Agenda item

RESOLVED that pursuant to Section 100A of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public shall be excluded from the meeting during item 5 on the grounds that there would be disclosure to them of information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding the information) and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Summary of the proceedings of the meeting during which the public and press were excluded. (This is a fair summary of the proceedings and there are no exempt minutes)

The Joint Committee considered changes to the operations at Hartlebury Castle.

In the ensuing debate, the following principal points were raised:

·         Philippa Tinsley confirmed that it was intended to have a soft opening of the Hartlebury Museum in April followed by the formal opening in May

·         Was Hartlebury Castle Preservation Trust happy with the proposed arrangements for the museum? Philippa Tinsley confirmed that the arrangements had been made in partnership with the Trust and all sides were satisfied with the outcome

·         In response to a query, Philippa Tinsley advised that the new admission charges reflected the significant improvement in the offer at Hartlebury. The charges had been benchmarked against a number of local National Trust properties

·         In response to a query, Philippa Tinsley indicated that the Museum was operating with an overspend at present. Hannah Needham added that the proposals for the Museum were aimed at bringing the service back within budget. This was separate to a future requirement for £30K savings

·         What were the main aspects of the restructure of the operations at the Museum? Philippa Tinsley commented that the proposals included a reduction in unnecessary costs, more efficient rotas, better use of part-time staff on site, and a request to staff to work a 47 week year

·         Would posts at the Museum remain attractive and viable to applicants after the review? Philippa Tinsley responded that experience suggested that part-time work remained an attractive proposition to applicants

·         Concern was expressed about the allocation of £49k from the Joint Museums Service's reserve given that the County Council, not the Joint Service would benefit from the savings accrued. It was agreed that an allocation of the Joint Museum Reserve, of no greater than 39% of the total reserve value, and reflective of a theoretical pro rata apportionment of the reserve between the partners, be made available to fund the changes in the event of any redundancies if required.  

RESOLVED: that

a)    the admission charges for 2018-19 proposed by Hartlebury Castle Preservation Trust board of trustees be approved;

b)    the proposed changes to annual opening hours for Worcestershire County Museum be approved for 2018-19;

c)    the principles of the proposed restructure of the Worcestershire County Museum operations team be approved;

d)    an allocation of the Joint Museum Reserve, of no greater than 39% of the total reserve value, and reflective of a theoretical pro rata apportionment of the reserve between the partners,  is made available to fund the changes in the event of any redundancies if required; and

e)    the Museums General Manager be authorised to implement the proposals, subject to the Worcestershire County Council processes of staff consultation and redundancy.