APPENDIX 21
Supplementary memorandum submitted by
DCMS (in response to questions from the Committee)
DATA REQUESTED
1. Annex 1 sets out the Grant-in-Aid funding
for museums and galleries sponsored by DCMS including the British
and Natural History Museums, in cash and real terms (for 1989-90—1996-97
and 1996-97—2004-05) as requested. The reports from which
the figures for the funding of the sponsored museums and galleries
are drawn go back to 1989-90 ie a few years before the creation
of the Department of National Heritage (the name by which DCMS
was previously known) in 1992. Prior to 1992 Museums were sponsored
by another Department, The Office of Arts and Libraries. The Department
has no comparable data from before 1989-90.
2. Annex 2 sets out the admission policy
at selected key institutions in EU member states, Australia, Canada
and the USA.
REAL TERMS
3. The announcement of the funding for museums
and galleries (DCMS, 29 October 2002) included reference to real
terms increases of 1.7 per cent and 2.8 per cent for 2004-05 and
2005-06 respectively on the base year 2003-04 (the first year
of the 2002 Spending Review).
4. This real increase was calculated as
the revenue increase over and above the revenue baseline plus
2.5 per cent Treasury GDP deflator in each of 2004-05 and 2005-06.
So, on this basis a real increase of 1.7 per cent in 2004-05 is
equal to the revenue baseline plus 4.2 per cent cash increase
minus 2.5 per cent GDP deflator and in 2005-06 a real increase
of 2.8 per cent is equal to the revenue baseline plus a cash increase
of 5.3 per cent minus 2.5 per cent GDP deflator.
5. The Secretary of State's reference in
evidence (Q121) to 1.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent as the real terms
increases for 2004-05 and 2005-06 respectively arose from the
allocations to the larger museums and galleries, such as the British
Museum and the Natural History Museum, which account for the great
bulk of the additional funding allocated. However, the smaller
museums were given larger increases, such as the real terms increases
of 7.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively for the Sir John
Soane's Museum. This raises the overall real increase in revenue
funding to museums and galleries by 0.2 and 0.3 percentage points
from the levels quoted by the Secretary of State to the levels
given in the announcement. The base year used for the real terms
increases set out in Annex 1 is 1997-98 which of course yields
another figure.
COMPENSATION FOR
FREE ADMISSION
6. Annex 3 sets out the cumulative costs
to the Department of compensation for free admission.
TOUCHSTONE
7. The Secretary of State referred in evidence
to the potential for sponsored museums and galleries to earn greater
flexibility and freedom on the basis of their performance—part
of the Touchstone programme for modernising the relationship between
the Department and all non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs)
(Q125).
8. Museums and Galleries, like other non-departmental
public bodies, are required to comply with a Management Statement
and Financial Memorandum which set out the levels of accountability
to the Department. For example, the Financial Memorandum sets
the thresholds beyond which a Museum must seek the Department's
approval to spend money on a capital project.
9. The Management Statement and Financial
Memorandum are reviewed periodically to assess whether the thresholds
for Departmental approval should be relaxed or tightened. The
Secretary of State's reference to earning "flexibility"
was a reference to the possibility of relaxing the thresholds
for Departmental approval in the light of good performance. Such
relaxations would need to be approved by Treasury.
10. New Management Statements and Financial
Memoranda have been put in place for all DCMS-sponsored National
Museums and Galleries including the British Museum and the Natural
History Museum. At this stage both are offered the same degree
of flexibility. Further adjustments will depend on the assessment
of performance.
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