Memorandum submitted by the Department
for Culture, Media and Sport
FREE ACCESS TO DCMS-SPONSORED MUSEUMS AND
GALLERIES
INTRODUCTION
1. The Department for Culture, Media and
Sport is responsible for the direct grant-in-aid funding of 20
museums and gallery institutions in England, operating 40 different
venues, about half of which are in the regions and half in London.
These range from Sir John Soane's Museum with just over 20 staff
to the British Museum with over 1,000.
2. Free access to the permanent collections
of the nationally funded museums has been an objective of the
Government's policy from the outset.
3. With the Chancellor's agreement to a
change in the VAT rules and with the full support of the chairmen
and trustees of the national museums and galleries free access
was achieved on 1 December 2001 delivering 2.7 million additional
visits in the first seven months compared with the same period
last year.
4. This has gone hand-in-hand with over
£500 million of capital investment in new developments at
museums and galleries sponsored by DCMS, supported by £220
million from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Millennium Commission.
5. A further £90 million Lottery funding
has gone to support new capital investment in regional museums
since 1994-95.
6. In just four years the number of visits
to DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries has increased by five
million (21 per cent) from 24 million in 1998-99 to nearly 29
million in 2001-02 and is expected to increase to over 30 million
this year.
7. Not surprisingly, the number of repeat
visits appears to be increasing too as museums improve the range
and quality of their displays and the experience that they offer.
MUSEUMS AND
GALLERIES SPONSORED
BY DCMS
8. In the regions our sponsored museums
and galleries include the National Railway Museum in York, which
achieved the accolade of European Museum of the Year in 2001,
the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford,
the eight National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, the ten
Tyne and Wear Museums, the Royal Armouries in Leeds and Portsmouth,
the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, Tate Liverpool
and Tate St Ives, and since its opening in July this year, the
Imperial War Museum of the North in Trafford.
9. In London they include, in addition to
the British Museum and the Soane, the three South Kensington Museums:
the V&A (including the Theatre Museum and the Museum of Childhood
in Bethnal Green), the Science Museum and the Natural History
Museum; the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery
in Trafalgar Square, the Wallace Collection, the National Maritime
Museum in Greenwich, the Imperial War Museum, Tate Britain and
the outstandingly successful Tate Modern.
10. The Department also sponsors the Horniman
and Geffrye Museums and is the joint sponsor, with the City Corporation,
of the Museum of London. In addition, the Department provides
funding to the Design Museum to deliver specific educational programmes.
11. Tate St Ives, which displays only temporary
exhibitions, offers free entry to children and people over 60,
and the Imperial War Museum's outstations at HMS Belfast, Duxford
Aerodrome and the Cabinet War Rooms are free to children.
POLICIES
12. Free access and other policies for museums
and galleries are intended to ensure that:
— they play a full and effective role
in the nation's cultural and economic development,
— they are well governed by effective
Boards of Trustees with the necessary skills,
— they are adequately funded,
— their treasures are made accessible
to the widest possible audience,
— they are fully integrated into the
delivery of educational services at all levels and particularly
for children,
— they contribute, where appropriate,
to the development and understanding of science in partnership
with Government,
— they play an effective role in the
wider community,
— they form and develop partnerships
with regional museums as part of the Government's wider policy
for developing the regional museums sector, and
— improve delivery in the regions.
13. A policy commitment from the outset
has been to deliver accessibility through free access to the permanent
collections of the principal sponsored museums. Free access was
achieved on 1 December 2001. We have recorded 2.7 million additional
visits in the first seven months at museums that previously charged,
an increase of 62 per cent on the same period in the previous
year.
14. The second objective is to strengthen
museums and galleries' core services, to develop their educational
services, particularly for children and to improve delivery by
building up the capacity of regional museums, which has been a
focus for the current spending review. The Department will be
providing additional funding for this and, for the first time
funding support to build up the strength of regional museums.
GOVERNANCE
15. Of the museum and gallery institutions
to which the Department provides grant-in-aid, 17 are classified
as non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and are governed by
independent Boards of Trustees whose members are generally appointed
either by the Prime Minister or the Secretary of State according
to rules laid down by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
These bodies are also exempt charities (see below).
16. The quality of governance and of leadership
is key to the success of museums and galleries. Trustees are selected
on the recommendations of an independent panel having regard to
the skill needs of the Board, the needs of the specific role they
are to fulfil and their qualifications and ability to undertake
the role.
17. The Department is not involved in the
day to day running of the museums and galleries that it sponsors
but is accountable to Parliament for the grant-in-aid that it
pays them. They, in turn are accountable to ministers and through
ministers to Parliament for the public money that they spend and
for the effective, efficient and proper management of their institutions.
18. The Government's objectives are achieved
through individual funding agreements with each sponsored body
that set out what each body will provide in return for the grant-in-aid
that it receives and against performance targets monitored by
the Department.
19. The boundaries and responsibilities
of the relationship between the Department and the national museums
and galleries are set out in the management statement and financial
memorandum.
CHARITABLE STATUS
20. The 17 museum and gallery institutions
that are NDPBs are also charities. This means that in addition
to the grant-in-aid that they receive from the Department they
are able to raise funds from sponsorship, donations and legacies
and other charitable giving as well as from ancillary charges
for the services that they provide. In April 2000 the Government
simplified and improved the tax rules for giving to charities,
introducing tax relief for all levels of gift aid and a new income
tax relief for gifts of shares, improvements to the payroll giving
scheme and a simplification of the rules for gifts of cash by
companies.
21. On average the Department's sponsored
museums and galleries raise around 27 per cent of their annual
revenue income themselves and, in many cases even more. In 2001-02,
for example, the Tate raised over 50 per cent (around £27
million) of its annual revenue income itself, the bulk of it from
trading.
FUNDING
22. Sponsored museums and galleries received
around £267 million per annum in grant-in-aid for 2002-03
including funding for the provision of free access and £10
million grant-in-aid allocated specifically to support capital
repairs, refurbishment and renewal. The sponsored museums and
galleries currently earn around £100 million per annum in
revenue from other sources. This excludes the large amounts of
capital funding that they can raise from sponsorship and the lottery
to pay the capital costs of big projects like Tate Modern (over
£134 million).
23. We increased grant-in-aid to sponsored
museums and galleries by over £60 million per annum between
1998-99 and 2002-03, a cash increase of around 30 per cent and
a real increase of about 17 per cent.
24. We have reversed the previous trend
of a real terms reduction in grant-in-aid between 1992-93 and
1997-98 when grant-in-aid to the sponsored museums and galleries
fell by around 15 per cent real.
25. About half of the 17 per cent real increase
between 1997-98 and 2002-03 was used to support free access and
the rest to support the maintenance and development of museums
and galleries' core activities. In some cases, and particularly
at the Natural History Museum these core funds support important
scientific research activity such as systematic biological research.
26. Museums and galleries that went free
in 2001 have been compensated for loss of income from admission
charges on the basis of their previously agreed visitor targets.
27. For museums that were already free,
like the British Museum, we provided the additional benefit of
being able to recover their input VAT on any expenditure associated
with free access. For the British Museum the benefit is approximately
£750,000 per annum and potentially much more when capital
development is undertaken.
28. Some already free museums have argued
that the Government's decision to compensate the ex-chargers for
loss of income effectively penalised them for having remained
free. In fact we ensured that the ex-chargers were able to maintain
their previously self-funded services while giving the free museums
extra funds to develop their services through a new ability to
recover their input VAT.
29. The further funding for sponsored museums
and galleries following the 2002 spending review will support
their core activities, ensure the maintenance of free access to
the permanent collections and provide for modernisation and reform.
30. The progressive introduction of free
access has been parallelled by a £500 million capital investment
in new developments at DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries over
the past two to three years.
31. £220 million of this £500
million+ investment was met from the Heritage Lottery Fund and
the Millennium Commission and £30 million from other sources
of public funding including English Partnerships and the European
Regional Development Fund.
32. But the balance over £250 million
was met from private sponsorship and donations. This has been
assisted by the enhanced provisions for charitable giving that
the Government introduced.
33. The £500 million of major developments
opened at DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries over the past two-three
years are:
(a) In London: British Museum's Great
Court and restored Reading Room;
Horniman Museum extension;
Imperial War Museum's Holocaust Wing;
National Museum of Science and Industry's Wellcome
Wing;
National Portrait Gallery's Ondaatje wing;
Natural History Museum's Darwin Centre Phase
1;
Tate Modern;
Tate Britain's Centenary Development;
V&A's British Galleries;
Wallace Collection's Centenary Development.
(b) In the regions: The Imperial War
Museum of the North;
The restored Walker Art Gallery at the National
Museums and Galleries on Merseyside; and
Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester's
New Look Museum.
34. These developments have themselves been
instrumental in helping to attract new visitors but maintenance
of access also depends on the upkeep of the building structures.
The sponsored museums and galleries manage a large and complex
estate much of which is quite old and substantial elements of
which are listed. Capital repairs do not generally attract private
sponsorship funding.
35. So in the 2000 Spending Review we made
available additional capital funding amounting to £22 million
over two years to help deal with capital repairs and ensure that
structural defects and leaky roofs are made good. Among the beneficiaries
of this additional capital funding are the Natural History Museum,
which received an additional £6 million in grant-in-aid to
tackle the structural problems of its Palaeontology building and
the British Museum which received an additional £1.4 million
to deal with its roofs and install a lift for disabled people.
FUNDING THE
BRITISH MUSEUM
AND THE
NATURAL HISTORY
MUSEUM
36. The income of the British Museum (always
free) and the Natural History Museum (charged for admission prior
to December 2001) is derived from both grant-in-aid and self-generated
income. Table 1 below shows that there was a real (ie above GDP)
increase in the total of grant-in-aid and self-generated income
from 1998-90 to 2002-03 in the region of five per cent in the
case of the Natural History Museum and in the region of 22 per
cent in the case of the British Museum.
Table 1
OVERALL MOVEMENTS IN THE FUNDING OF THE BRITISH
MUSEUM AND THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
1989-90 TO
2002-03
| |
1989-90 | 2002-03
| Increase (£m)
| % Change Cash (real)
|
| Natural History Museum Grant-in-aid excluding provision for free access (£ms)
| 21.7 | 31.4
| 9.7 | +45 (-4)
|
| British Museum Grant-in-aid (£ms) |
24.7 | 36.5
| 11.8 | +48 (-2)
|
| Natural History Museum Self-generated income including grant-in-aid in 2002-03 to offset loss of £6.7 million income following free access (£ms)
| 6.3 | 13.0
| 6.7 | +106 (+36)
|
| British Museum Self-generated income (£ms)
| 7.1 | 22.2
| 15.1 | +213 (+107)
|
| Natural History Museum Total Income (£ms)
| 28.0 | 44.4
| 16.4 | +59 (+5)
|
| British Museum Total Income (£ms) |
31.8 | 58.7
| 26.9 | +85 (+22)
|
Sources : DNH Annual Report 1994 (Figs. 5.9 and 5.12);
DCMS Annual Report 2002 Vol 2 p17 and p59.
Table 2 below shows that since 1997-98 there has been a real
terms increase in grant-in-aid (for revenue and capital) even
after excluding the grant-in-aid paid to the Natural History Museum
in compensation for loss of income following the introduction
of free access.
Table 2
REAL MOVEMENT IN GRANT-IN-AID TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND
THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
| | 1989-90
| 1997-98 | % Change 1989-90 to 1997-98
Cash (real)
| 2002-03 | % Change 1997-98 to 2002-03
Cash (real)
|
| Natural History Museum grant-in-aid excluding provision for free access (£ms)
| 21.7 | 27.7
| +28 (-4.8) | 31.4
| +13 (+1) |
| British Museum grant-in-aid (£ms) | 24.7
| 31.9 | +29 (-3.7)
| 36.5 | +14 (+2)
|
Sources: DNH Annual Report 1994 (Fig 5.9); DCMS Annual
Report 2001 pp 154 and 191; DCMS Annual Report 2002 Vol 2 pp 17
and 59.
37. However, to get a clearer picture of the financial
position it is necessary to compare total revenue income with
total revenue expenditure. Table 3 below compares revenue income
and expenditure actual outturn in 2000-01, estimated outturn in
2001-02 and planned outturn in 2002-03 and 2003-04. The negative
revenue balances at the British Museum (before funding from the
Museum's reserves) are attributable to a number of factors which
include the lower than expected growth in the number of visitors,
particularly as a result of the downturn in visitors from the
United States, and lower than expected self-generated income:
Table 3
REVENUE INCOME AND EXPENDITURE AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM AND
THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
| | 2000-01 (Outturn)
| 2001-02 (Estimated Outturn)
| 2002-03 (Plan) |
2003-04 (Plan) |
| Natural History Museum Revenue Income (£ms)
| 39.6 | 40.3
| 41.3 | 43.3
|
| Natural History Museum Revenue Expenditure (£ms)
| 34.0 | 36.1
| 37.3 | 38.7
|
| Natural History Museum (Balance) (£ms)
| 5.6 | 4.2
| 4.0 | 4.6
|
| British Museum Revenue Income (£ms) |
47.9 | 54.1
| 53.6 | 56.9
|
| British Museum Revenue Expenditure (£ms)
| 51.4 | 56.4
| 56.5 | 57.7
|
| British Museum (Balance) (£ms) | -3.5
| -2.3 | -2.9
| -0.8 |
Sources: DCMS Annual Report 2002 Vol 2 pp 17 and 59.
Note: British Museum's negative balances have been funded
from the Museum's reserves. Natural History Museum Revenue Expenditure
= Operating Costs (excludes collection purchases and capital expenditure).
FREE ACCESS
38. Until the late 1980s most sponsored museums and galleries
offered free access to their permanent collections, but the then
Government sought to encourage them to introduce general admission
charges. A number did so. These included the Natural History Museum,
which introduced charges for general admission in 1987, the National
Museum of Science and Industry, the Imperial War Museum, the National
Maritime Museum and several others. In the regions the National
Museums and Galleries on Merseyside and the Museum of Science
and Industry in Manchester and the Royal Armouries also charged.
39. The Trustees of a number of museums, however, decided
not to introduce general admission charges. Among these were the
British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate, the Wallace Collection,
the National Portrait Gallery, the Geffrye Museum and the Sir
John Soane's Museum.
40. The decision to introduce charging resulted in a
fall in visits at the museums that introduced charges. The reduction
in visits to the South Kensington museums was estimated to be
in the region of two million per annum.
41. At those museums that offered free access such as
the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate
the number of visits continued to grow.
42. In 1997-98 therefore the new Government inherited
a situation with some of its sponsored museums charging for admission
and some not and with visit figures either static or declining
at all but one of the charging museums.
43. At the same time the new Government came in with
a new philosophy, a view that museums were integral to the development
of society through providing an essential platform for learning
for all and lifelong learning and a belief that no-one should
be denied access to the treasures held by national museums simply
because they could not afford the admission charge.
44. The Government therefore believes strongly in the
value of free access and, from the outset made the delivery of
free access a fundamental plank of its cultural policy.
45. The Government formulated a programme to introduce
free access in a series of steps, according to priority groups
and the availability of funds. The first step was to introduce
free access for children. This was achieved on 1 April 1999. The
second stage was to introduce free access for people aged over
60. This was achieved on 1 April 2000.
46. The third stage was to ensure that from its opening
in May 2000 the new Tate Modern, the first new Gallery of modern
art to be opened in London for 100 years, would offer free access
to all visitors.
47. The next stage—the move to free access for
all, proved much more difficult to achieve. It became apparent
at an early stage that there was a serious impediment to the achievement
of free access. This impediment was a result of the VAT rules.
The effect of these rules was that if a sponsored museum were
to go free it would cease to be regarded as a business and would
lose the ability to recover its input VAT. Local authority museums
were, by contrast able to recover their VAT even where offering
free entry, because they were covered by the provisions of Section
33 of the VAT Act 1994.
48. After discussion with EU lawyers, HM Customs and
Excise and HM Treasury it was announced by the Chancellor in his
budget speech on 7 March 2001 that providing that the National
Museums and Galleries offered free access to their permanent collections
they would from 1 April be able to continue to recover their input
VAT on expenditures on the provision of free admission. In addition
those museums, like the National Gallery and the British Museum
whose Trustees had decided that they should remain free would
also be able to recover their input VAT on expenditure on free
admission.
49. Following the Chancellor's announcement the Department
negotiated with the former charging Museums suitable arrangements
to compensate them for the loss that they would incur as a result
of removing the remaining general admission charges. It was agreed
that free access for all would be introduced at the V&A from
22 November 2001 and at the other former charging museums from
1 December 2001.
50. The Department has also actively encouraged the development
of museum web sites with a view to improving remote access. The
public response has been enormous with the number of web site
hits at DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries increasing from four
million in 1998-99 to an estimated 24 million in 2001-02. These
sites may play a significant role in widening public awareness
of what museums and galleries have to offer and in encouraging
actual visits.
THE IMPACT
OF FREE
ACCESS
51. Following the introduction of free access for children
on 1 April 1999 child visits increased by 32 per cent (1.6 million)
to March 2002.
52. After the introduction of free access for people
over 60 on 1 April 2000 visits from over 60s increased by over
40 per cent (0.8 million) to March 2002.
53. In a further initiative Government funding was directed
to ensure that Tate Modern opened free to all in May 2000. Over
five million people visited Tate Modern in the first ten months,
more than twice the number expected.
54. The total number of visitors to the Tate increased
from 2.5 million in 1999-2000 to 6.7 million in 2000-01. Of these
nearly three million were new visitors.
55. In December 2000 the British Museum opened Great
Court and restored Reading Room. Despite the downturn in visitors
from the United States as a result of the combined impact of Foot
and Mouth and 11 September the British Museum has maintained a
steady growth in visitors of five per cent (224,000) between April
2001 and March 2002, to over 4.8 million. Of the 224,000 additional
visits 57 per cent were new and 43 per cent repeats.
56. Between April 2000 and March 2001 the number of visits
to DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries increased by over 20 per
cent. The provision of free access to Tate Modern played a significant
part in this growth.
57. We have continued to build on this growth. Despite
the effects of Foot and Mouth and September 11 visits to DCMS-sponsored
museums and galleries increased by over one million between 1
April 2001 and 31 March 2002 bringing the total number of visitors
to nearly 29 million.
58. There has been a 62 per cent (2.7 million) increase
in visits to the former charging museums in the first seven months
since the advent of full free access on 1 December 2001.
59. Free access has been a huge boost to the number of
visits to the Natural History Museum which received 500,000 extra
visits between 1 April 2001 and 31 March 2002, an increase of
29 per cent taking the total number of visitors to nearly 2.2
million. Of these one million were new visits and 1.2 million
repeats.
60. Over the same year the number of child visits to
the Natural History Museum increased by 23 per cent from 562,000
to 693,000. Children now account for 32 per cent of all visits
to the Natural History Museum.
61. At the V&A, visits increased by 38 per cent (516,000)
to over 1.8 million and the number of child visits by 34 per cent
to nearly 300,000. The number of visits from the over 60s more
than doubled to nearly 250,000.
62. At the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich overall
visits increased by 26 per cent to just under one million and
the number of child visits by 21 per cent to nearly 331,000 to
take 33 per cent of the total visits.
63. Free access has also stimulated a significant growth
in visits to DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries in the regions.
At the Royal Armouries the number of visits increased by 50 per
cent to over 337,000 and the number of child visits by 71 per
cent to over 126,000.
64. At the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester
the number of visits increased by 35 per cent to nearly 390,000
and the number of child visits by 20 per cent. Visits by the over
60s increased by 45 per cent.
65. At the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside
the number of visits increased by 16 per cent to nearly 823,000.
Significant further growth is expected when the current major
gallery refurbishments are complete.
66. The evidence suggests that the advent of free access
at the charging museums has not impacted significantly on museums
that have remained free, although visitor growth has also been
influenced by whether they have opened significant new developments
during the period. The table below shows the monthly variation
in visitor numbers at the Natural History Museum and the British
Museum, in the seven months following the introduction of free
access and compares it with the same seven months in the previous
year. Table 4 below shows a 69 per cent increase at the Natural
History Museum and a three per cent decrease at the British Museum.
The slight overall decrease at the British Museum could be a reflection
of the continuing reduction in the number of visitors from the
United States. The British Museum's visitors increased in the
December, February and March following the introduction of free
access:
Table 4
MONTHLY VISITOR NUMBERS AT THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
AND THE BRITISH MUSEUM BEFORE AND AFTER FULL FREE ACCESS AT CHARGING
MUSEUMS
| Before full free access | Natural
History
Museum
| After full
free access
| Natural
History
Museum
| Before full
free access
at charging
museums
| British
Museum
| After full
free access
at charging
museums
| British
Museum
|
| Dec 2000 | 89,650
| Dec 01 | 180,109
| Dec 00 | 308,334
| Dec 01 | 328,501
|
| Jan 2001 | 97,080
| Jan 02 | 220,818
| Jan 01 | 332,423
| Jan 02 | 317,881
|
| Feb 2001 | 191,904
| Feb 02 | 349,443
| Feb 01 | 290,331
| Feb 02 | 356,420
|
| Mar 2001 | 163,053
| Mar 02 | 267,312
| Mar 01 | 315,316
| Mar 02 | 416,163
|
| Apr 2001 | 214,412
| Apr 02 | 240,176
| Apr 01 | 480,171
| Apr 02 | 372,607
|
| May 2001 | 114,155
| May 02 | 198,990
| May 01 | 407,769
| May 02 | 396,918
|
| Jun 2001 | 118,559
| Jun 02 | 222,718
| Jun 01 | 422,192
| Jun 02 | 362,554
|
| Jul 2001 | 169,820
| Jul 02 | 291,758
| Jul 01 | 514,246
| Jul 02 | 477,984
|
| Aug 2001 | 243,378
| Aug 02 | 405,501
| Aug 01 | 522,568
| Aug 02 | 464,218
|
| Total | 1,401,011
| | 2,376,825
| | 3,593,530
| | 3,493,246
|
Source: Natural History Museum and British Museum: Monthly
data returns to DCMS.
67. We have already shown how, despite the downturn in
visits from the US the British Museum has continued to deliver
growth. The British Museum has been successful in increasing by
500,000 (27 per cent) the number of visits from UK residents from
1.8 million in 2000-01 to 2.3 million in 2001-02.
68. The National Portrait Gallery, another museum that has
remained free, has achieved a 21 per cent increase in visits,
from 1.2 million to nearly 1.5 million and an increase in child
visits of 52 per cent, over the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March
2002.
69. Over the same period overall visits to the National
Gallery increased by two per cent to over 4.8 million and the
number of child visits increased by 12 per cent to over 460,000.
70. One of the main objectives of free access is to bring
the national collections within reach of a wider audience. In
this respect free access is clearly proving successful in increasing
the number of child visitors and people over 60. However there
is also evidence that it is reaching out to other groups in society
who would not otherwise have visited. Data supplied to us by our
sponsored Museums and Galleries suggests that the number of visits
from the C2, D,E socio-economic groups increased by 34 per cent
between April 1998 and March 2002 to around 4.5 million and that
this increase has outpaced the significant growth in the number
of visits overall.
71. The proportion of visits from C2, D and E socio-economic
groups increased from 14 per cent to nearly 16 per cent over the
period from 1 April 1998 to 31 March 2002. This may not seem large
and it still falls well short of the proportion of C2, D, Es in
the population as a whole (51 per cent) but it will take time
and increased effort to achieve a significant shift in the composition
of visits. Nevertheless some sponsored Museums and Galleries attract
a relatively high proportion of C2, D and E visits. These include
the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester (38 per cent
of visits from C2,DEs), the National Museums and Galleries on
Merseyside (37 per cent ) and the Geffrye Museum in London (55
per cent). By comparison the proportion of C2, D, E visitors attending
the Natural History Museum is 22 per cent and the proportion attending
the British Museum 13 per cent.
RENAISSANCE IN
THE REGIONS
72. With the exception of the museums noted above the
Government does not fund the core costs of museums in the regions.
However, regional museums have a huge role to play in the delivery
of cultural policies and objectives. By 1999-2000 we were increasingly
concerned by reports about the state of health of regional museums
and following a preliminary analysis by the Department Lord Evans
of Temple Guiting, Chairman of Resource, the newly established
Council for Museums, Libraries and Archives, was asked to lead
a task force to undertake a review of the situation, to identify
the problems and to propose solutions.
73. The task force, which included senior representatives
from both the national and the regional museums sector reported
in September 2001 ("Renaissance in the Regions: a new
vision for England's museums"). Their report identified
the need for a much stronger strategic and operational framework
for museums and galleries throughout the country based on a philosophy
of co-operation and mutual dependency.
74. The report recognised that "museums and galleries
have an important role to play in education, learning, access,
social inclusion, the regions and the modernisation of public
services but that in order to perform their role effectively the
major regional museums and galleries would need to be revitalised
to become focal points for excellence within the areas they serve,
cooperating with other local and community museums, and forging
creative and dynamic relationships with the university and national
museums".
75. The report concluded that "the existing regional
museum structures are fragmented and that this has led to a lack
of leadership for the museums community in each region, poorly
articulated aims and objectives, a failure to address government
policy objectives in a consistent and sustainable way, decisions
based on expediency rather than strategy and an inefficient and
ineffective use of resources".
76. The report recommended a new framework for museums
in the regions based on the creation of a network of regional
hubs which involves developing the leading regional museums as
both centres of excellence and as leaders of their regional museum
communities.
77. The Government has welcomed the recommendations of
the "Renaissance in the Regions" report, has
commissioned Resource to identify the regional hubs and following
the 2002 Spending Review will be allocating substantial new resources
to build capacity and excellence in the regional hub museums to
make a start in implementing the report's recommendations.
78. In addition DCMS will encourage and fund a greater
level of partnership between national and regional museums, through
the additional resources that we intend to provide for museums
and galleries following the Spending Review, promote and encourage
the involvement of regional museums in Creative Partnerships and
seek their closer involvement in education projects funded through
schools.
THE FUTURE
79. The additional investment that we are providing following
the 2002 spending review is focused on improving the delivery
and reach of both national and regional museums and galleries
and maintaining and strengthening the delivery of their core services.
We will be and building the capacity of both to deliver enhanced
educational services and an improved and wider range of partnerships
between national museums and galleries and museums and galleries
in the regions. The new investment will also maintain the provision
of free access and ensure that following its successful introduction
at those national museums which previously charged the benefits
continue to be realised and developed.
80. The setting of performance targets in funding agreements
is an essential part of this process. We shall monitor progress
against these targets, reward excellence, identify the areas of
need and adjust the allocation of funds accordingly. We will,
however, look to our sponsored bodies to use their funds wisely
and efficiently and, where reform and modernisation is necessary
to deliver that objective we shall endeavour to ensure that it
is carried out as quickly and effectively as possible. Following
the spending review we have set aside additional funds to support
reform and modernisation, where it is needed.
8 October 2002
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