To respond to the “Review of the Support for Museums and Heritage Centre” outlining acceptance or otherwise of the recommendations made.

THAT             

(a)All Museums in the County be encouraged to complete the Museum Associations Accreditation process;

(b)the Museum Development Officer MDO project should continue through the support of the Hub and the MLA;

(c)independent museums in the County be reminded that they can apply for Community Grant Funding;

(d)the possibility of a partnership insurance scheme for the Herefordshire Museums Forum members should be explored.  This could be pursued by the Museum Development Officer on the Forum’s behalf;

(e)a small hiring collection be established to loan objects along the lines of the Reading Corporate Loans scheme.  (The recommendation to be pursued with an outline scheme presented to the Cabinet Member);

(f)     a formula be developed to measure Heritage’s impact on both tourism and to demonstrate its social and economic impact; and

(g)            prevention measures be undertaken to protect Kington Museum from being struck by lorries reversing to a nearby store.

During 2006/07 the Community Services Scrutiny Committee undertook a review of the support for Museums and Heritage Centres.  The Committee visited several sites in and outside the County, including Kington Museum, Butchers Row Museum in Ledbury, the Painted Room in Ledbury and the Judges Lodgings in Presteigne – the latter as an out of County comparison.  The recommendations mainly focus on the operation of local authority run facilities and the care of collections.  A copy of the final Scrutiny report is attached at Appendix 1.  This report assesses each of the recommendations in turn and considers whether or not they should be accepted.

Recommendations reviewed.