PROVINCIAL MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES (Hansard, 28 June 1973)

THE PAYMASTER GENERAL (VISCOUNT ECCI ES)

The Government welcomes the Report of the Committee on Provincial Museums and Galleries as a thorough study of a complex problem.2178WA The Report, which is being published today, is particularly useful at the present stage of the reorganisation of local governments and comes at a time when there is increasing public awareness of the value for the national heritage of the collections in local museums and galleries.

The Government will give the Report and the public discussion which it is hoped will be stimulated very full study in the context of the national resources which can be made available for the arts.

The Government has already been able to provide additional resources to meet some of the recommendations. It has increased to £400,000 in the current year the fund administered by the V & A Museum to assist purchase by local museums and galleries in England and Wales, and has set up a new fund of £150,000 to be administered by the Science Museum to assist purchases in the technological and scientific fields. Parallel arrangements have been made in Scotland where two funds of £25,000 each are to be administered by the Royal Scottish Museum.

In addition, grants to area museum councils in Great Britain have been increased to £132.500, in 1973–74 in recognition of the important part these councils play in assisting the care and conservation of local collections.

The Government will discuss with the Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries and others concerned the development of the area museum councils on the lines suggested in the Report, taking into account such resources as are likely to be available for the arts as a whole.

The Government does not favour the proposed new fund for housing local museums. The essential responsibility for housing their museums must rest with the local authorities concerned. But the Government is prepared to consider with them whether some form of central Government assistance, within the arts programme, would be justified in special cases of more than local significance.

Questions of pay and grading of staffs must be considered in the context of general counter-inflationary policies.

The Government hopes that all museum authorities will give the Report careful study and has already indicated in 2179WA Circular 9/73, issued on June 13, how museum resources might be reviewed in the area of each authority. Here again they hope that authorities will give particular attention to their requirements for conservation and to what educational and training provisions are needed to meet them. The Government will endeavour to provide within the resources which can be made available help for national museums and galleries to increase their aid to local museums and galleries for care and conservation and for other purposes.

The Government hopes that education authorities will give particular study to the section of the Report and the recommendations on the educational services which museums can perform.

The Government recognises that special circumstances exist in Scotland and Wales as indicated in the Report 2180WA and will give particular consideration to the development of the museum services there.