Archived decisions

Agenda Item:

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Report

1. Purpose of Report

1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide an update on Renaissance South East, the museums development programme for the region and Hampshire County Council Museums Service's role within in it.

1.2 This paper seeks to

· set out the background to the Hampshire County Council Museums Service and the Renaissance South East programme

· consider the level of funding that the programme has brought to Hampshire

· highlight the impact Renaissance funding has made on the performance of the County Council

· look at key issues and actions being taken with regard to the management and governance of the programme, workforce planning and sub-regional working

· briefly consider the future direction of the Renaissance programme in the light of the Review of Renaissance, which was published in July, MLA's response to the Review and the strategic action plan for English museums.

2. Contextual Information - Museums Service and Renaissance South East

2.1 As one part of the Department of Culture, Communities and Rural Affairs, the Museums Service aims to:

· increase participation by putting people at the heart of what it does, focusing on older people and younger people, particularly those living in rural areas with poor access to cultural services through its museums and its community outreach programmes

· conserve Hampshire's heritage for future generations through the expert management and sharing of collections in the County Council's own community museums and through those run by organisations with similar aims

and

· improve its capacity to deliver through partnerships, such as the Renaissance South East Hub, developing new management arrangements and investing in staff and volunteers.

2.2 The Museums Service delivers its aims through the direct management of 15 museums and heritage sites distributed across the County, 10 in partnership with district councils and Dorset County Council, and delivers museums services through a further four venues that are managed by its partners, including Havant Arts and Heritage Centre and both Winchester and Gosport Discovery Centres. It supports many other museums through the provision of curatorial, conservation and interpretation expertise.

2.3 There were 416,120 visitors to the museums in 2008-09, including nearly 38,000 school children, with outreach services reaching a further 35,000 people. The total budget for the Museums Service, including Hub funding is £4,772,900, of which £2,214,600 (46%) is funding from Hampshire County Council in 2009-10. There are 97 full-time equivalent staff and, on average, volunteers contribute 887 hours a month - equivalent to 24 full-time staff.

2.4 Renaissance is the ground breaking programme to transform England's regional museums, recently described in the independent Renaissance Review as `the government's most important intervention in English non-national museums since the Museums Act of 1845'. It is enabling regional museums across the country to raise their standards and deliver real results in support of education, learning, community development and economic regeneration. The programme has received £300million since 2002, helping to make museums great centres of life and learning, which people want to visit.

2.5 In the South East, the programme is managed by the South East Museum Hub - a partnership between:

· Hampshire County Council Museums Service (lead partner)

· Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust

· Oxford University Museums

· Royal Pavilion, Libraries and Museums, Brighton and Hove

Managing a total of 29 museums located in all of the South East's four sub-regions and attracting nearly 2 million visitors in 2008-09.

2.6 The Hub has received this government investment to develop its museums as centres of excellence and as leaders of the South East region's wider museum community. Since 2003 the Hub has focused on increasing and widening participation, developing learning opportunities for schools and adults and improving access to collections.

2.7 The Hub has adopted a broader regional role since the closure of MLA South East in 2008 by taking on the management of the network of Museum Development Officers, which is currently based at the Museums Service's headquarters at Chilcomb House. The Museum Development Officers provide one-to-one mentoring, advice on how to meet the Accreditation Standard, training, a small grants programme and special projects on a sub-regional basis.

3. Finance

3.1 Working with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), the Renaissance South East Programme Board has produced a business plan for 2009-11, which allocates £2,182,900 to projects managed by Hampshire County Council Museums Service. The Museums Service is accountable for a further £2,275,956 for supporting the development of the wider museums community across the region and Hub management.

3.2 The funding for the Museums Service projects for 2009-11 will largely (86%) be used for the continuation of well established projects, including special touring and community exhibitions, collections management, services for schools and marketing. The remaining 14% or £312,000 will be allocated to new projects including a trainee programme to increase the diversity of the workforce, a contribution towards a sense of place exhibition at Havant Arts and Heritage Centre, induction packs for New Citizens and new media interpretation for secondary school children in North Hampshire.

4. Performance

4.1 The Renaissance funded projects managed by the Museums Service continue to improve our capacity to deliver to Hampshire residents, increase our customer focus and reduce inequalities by:

· allowing us to increase visitors to the museums by 2% year-on-year through high quality exhibitions, such as `Alfred the Great' and `Hampshire Treasures' in new galleries reaching Government Indemnity Standard in Winchester and Basingstoke, to family holiday activities in community venues from Gosport to Andover

· providing many more opportunities for museum related learning to a greater number of school age children each year. The number of pupils visiting in school groups rose by 6% between 2006-07 and 2008-09 and at least 80% of Hampshire schools are now using our museums.

· devising more targeted activities for under represented groups both in and beyond the museums in deprived communities and rural areas, such as Andover, Basingstoke, Gosport and the New Forest

· improving both physical and online access to collections making more objects available for community use through the collections grading scheme and well illustrated websites for all our most popular collections in store

· boosting community involvement in museum and heritage activity through volunteering both behind the scenes at Chilcomb and on sites such as Basing House and Milestones

4.2 Renaissance funding has unlocked the Museums Service's potential to deliver against key corporate agendas. By funding the equivalent of 22 full time posts, the programme has allowed the Museums Service to fulfil its ambition to be at the heart of Hampshire's cultural, educational and economic life. It has contributed to the County's very high rate of museum participation with 56% of adults visiting museums at least once a year (NI10), well above the national average, with 62% in Basingstoke where there is the greatest concentration of County Council museums.

4.3 Without this additional funding to add value to the Museums Service's existing work, it is unlikely that the increases in participation levels and improvements in the quality of services since 2003 could have been achieved. Evidence for this comes from figures for museums in other parts of the country that have not benefited from Renaissance to the same extent at Hampshire. Visit figures for these museums peaked in 2005-06 whereas figures for Hampshire County Council's museums have continued to show an increase.

5. Key issues and action being taken

5.1 Management and governance of Renaissance South East - support is being provided to the Museums Service as Lead Partner in the South East Hub to adapt the management structure and governance of the regional programme to accommodate the increased demands of the new business plan and the changing management responsibilities following the closure of MLA South East. MLA has commissioned an Interim Manager to lead this work and funding for Hampshire County Council to appoint a permanent Head of Museums, Arts and SE Hub (Dr Janet Owen starts January 2010) and a fixed-term Hub Director in November.

5.2 Workforce planning - since the Museums Service started to benefit from Renaissance funding in 2003, the number of fixed-term posts has increased each year to the point where 23% of our workforce is Renaissance funded involving 29 posts. Currently funding is only available until the end of March 2011. Options for the future sustainability of the Museums Service are being examined. Particular attention will need to be paid to the resourcing of the Winchester Discovery Centre Gallery and Basing House.

5.3 Staff accommodation - the increase in staffing has created pressures on office accommodation and other workspaces available at Chilcomb House. Alternative office accommodation in Winchester is being arranged for the Renaissance South East team, which will alleviate the situation to a degree.

5.4 Sub-regional working - the 2009-11 Business Plan heralds a new way of working. Hub partners are strengthening their relationships with the wider museum community in each sub-region through the development of existing sub-regional steering groups. The groups are to become more representative bodies with opportunities to influence programming and manage or deliver activities responding to wider community agendas through partnerships, which include non-sector bodies. The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Advisory Panel will be chaired by the Head of Museums, Arts and SE Hub.

5.5 Sub-regional projects - A project is being conceived that might allow Hampshire to work in partnership with neighbouring museum authorities to explore options for shared collections management facilities.

6. Future direction

6.1 The independent review of Renaissance in the Regions was published in July along with MLA's response to the review and its vision and strategic action plan for English museums `Leading Museums'. Together, these three important documents give an indication of the direction of travel for Renaissance beyond 2011, subject to any change in government following the general election next year and the outcome of the next government spending review.

6.2 The Review recognises that while Renaissance is a success story transforming many regional museums into more confident, ambitious and articulate institutions, increasing participation and vastly improving services for schools, far-reaching changes need to be made to the delivery mechanisms for the programme at national and regional levels. These include the replacement of the Hub model with a network of 10 to 12 `core museums' supplemented by challenge funding and a national network of museum development officers.

6.3 In response, MLA acknowledges that some of these recommendations are controversial and that no changes will be made without thorough consultation with key stakeholders and without strong evidence that they would achieve the results envisaged. MLA is looking to pilot the `core museum' idea in one region. Any changes will be in place for the beginning of the 2011-14 planning round.

6.4 It is vital therefore that Hampshire County Council prepares for changes to the Renaissance delivery mechanisms that will affect the Museums Service's role as Hub Lead and the level of Renaissance funding available to the Service. Over the coming months it needs to strengthen its position as provider of a leading museums service and engage fully in the consultation process.

7. Conclusions

7.1 That the impact of Renaissance funding on the performance of Hampshire County Council to date be noted and that the actions being taken to address the key issues are endorsed.

7.2 That the recommendations of the Review of Renaissance and MLA's response to them be noted.

2.1.

IMPACT ASSESSMENTS:

1. Equalities Impact Assessment:

1.1. Renaissance South East project plans are integrated into the Museums Service Plan 2009-10, for which an Equalities Impact Assessment has been undertaken.

2. Impact on Crime and Disorder:

2.1. None

3. Climate Change:

3.1. How does what is being proposed impact on our carbon footprint / energy consumption?

a) How does what is being proposed consider the need to adapt to climate change, and be resilient to its longer term impacts?