Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport First Report


INTRODUCTION

The inquiry

8. On 25 July we announced a short inquiry into museum funding in the light of the Government's initiative to secure free admission for all to the core collections of those museums and galleries sponsored by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. We selected the British Museum, which has never charged for admissions, and the Natural History Museum, which charged between 1987 and 2001, as candidates for closer study.[4]

9. We received written submissions from: the Department for Culture, Media and Sport; a large proportion of the Department's sponsored museums and galleries; the National Football Museum, Preston, the Macclesfield Museums Trust and the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service. We also received evidence from the Museums Association; the National Art Collections Fund; two unions representing a large number of museum staff, Prospect and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS); the English Tourism Council; and Re:source (the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries).[5]

10. We took oral evidence on 23 October 2002 from the directors of the British Museum and the Natural History Museum, and representatives of their respective senior management teams, and, on the same day, from the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport, Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP, the Minister for the Arts, Rt Hon Baroness Blackstone and Mr Richard Hartman, Head of Museums and Libraries Sponsoring Unit, DCMS. We were pleased that the Department succeeded in announcing the funding allocations for the sponsored museums and galleries in advance of this evidence session, thereby ending some of the uncertainty surrounding the subject we were attempting to discuss. We were a little disappointed that the Department chose the day before the evidence session to announce these figures and did so without warning the Committee.[6]

11. We also visited both of our exemplar museums following the evidence session to see the collections and behind the scenes, and to have informal discussions. We would like to thank all our witnesses for the evidence that they submitted, and for the work involved, and to both our hosts for excellent tours and kind hospitality.



4   See PN 40, http://www.parliament.uk/commons/selcom/cmspnt40.htm Back

5   The evidence submitted is set out at the back of this volume Back

6   See DCMS 189/2002, 22 October 2002 Back


 
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Prepared 11 December 2002