To seek permission to close premises operated by Cultural Services.

THAT  (a)        the following premises are closed on Monday, 29th November between 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm: Hereford City Museum and Art Gallery; Ross-on-Wye Heritage Centre; Bromyard Heritage Centre.

(b)              all the Tourist Information Centres are closed the whole day of 24^th November to conduct a familiarisation and team building session following the Service Conference.

(c)               Hereford Record Office is closed from 22^nd November to 6^th December for annual stock take.

On 1^st December, 2003 Cultural Services held a Service Conference at the Town Hall in Hereford.  This enabled the whole team to meet, discuss common issues and look at personnel issues affecting them (which was fed back to personnel as requested in order to explore some of the issues relating the Staff Opinion Questionnaire).  The feedback from the staff was that the networking opportunity was very beneficial and created a stronger sense of the team working together.

It is proposed that in order to repeat the exercise the public buildings operated by Cultural Services are closed for the morning of the 24^th November, and then for the TICs to be closed in the afternoon to raise awareness of specific issues affecting the service – this is the only chance for all TIC and tourism staff to come together.  The 2003 closures do not seem to have caused disruption to the services as notices were placed in advance at the sites and through the web stating that the offices would be closed.  It was suggested that the conference could be held in the evening, but this was felt to disadvantage officers who have care responsibility.

Hereford Record Office conducts an annual closure period for two weeks at the end of November leading through to the first week of December.  This is familiarly called Stock-Take, and relates to checking that records are up to date and dealing with archives free of public use.

At the 2003 conference a short questionnaire was distributed to assess the opinion of the Cultural Services management, affiliation and feeling as to working in the service.  Despite evident demotivation at the actual event, there seem to be a positive view of working within the service.  It is intended to repeat the questionnaire for 2004 to track responses.

Alternative Option 1

That front of house staff are excluded from involvement in the staff conference.