Agenda item

The Joint Committee considered authorising a new Museums Worcestershire Plan for 2015-18.

The current strategic plan for Museums Worcestershire was approved in 2011, to cover the period from 2011-14. It was therefore time for a review of the plan in order to chart a course for the medium term.

The previous plan drew attention to the considerable uncertainties for the service surrounding the future of Hartlebury and the ground floor of the City Art Gallery and Museum building. Both matters were now close to resolution and this would help to dictate a direction for the service and give more certainty about future operational matters.

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

·         Officers might find it useful to liaise with the County Council's Head of Learning and Achievement to ascertain the most appropriate way to develop services for schools

·         Had representatives of the joint service been invited to take part in the City Council's scrutiny exercise in relation to Tourism? The Marketing and Events Manager commented that members serving on the Scrutiny Panel had been invited to a Stakeholders meeting. In addition, Arts Council documents were being used as reference material for the scrutiny exercise

·         At some point, the Joint Committee should take a view on the potential alternative venues for the Museum and Art Gallery. In response it was commented that this Joint Committee needed to be made aware of the details before drawing any conclusions. It was therefore agreed that a presentation be made to the next Joint Committee meeting

·         Was the Joint Committee satisfied that the Heritage Development Report had received sufficient consideration and what was the expected contribution from the City Council? The Museums General Manager commented that the report had been used as a key document for the basis of the work of the service. The difficulty was determining who would be the lead organisation. The consultant's view was that it needed to be a collaborative approach. A request had been made for a copy of the document be circulated to all members of the City Council

·         Would members of the Joint Committee wish to see the move of the service to Trust status remain as a key aim within the Plan? In response, it was commented that from the establishment of the Shared Service, the assumption had always been that the service would eventually obtain trust status. Were there any issues that would prevent it happening and therefore warrant removal of its reference from the plan? The Museums General Manager stated that there were 2 issues related to the formation of a Trust: accountability and finance. It was recognised that both Councils wanted to retain the option of handing over responsibility to a trust. The trustees on the board would be independent and would require a degree of certainty about the future status of the trust. The process came to a halt in 2012 because of the requirement for each council to make budgetary reductions. However the financial position of the councils might change in the future to make trust status a possibility. The City Council's Head of Safe and Stronger Communities added that for a trust to be successful, there would need to be a period of financial stability and a commitment from the participants to the principal of the trust status to allow the diversification of the income streams. Long term savings including taxation benefits could be made from establishing trust status but there would need to be a period of stability in the short-term before progress could be made. It was therefore agreed that Trust status should remain an aim in the Plan

·         Had the concept of a national/regional store for documents been considered because there were considerable gains to be made in terms of cost savings, access rights and improved storage facilities of such arrangements? The Museums General Manager commented that the idea of a regional store had been raised in the past but, despite the financial and other benefits, it had not been possible to reach any agreement with other councils in the region over this matter.

RESOLVED that:

a)    the production of a new Museums Strategic Plan for 2015-18 be authorised; and

b)    a presentation on the future of the Museum and Art Gallery be made to the next meeting of the Committee on 17 November 2014.