§ 14. Mrs. Anne CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action she plans to take in respect of museums in Cambridge following the museums and galleries task force. [43155]
§ Tessa JowellResource: the Council for Museums, Libraries and Archives published on 7 March application forms and criteria for the selection of museums as regional hubs. Museum consortia in each region are invited to submit applications to Resource by 19 April. My Department is currently working with Resource to start implementing the Task Force recommendations with £10 million per annum which was allocated to Resource in the last spending review.
We will take the Task Force's recommendations into account in the current spending review, alongside other priorities.
§ James PurnellTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether she commissions independent assessments of how successfully the national museums and galleries meet their key performance indicators. [40332]
§ Dr. Howells[holding answer 6 March 2002]: My Department recognises its role in ensuring that the national museums and galleries which it sponsors provide reliable performance indicator data. The funding agreements which are in place with all of our sponsored museums and galleries now incorporate information on the process to be adopted in validating reports on performance against targets. In addition, we expect the internal auditors of our sponsored museums and galleries to provide independent assurance that the methods of data collection are in accordance with agreed definitions and that they allow credible performance reporting.