Contact: Bevis Ingram, ext 7508

1 Summary

1.1 The following decisions are sought:

That the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage determines the charges to be made for 2002/03 as outlined in appendices 1, 2 and 3 of this report.

That the current charges for the Archives Service as detailed in appendix 4 continue, but are reviewed during 2002/03.

That representations are made to Re:source (the council for Museums, Libraries and Archives) and other relevant bodies and organisations about the impact of the recent introduction of free admission to National Museums on the public's expectations when visiting other Museums.

2 Reasons

2.1 All County Council services should review their charges should generate income 5% above the 2001/02 budget. This will generate £42,700 required to meet inflation and £42,700 to be used for supporting Recreation and Heritage Services.

3 Other options considered and rejected

3.1 Other options for a target for income generation (higher/lower) were considered and rejected. The increase of 5% is felt to be a prudent figure.

3.2 Other options for meeting the 5% target were considered. The recommended charges should achieve the target with minimum negative impact on the services.

4 Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker or a member or officer consulted

4.1 None.

5 Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee

5.1 Not applicable.

6 Reasons for the matter being dealt with if urgent

6.1 Not applicable.

Approved by: (signature) Date: (date of decision)

Councillor J Waddington

Contact: Bevis Ingram, ext 7508

1 Introduction

1.1 All County Council services should review their charges annually. Under the former committee arrangements the various panels of the Recreation and Heritage Committee reviewed the charges for their services. This year the review of all charges is being brought together in this report, which will be considered by the Recreation and Heritage Policy and Review Committee before going to the Executive Member for approval.

1.2 The report is being brought to the same meeting as the annual budget (elsewhere on the agenda).

1.3 Members will be aware from the budget report that Recreation and Heritage faces a number of budget pressures that cannot be met from existing resources. It is proposed that additional income is generated from charges to help meet those pressures.

1.4 The inflationary increase for all income budgets is 2.5%. It is proposed to set charges so that additional income generated is 5% above the 2001/02 budget. This will generate £42,700 required to meet inflation, and an additional £42,700 to be used for supporting Recreation and Heritage Services. Proposals for how this £42,700 will be used are included in the budget report elsewhere on the agenda.

	Amount to meet inflation	Additional amount to support services	Total
	£	£	£
Libraries	31,300	31,300	62,600
Museums	800	800	1,600
Countryside	9,900	9,900	18,800
Archives	800	800	1,600
	42,700	42,700	85,400

1.5 Members may wish to consider alternative budget strategies. For example, setting charges to cover inflation only (2.5%) or setting charges to generate additional income to cover further pressures.

1.6 The proposed increase of 5% is felt to be a prudent figure - and that higher increases may have a negative effect on service use (and so not actually achieve the higher income targets). The appendices show the proposals for each service.

1.7 The report looks in detail at proposals to set charges for individual service areas, in line with the proposed 5% target.

2 Areas for review

2.1 There are four "groups" of charges for review. These are:

	Budgeted income 2001/02 £
Libraries	1,251,100
Museum entrance charges (excluding museums run by joint management committees)	31,500
Country parks charges	396,000
Archives	33,500

2.2 Other areas of activity within the Recreation and Heritage services generate income, but would not be appropriate for inclusion in a general review of charges; examples include sales from shops in country parks and museums, and ticket sales for arts events.

2.3 A number of museums are run by Joint Management Committees (JMCs) with other councils (particularly Hampshire district councils). For these, charges are recommended by the Joint Management Committee, and brought to the parent authorities for approval. The biggest example of this is the Milestones Museum (JMC with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council); the 2001/02 budget for income from charges at Milestones is £647,900. A report on charges should be considered by the Milestones JMC shortly as part of a review of the business plan and budget for 2002/03. The JMC partners contribute a fixed budget, and it is up to the JMC to fix charges to ensure that the Museum operates within that budget. The other JMC Museums operate in the same way and are therefore also excluded from this review. (This includes the Red House Museum, Christchurch, Bursledon Windmill, and the Aldershot Military Museum, as well as Milestones.)

3 Libraries

3.1 Appendix 1 shows the current and proposed charges for the Library service to meet the 5% increase in income.

3.2 The main area of income generation in the service is fines, and the proposed increase for adult users should generate sufficient income for there to be no increase in fines for children.

3.3 In addition it is proposed that fines are ceased to be charged on books taken out for children under the age of 5. This would support social inclusion and work done with Education and Social Services in improving early years provision. The budgetary impact of this is expected to be negligible.

3.4 The proposals for the remaining charges are largely pragmatic, with charges being kept to, or increased by, round sums. The main area, apart from fines, generating significant income are the hiring of popular videos. The proposal here is to increase the maximum charge from £3 to £3.50, although the minimum charge will be unchanged.

3.5 The proposals include two new charges. Firstly, a new additional reservation fee is proposed for obtaining out of County material. Currently no distinction is made between material obtained within the County and that which has to be obtained from outside of the County; the latter cost significantly more to obtain, for example a charge per item is made by the British Library lending scheme. It is therefore proposed that a charge of £1 per item is made for obtaining out of County materials in addition to the standard reservation charge of 85p (for which no increase is proposed).

3.6 Secondly, a new charge of 50p per item is proposed for Spoken Word materials, with the proviso that the following groups are exempt from the charge : children, print impaired groups, and housebound users.

4 Museums charges

4.1 Appendix 2 shows the current and proposed charges for the Museums service to meet the 5% increase in income.

4.2 When setting admission charges, consideration is given to the elasticity of the charge (ie. the balance between the possibility of increased income from higher charges balanced against the risk of reducing the number of paying visitors because some will be put off by the higher charge). It is also very important to consider overall income per visitor, taking into account shop and cafe sales as well as admission charges rather than looking at admission charges in isolation, for example the Red House Museum Joint Management Committee have kept admission charges steady in recent years but have seen income per head increase by 14%. It is also sensible to set charges at a recognisable platform level and avoid small % increases which result in odd figures, for this reason it has been the practice to increase charges by a more substantial percentage every 2-3years or so to move from one platform to another. The charges detailed in appendix 2 should raise sufficient income to meet the income targets.

4.3 Whilst it has been the County Council's policy to charge for admission at appropriate sites the introduction of free admission to National Museums, will have an effect on the public's expectations when visiting museums. This is a particular concern at Milestones which is within easy travelling distance of London, and the effect of this will have to be kept under careful review.

5 Countryside charges

5.1 Appendix 3 shows the current and proposed charges for the Countryside Service to meet the 5% increase in income.

5.2 It is proposed not to increase charges at Queen Elizabeth Country Park and Royal Victoria Country Park. These two sites will be able to make their contributions to the higher income target through greater visitor throughput which creates increased secondary spend.

5.3 It is proposed to increase the charges at Lepe Country Park, Titchfield Haven and Manor Farm Country Park. Most of the charges at Lepe Country Park have not been increased since 1997, and each of the proposals constitutes an increase of less than 10%. At Titchfield Haven the opportunity has been taken to bring the price of a Child Season ticket in line as half of the price of an Adult Season ticket. The increase in charges at Manor Farm Country Park averages out at 5%.

6 Archives charges

6.1 Appendix 4 shows the current and proposed charges for the Archives Service to meet the 5% increase in income.

6.2 No changes are being proposed to the charges for the Archives service. With publication of the 1901 census, it is expected that the service will experience a large increase in requests for copies and searches. The publication of archive catalogues on the internet is also expected to increase demand. It is expected that this increase in demand will generate sufficient income to meet the proposed 5% increase in budget.

Recommendation

1. That the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage determines the charges to be made for 2002/03 after considering the views of the Policy Review Committee and taking into account the budget guidelines for the service.

2. That it be a recommendation to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage that representations be made to Re: Source (are council for Museums, Libraries and Archives) and other relevant bodies and organisations about the impact of the recent introduction of free admission to National Musuems on the public's expectations when visiting other museums.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

Published works.

Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

TITLE FILE

Appendix 1

Library charges - wef 1 April 2002

Appendix 2

Museum charges

Appendix 3

Countryside charges - proposals for 2002/03

Appendix 4

Hampshire Record Office - Schedule of proposed charges 2002/3

* Minimum charge of £3.00 for postal requests. The above mentioned prices include VAT

** Minimum charge of £5.00

Use of Education Work room for private photography of Hampshire Record Office documents, under the supervision of a member of staff, £9 per ½ hour. This charge is stated in the Copying Services leaflet.

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