Archived decisions
AT A MEETING of the RECREATION AND HERITAGE POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE held at The Castle, Winchester on Thursday 23 May, 2002
PRESENT:
Councillor J.V. Bryant (Chairman); Mrs. S.E. Allbright; Mrs. E.M. Byrom; K.G. Chapman; P.J. Chegwyn; J.E. Coles; C.R.H. Davidovitz; R.J. Ellis; E.F. Gale; M.F. Geddes; B.T. Gurden; Mrs. K. Heron; Mrs. P.G.E. Holden-Brown; Jo Kelly; Mrs. C.A. Leversha; P.A. Pierce; R.H. Price; A.W. Rice; K.P.J. Searle; M.L. Sheehan.
Councillor J. Waddington was also in attendance.
25 MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 21 March, 2002 were confirmed by the Committee and signed by the Chairman.
26 CHAIRMAN'S ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Chairman reported on the following matters:-
(i) Calshot Activities Centre
A letter praising one of the instructors at Calshot Activities Centre had been received; she had dealt with a team comprising three local authority chief executives and six directors with quiet authority whilst paying close attention to safety.
(ii) Library Service Quality Awards
18 libraries in the County had received a quality mark for their careers information from the Guidance Council whilst 44 libraries had received a quality mark award from the Community Legal Service. Thanks were expressed to library staff for all their efforts.
(iii) Arts Section
The Chairman confirmed that he had conveyed in writing the praise of the Committee for the work of the arts section staff as voiced at the previous meeting.
27 RECREATION AND HERITAGE DEPARTMENT - OBJECTIVES AND MANAGEMENT
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 3(ii) in the Minute Book) on the core objectives of the Recreation and Heritage Department together with some suggested changes to the proposed management structure to ensure that the Department is able to deliver these aims. The objectives include a strong marketing approach to the delivery of services so that current requirements of customers are identified and responded to, the progressive stewardship of the rich heritage of the County's cultural, recreational and countryside assets so that they may be enjoyed equally by future generations, the development of a strong commitment to high quality services and the taking account of the County Council's core objectives in delivering the service.
Changes being proposed to the organisation included combined management of the Museums Service and the Record Office, and the creation of new posts of Head of Business Development, Marketing Manager and External Funding Manager. As an expression of the Department's commitment to personal and professional developments it was proposed to set a benchmark for all staff of 5 days training and development time per annum.
RESOLVED:
That the approach and changes outlined in the report be endorsed and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his consideration with a report being made back to the Committee in six months time on progress made and the effect of the changes.
28 THE DISCOVERY CENTRE
The Director of Recreation and Heritage gave a presentation on the Discovery Centre concept which would entail the provision of centres of excellence for local people in libraries, with one of the aims of such centres being to reverse the current trend of fewer visits by young people to libraries.
29 RENAISSANCE IN THE REGIONS : A NEW VISION FOR ENGLAND'S MUSEUMS : RESPONSE BY HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 4 in the Minute Book) which gave an update on the development of proposals to strengthen museums in the regions and the implications for Hampshire County Council. A major report entitled "Renaissance in the Regions: A New Vision for England's Museums" had been published in September, 2001 by the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries (Re: source) and had proposed, inter alia, that from one to four key museums in each region should be identified and given additional support by the Government with the aim of strengthening the museum structure as a whole. These key museums would work together as a "regional hub". Hampshire would be in the GOSE region and the County Museums Service together with the Oxford University Museums, the Brighton and Hove Museums and the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust had been proposed to form the regional hub. Its principal objective would be to develop, procure and distribute excellence both across the region as a whole and its sub regions with the ability to deliver such programmes being subject to appropriate levels of national funding. A response was awaited from Re: source following an application for regional hub status on the lines specified above.
RESOLVED:
That the proposal for the creation of a regional museum hub for the South-East Region and the nomination of Hampshire County Museums Service as the lead body be welcomed and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his consideration.
30 HATRICS - THE SOUTHERN INFORMATION NETWORK
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 5 in the Minute Book) on HATRICS which had begun in Southampton in 1964 as a library-led project to link local organisations whose information resources could benefit the local economy. Today HATRICS is the United Kingdom's largest and the most active information partnership in its field and a unique contributor to the economic health of the area. 80% of its 270 members are businesses, mostly in the manufacturing, service or consultancy sectors. Recent research had shown the benefits perceived by a large majority of the member organisations and the Regional Development Agency SEEDA had recently approved funding for research which might eventually result in a network for the whole South East region being designed and constructed.
RESOLVED:
That the award from the Regional Development Agency SEEDA be welcomed and any further work in extending the HATRICS model to the south east region be supported.
31 EASY RETURNS SERVICE
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 6 in the Minute Book) on the easy returns service which would allow for any item borrowed to be returned to any library in the County. This service would take advantage of improvements to the van delivery service between libraries which had been identified by the Library Service Best Value Review. It was planned that the service would come into effect on 1 July and costs would be met from existing budgets.
RESOLVED:
That the improvements in the delivery service to libraries and the introduction of the easy returns service be welcomed and submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his consideration.
32 A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE HAMPSHIRE OUTDOOR SERVICE - 2002/0 3 TO 2004/05
Councillor Cole declared a non-pecuniary interest in the matter being a lifelong member of the Calshot Association.
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 7 in the Minute Book) on the draft strategic plan for the outdoor service covering the period 2002/03 to 2004/05. Its aim would be to assist members, staff and partner organisations to focus on the priorities for the service during this period. Attention was drawn to the partnerships with other areas of the County Council, the four managed outdoor centres and the five grant aided trust centres. The plan proposed building on the very successful partnership with the Education Service and working more closely with young people whilst also providing development training for business, commercial and public service customers and outdoor activities for the general population. The plan described the current situation, defined what should be aimed at in the future and gave reasons and outlined actions to achieve this.
RESOLVED:
That the draft strategic plan for the outdoor service for the period 2002/03 to 2004/05 be endorsed and be submitted to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for him to consider adopting it as the County Council's strategy for the outdoor service.
33 THE BEST VALUE OUTCOME REPORT OF THE SCHOOL LIBRARY SERVICE
The Committee considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on the outcome report of the Best Value Review of the School Library Service. The main findings of the report had included the broad conclusions that the Hampshire School Library Service shows very high levels of client satisfaction, a high level of comparative cost effectiveness and substantial progress towards achieving service objectives; overall, 98.5% of schools buy back into the service. The main recommendations of the outcome report (which had been approved by the Education Policy Review Committee) were that the service continues to be provided from within the Local Education Authority and that the action plan be approved.
RESOLVED:
That the recommendations of the Education Policy Review Committee in respect of the outcome report of the School Library Service be welcomed.
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