define
our status and agree responsibilities, so that we can move forward
with a more modern relationship (paras 57-62).
— As an organisation with many functions
we are affected by various changes to legislation. Whilst we accept
the spirit of the majority of them there is concern that no additional
resources are provided to ensure compliance. The increasingly
controlling framework under which we operate further reduces our
ability to undertake our statutory obligations. The Committee
is invited to note this perspective (paras 63-64).
INTRODUCTION
1. The British Museum Act (1963) established
the Museum as a body corporate with a board of Trustees who have
responsibility for maintaining and making available the nation's
natural history collections. The Museum is also an exempt charity
and an executive non-departmental public body. Prior to 1963,
the Natural History Museum was a department of the British Museum,
and moved to South Kensington from Bloomsbury in 1881.
2. The mission of the Natural History Museum
is to maintain and develop its collections and use them to promote
the discovery, understanding, responsible use and enjoyment of
the natural world.
3. The Department for Culture, Media and
Sport (DCMS) provides a grant-in-aid to the Museum as part of
a funding agreement. Additional grant-in-aid was provided for
the current funding agreement period (2001-03) to compensate for
lost income and increased costs arising from the removal of admission
charges.
4. This memorandum will provide a summary
of our areas of work and the impact that free admission has had
on the organisation. It will also describe how we have evolved
over recent years, and how we plan to continue developing and
maintaining our collections to ensure that they are well maintained
for use and enjoyment by future generations.
ADMISSIONS CHARGING
AT THE
NATURAL HISTORY
MUSEUM
5. Entrance to the Natural History Museum
was free until 1987. Charging was introduced as a result of sustained
government under-funding, which forced Trustees to review the
activities of the organisation and explore various income-generating
opportunities, one of which was charging for admissions. This
decision enabled the Museum to continue serving its primary purpose,
of caring for the collections and providing public access to them.
6. During the period of charging, the Museum
operated a mixed economy with free entry to all from 4.30 pm each
day, and concessions to OAPs, the unemployed, families and the
disabled. During this era approximately a third of visitors paid
the full entrance charge, a third came on concession and a third
came in free.
7. The reintroduction of free admission
was phased in, in line with the availability of the compensation,
with free admission for under 16s from April 1999, for over 60s
from April 2000 and for all from 1 December 2001. The Museum has
never charged for organised school parties to visit, or for visiting
scientists to come and work with the collections.
THE IMPACT
OF FREE
ADMISSION
8. We welcome widening access to the collections
of the Museum, indeed our newly opened Darwin Centre (paragraph
24) achieves a very significant increase of access for our visitors.
However, we do not believe that free admission per se is the key
to access. When the animatronic T.rex arrived at the Museum in
2000 we experienced visitor numbers of similar magnitude to those
currently being experienced under free admission—proving
that the entrance charge in itself was not a barrier to people
visiting us. We consider free admission a blunt instrument to
achieve broadened access.
9. However, we have experienced a 70 per
cent increase in visitor numbers since 1 December 2001, which
is in excess of the 20 per cent which had been estimated and compensated
for by DCMS.
10. Our visitor profile has altered since
free admission. Firstly, there are more of them—we welcomed
2.3 million during 2001-02 and may exceed 2.5 million for 2002-03
compared to 1.7 million per annum prior to free admission. This
has had significant implications for our front of house staffing
levels, and we are spending £500,000 per annum more than
anticipated employing temporary staff to ensure the safety of
our visitors. Our visitors come from across the world. Research
shows that on average 43 per cent come from London and the southeast
of England, a quarter from the rest of the UK and a third from
overseas. We have also found that the proportion of visitors who
are in parties without children has risen.
11. The social background of our visitors
is also monitored and it is one of our performance indicators
with DCMS. We aim to welcome 13 per cent of our visitors from
C2, D and E categories. In the summer of 1999, 22 per cent of
our visitors were in this category, this rose to 24 per cent in
2000 and fell to 16 per cent in the summer of 2002.
12. We provide shops and catering facilities
for our visitors. Since free admission, the spend per head in
both categories has fallen by a half, from an average of £1.60
to £0.92 in retail, and from £1.21 to £0.61 in
catering. The length of the visitor stay has fallen since going
free. People are `dipping in' to visit us and then returning on
another occasion, rather than spending a whole day on the premises.
13. Overall, therefore, we are receiving
more visitors from the same type of social background, who are
spending less time and money on our premises.
14. We recognise that Government is keen
for free admission to the National Museums and Galleries to remain.
In accepting the Government's free admission policy the Natural
History Museum stated that to continue to provide a quality experience
it is essential that we are fully compensated for free admission
in proportion to the visitors we receive. It is also essential
that the baseline grant-in-aid is at least preserved in real terms.
We can show that neither the free admission compensation nor the
baseline grant-in-aid have been preserved in real terms since
free admission began to be phased in during 2000.
15. In discussions with DCMS for the forthcoming
funding agreement period, 2003-06, we have requested full compensation
for the impact of free admission of an additional £500,000
a year. We have also requested a six per cent increase to our
baseline grant-in-aid. This is to address the real decrease in
core grant-in-aid funding (a fall of 27 per cent since 1992),
current inflation and pressures on running costs. Such pressures
arise for example from the increase in employers' National Insurance
and from reasonable pay increases for Museum staff.
16. We invite the Committee to support this
request for increased support for the Natural History Museum from
Government.
THE MUSEUM'S
ACTIVITIES
17. Admissions charging, or compensation
in replacement of charging, is but one in a range of revenue generating
activities which take place across the Museum. This section will
describe our various activities in recent years, how we have developed
them, secured the revenue for their support and intend to develop
them into the future.
18. The Museum employs 760 staff directly
and over 200 additional long-term scientific visitors and volunteers
work at the Museum, making a total of over 1,000 people working
with us at any one time. The Museum's turnover is £50 million
a year with net available resources for spending on core activity
of approx £44 million, of which £32 million was grant-in-aid.
We received over two million visitors last year, of which 690,000
were children. Over 350 scientists work at the Natural History
Museum. They deal with 40,000 enquires from the public each year,
host 15,000 visitor days from fellow scientists from across the
world and publish over 400 peer reviewed papers. The size and
activity of our scientific workforce makes us a unique institution
in the UK's museum sector.
The Collections and Science
19. The Natural History Museum is the principal
UK institution for the study of taxonomy and systematics and their
application at home and abroad. We hold over 70 million items
in our collections, which have been gathered over the past 300
years. The Museum is one of the top three natural history museums
in the world, and Museum scientists manage, develop and use the
collections for research purposes. The collections continue to
grow since our scientists are active in collecting specimens from
across the globe for focused research projects. In recent years,
specimens have been acquired at an average rate of about 50,000
per year.
20. To ensure that the collections are managed
for the nation in perpetuity we need two things—to house
them in appropriate conditions and to ensure that our current
and future staff possess the knowledge and skills to work with
them.
Housing our collections
21. Our collections are a unique assemblage
of botanical, entomological, zoological, mineralogical and palaeontological
specimens that are scientifically, historically and culturally
important. For example, within our collections are over 888,000
type specimens, which are the internationally accepted reference
specimens for given species. We also hold many of the specimens
that Darwin collected on the Beagle and used in developing the
theory of evolution by natural selection. The collections of the
Museum's founder, Sir Hans Sloane, include the original cocoa
bean, which is still the scientific reference point for botanical
work on cocoa. Sloane collected cocoa in Jamaica—his work
in developing the use of cocoa was later used by confectioners
worldwide. These are just two examples of the many and unique
items within our care.
22. The following three projects demonstrate
how the care of the collections has been a major aspect of Museum
business in recent years, and will continue to be so until the
collections are all housed in appropriate conditions.
Wandsworth
23. In 1992, in view of the increasing space
occupied by the collections, and due to the termination of our
lease at a storage site in Acton, the Trustees purchased the freehold
of a 4.9 acre site in Wandsworth, South London. This now contains
a high quality collections storage area with sufficient space
to house specific parts of our collections, including large specimens,
such as elephants, for the next 50 years.
Darwin Centre Phase One
24. In South Kensington the collections
are housed and studied in various buildings across the campus.
On 30 September 2002 the first phase of the Darwin Centre opened
to the public. As well as housing the 22 million collections,
the Darwin Centre provides our visitors with the opportunity to
come and see the collections for themselves, and to hear from
our scientists the work that is undertaken using them. The £30
million to deliver this first phase was obtained predominantly
from the Museum's own self generated funds (including admission
charges) due to careful financial planning over the preceding
ten years. We also received a £2.6 million ring-fenced grant-in-aid,
and a number of smaller grants.
Darwin Centre Phase Two
25. The second phase of the Darwin Centre
will replace the Entomology Building, which is a 1930s building
that has some health and safety risks and does not provide adequate
protection for our collections. The second phase will also house
our 28 million insect collections and the entomologists who work
with them, and the UK Botany collections and associated staff.
Phase Two will give unprecedented access to new areas of the Museum's
collections and the work that is carried out using them—both
for visitors to South Kensington and virtual visitors' across
the world.
26. The campaign to raise the £65 million
needed for this project is progressing, and to date we have secured
pledges amounting to £29 million including £15.5 million
from the Heritage Lottery Fund. We cannot generate the shortfall
from the Museum's own resources since it would be at the expense
of other high priority areas of Museum business and would risk
the long term financial stability of the organisation. Whilst
we of course recognise that the Government cannot fund this project
in its entirety, significant financial support would spur others
to contribute.
27. We invite the Committee to note that
the long term care of the collections is of high priority to The
Natural History Museum, and we recommend that the Committee should
invite the Government to contribute to the funding of Darwin Centre
Phase Two.
Knowledge and skills of current and future staff
28. Our scientists are international experts
in the science of systematics, which comprises the discovery,
description, naming and classification of living things and the
investigation of the evolutionary relations between them. In 2002,
the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology
held an inquiry into the state of this science, which underpins
the understanding of biodiversity, conservation of the environment
and the understanding of Biological Sciences in general.
29. In evidence, the Natural History Museum
demonstrated how Government support for the Museum has fallen
by 27 per cent in real terms over the last 10 years, when the
same Select Committee held an inquiry into Systematic Biological
Research, chaired by Lord Dainton. One of the main recommendations
of the resultant Dainton Report was that "core funding for
research at and curation of the collections in the major systematics
institutions be maintained in real terms".
30. The decline in funding since 1992 has
impacted on the whole organisation, and included a decline in
the number of staff working in systematics. Equally disturbing
is the decline of support for this discipline nationally due to
a change in approach of Higher Education funding in recent years.
This raises serious concerns about the long-term sustainability
of this area of science, the impact that this will have on our
understanding of conservation issues, and the contribution that
UK science can make to this important discipline.
31. The Natural History Museum is making
efforts in this area from its own resources. Since 1992 we have
run jointly with Imperial College an MSc course in advanced methods
in taxonomy and biodiversity, and more than 20 students from around
the world complete this course each year. Museum staff also provide
lectures on university courses throughout the UK in the field
of systematics. There is a pressing national need for such teaching,
due to a lack of university teaching staff with knowledge of the
subject. We have also taken the lead in establishing activities
to strengthen the standing of natural history collections across
the country.
32. However, there is a need for a change
in the approach by Government in supporting this area otherwise
the necessary skills set will not be available to meet the current
growing needs, or to teach future generations. We stated in our
evidence to the House of Lords Committee that this taxonomic impediment,
although real, can be addressed with relatively small amounts
of financial support and an enhanced level of co-operation between
the various government departments which currently support systematics.
33. As members of the UK scientific research
community, museum scientists undertake externally-funded peer
reviewed research (from research councils and grant awarding bodies)
and commercial consultancy work. This work provides quality research,
contributes to the training of scientists, and to our mission.
Selected highlights of these research projects are given in our
annual report which is provided to all members of the Select Committee.
34. Externally-funded research and consulting
activity started at the Natural History Museum in 1989-90, when
£300,000 was generated. Our success in this area has grown
significantly with the result that the gross value of research
grants and contracts awarded to the Museum in 2001-02 was of the
order of £4 million.
35. We invite the Committee to note the
high quality scientific work that we undertake and recommend that
the Government should provide enhanced levels of support for the
furtherance of our science, and its communication to the public.
Exhibitions
36. The exhibition space at the Natural
History Museum is 22,000m2 in area. Most of this space is devoted
to permanent exhibitions in the earth and life sciences, but there
are also two 500m2 galleries devoted to a changing programme of
special exhibitions. There is a programme of refurbishment for
the permanent exhibitions to ensure that they reflect current
scientific thinking and to make good the general wear and tear
from our visitors.
37. This is a costly area of the Museum's
activities and critical in terms of attracting the public, yet
by careful financial management, and actively seeking sponsorship
wherever possible we have managed to renew the large part of our
permanent exhibitions space over the last ten years.
38. The most significant set of permanent
exhibitions to be developed was in the Earth Galleries, which
opened to the public in 1998 at a total cost of £13 million,
underpinned by £6 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund
and sponsorship in excess of £1 million. This enabled this
five-storey area to be refurbished.
39. The special exhibitions are designed
so that they can provide new visitor attractions each year and
tour beyond South Kensington. Special exhibitions have a minimum
two-year lead in time of planning, budgeting, research, design,
construction and marketing. Prior to free admission, entrance
to the special exhibitions was included in the entrance price.
The aim of them was to inform and provide a focus on a specific
area of the natural world. It was also expected that after the
end of the display in South Kensington the exhibitions would generate
income by touring to other museums and galleries across the globe.
The Museum's approach to this whole area has changed since free
admission.
40. In an effort to attract a more adult
audience the Jerwood Gallery was refurbished in 1999. The cost
of £1.6 million was met by a £900k grant from the Jerwood
Foundation (after which it was named) with the remainder from
the Museum's own resources. This gallery is used for exhibiting
our art and related special exhibitions—including the highly
acclaimed Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition which we
have supported jointly with BG since 1985 and show annually at
South Kensington.
41. Over the last few years we have had
many successful permanent and special exhibitions. In 1990 our
Ecology Gallery opened, the Dinosaur Galleries were refurbished
in 1992 and Creepy Crawlies reopened having been refurbished in
1999. We still have the well-known cast of the dinosaur Diplodocus
in the main hall and the life size model of the Blue Whale in
the Whale Hall. We are constantly working to provide a balance
between contemporary and traditional well-loved exhibitions.
42. We have provided a diverse and exciting
range of special exhibitions in recent years. Myths and Monsters
in 1988 considered the origins of mythical creatures and explored
their basis in natural history, and included animatronic models.
Voyages of Discovery, in 1999 explored the contribution of eighteenth
and nineteenth century explorer-scientists and the illustrators
who travelled with them. The Art of William MacGillivray in 2000
was the first time most of the paintings by this Scottish ornithologist
had been displayed. The Museum holds the third largest collection
of art on paper in the country and the Jerwood Gallery provides
an opportunity to share aspects of this collection with our visitors.
43. We are now working to develop ourselves
as a recognised forum for debate around issues of contemporary
public concern relating to the natural world, and are creating
a unique offer for visitors to meet and debate with Museum scientists
through the Darwin Centre.
Education
44. We provide a variety of different educational
activities and learning experiences to our visitors from all ages,
whether they visit us in person or through the Internet, whether
they take part in Museum fieldtrips, or whether they receive training
with us as part of a higher degree qualification. We provide input
at all levels of education, from school children right the way
through to post graduate qualifications.
45. For example, Investigate is a learning
centre which was funded by a £1 million grant from the Clore
Foundation. The centre enables younger visitors to find out for
themselves about the natural world, and our staff of trained educationalists
help visitors with their discoveries. QUEST uses the themes of
Investigate and enables our virtual visitor to find out about
the natural world through the internet.
46. Our learning department also provides
assistance and support to teachers in planning their trips to
the Museum. The basement schools reception area was refurbished
in 2000, it is situated adjacent to Investigate and was funded
from the £1 million Clore Grant.
47. At the higher education level, we provide
the Masters course with Imperial College (as mentioned in paragraph
31). There are currently 179 PhD students whose projects are supervised
jointly between Museum scientists and university staff; the students
use the collections and resources of The Natural History Museum
as part of their research, and spend varying amounts of time at
the Museum.
Self-generated income
48. The Museum has been increasingly successful
in generating its own income, and until the reintroduction of
free admission, the percentage of total annual income provided
by self generated was increasing. In 2001-02 over one third of
the total turnover was from self-generated income.
49. Income is derived from a variety of
sources—shops, catering, banquets and functions, licensing,
picture library, touring exhibitions, admission to special exhibitions,
donations and sponsorship, education services, consultancy and
scientific grant income. Each of these activities operates as
a business unit and generates income to be used for core activities.
50. Some of these activities operate within
a limited company to allow for profits to be transferred to the
Museum in a tax efficient way.
THE MUSEUM'S
ORGANISATION
Corporate governance
51. The Natural History Museum is a well-organised
and professionally run institution with rigorous corporate governance.
Our Board of Trustees meets four times a year and provides input
on the overall strategy of the organisation. There are three sub-committees
of the Board; Finance, Remuneration and Audit, and under the control
of these three committees, the work of the organisation is appropriately
monitored and checked.
52. Our Board of Trustees is charged with
ensuring that the collections are maintained and made available
for use by the public, in accordance with the British Museum Act
(1963). This Act was written in the same spirit as the founding
Act of the British Museum (1753), in which it was recommended
that experts who understood collections and their care should
be awarded the responsibility of caring for them and for the Museum,
rather than the Government of the day.
53. In the light of this, our Trustees have
the authority to reintroduce charging for admissions at any time.
We have stated publicly that we will do this if the grant-in-aid
support from Government is eroded in real terms.
54. The Committee is invited to note the
primacy of Trustees and their ultimate responsibility for the
care and management of the collections, and that if grant-in-aid
is eroded The Natural History Museum will introduce admissions
charges.
55. The day to day running of the Museum
is managed by an executive group of six directors. Through good
financial planning and annual planning processes, budgets are
allocated and monitored, and risk management is integrated into
all our planning activities. There is an internal audit unit which
reports directly to the Director and undertakes reviews of various
activities across the Museum. It is thanks to these effective
systems and careful financial management that The Natural History
Museum managed to fund the first Phase of the Darwin Centre from
its own resources.
56. In 1990 there was a reorganisation of
the Museum, which resulted in the loss of 100 posts over a 2-year
period. This was the result of sustained reductions in Government
funding, which caused the organisation to cut back and rethink
its overall approach. This process, though painful in the short
term and we hope not to be repeated, enabled the Museum to flourish
in the years that followed. It also introduced a drive to enhance
the levels of self generated income, introduced a strong belief
in self help and a keenness actively to seek funding from various
sources.
Our relationship with DCMS
57. As has been the case with other publicly
funded organisations since 1998, the level of The Natural History
Museum's grant-in-aid is confirmed on alternate years in the autumn,
to provide details of funding for the next three years. The third
year of each such Funding Agreement' is rolled forward to become
the first year for the next one. Thus in autumn 2002 we will receive
notification of our support for 2003-06, yet our levels of support
for 2003-04 are already known. This funding regime began in 1998
and was a welcome departure from the annual confirmation of budgets
we had received in the past, since it provides more certainty
and allows for longer term planning.
58. We do have some concerns however. There
is no formal bidding process to request resources for the next
funding period, or justification as to why we receive the level
we do. There is also no mechanism to reward success by providing
enhanced levels of support from one period to the next. These
are issues that we hope to explore with DCMS.
59. The Natural History Museum spends 70
per cent of its grant-in-aid on staff costs. This leaves us in
a very vulnerable position if the grant-in-aid does not keep pace
with real cost increases. Once salaries have been paid the remaining
resources are utilised for new exhibitions and developments to
encourage more visitors to come to the Museum, for maintaining
and conserving the collections and immediate imperatives. A consequence
of the reduction in grant-in-aid in real terms over a long period
is that the amount available for spending on buildings infrastructure
has diminished and there is an ever increasing backlog, which
is currently estimated at £20 million.
60. From 2003 all public accounts are subjected
to resource account budgeting. This applies to any funds we hold
in our current account. If, therefore, we were able to set aside
funds to say build up a sinking fund for future repair of our
estate, the imposition of the six per cent charge acts as a disincentive.
61. A further constraint is that we are
not permitted to borrow. We are committed to maximising our self
generated income from commercial activity yet do not have the
ability to fund many of the initiatives.
62. As governments change the policies of
the departments also changes. We are keen to ensure our objectives
comply with those of Government where it is appropriate, but we
are reluctant to do this at the expense of our statutory obligations.
If Government wishes the Museum to carry out work in areas outside
the Museum's core, statutory functions, it is essential that additional,
ring-fenced funding is provided for this purpose.
63. We would be pleased to make progress
on the issues outlined in paragraphs 57-62, so that we can move
forward to a more mature and modern relationship with our sponsoring
department. We recommend that during the period of our 2003-06
Funding Agreement DCMS works in partnership with the Natural History
Museum to re-define our status and our respective responsibilities.
Other relevant policies
64. Over recent years there have been various
changes to legislation with which we as an employer, a public
body and a visitor attraction must comply, both in the letter
and in spirit. However, compliance is often expensive and additional
resources are rarely provided by Government specifically for such
purposes. This increase in levels of control further diminishes
the funds available for our statutory duties to be undertaken.
Below we have listed some recent changes to legislation that have
impacted on us.
— Disability Discrimination Act (1994)
— Increased employer contribution to
National Insurance
— Freedom of information Act
— The Health and Safety Executive decision
to ban the insecticide dichlorvos, a chemical extensively used
in the protection of Museum collections from pests.
65. Further details of the impact such obligations
have had on the Natural History Museum can be provided if it were
helpful.
October 2002
| 
