§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Minister for the Arts what developments there have been on the use of volunteers in museums and heritage organisations.
§ Mr. LuceI am pleased to announce that my Department is funding a research project to be undertaken to prepare guidelines for the constructive use and management of volunteers in museums and heritage organisations.
The project will be divided into four phases:
- (i) Review of the literature, existing guidelines and directives;
- (ii) Current practice in the management of volunteers;
- (iii) Practicalities: the practical issues in managing volunteer effort;
- (iv) The preparation, piloting and publication of guidelines for management.
When the guidelines are produced they should include practical advice on a number of aspects of the use of volunteers, such as recruitment, training, responsibilities, statutory obligations and rewards. The results of the study should encourage museums' and galleries' managements to consider employing volunteers or, where they already do, to make better use of these arrangements.
The project which should be completed by March 1990, will be overseen by a steering committee which will include representatives from national, local authority and independent museums, the Ironbridge Institute, the Museums and Galleries Commission, the British Association of Friends of Museums, the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (voluntary conservation corporations), and the National Trust.
This project to examine the use and management of volunteers in museums and heritage organisations is timely in the context of my initiatives on museums training and on improving access to collections. I look forward to seeing its conclusions in due course.