Ethics Q&A: Disposal
December 2001
Q. Our local authority museum service is to undergo a Best Value review. We must look objectively at all options for the service.
As well as our council running it more effectively, the options include: closing the service down entirely; running it jointly with another council; our council continuing to own the museum but getting an outside body to run it; or putting the museum in the hands of a charitable trust.
Our council is not, at this point, thinking of disposing of anything. But for this Best Value review all options need to be considered. I am trying to find out what the repercussions might be if the council were to dispose of its museum collections.
Of these, some items were purchased, many were acquired before modern transfer documentation was used, and some, since the 1970s, have modern transfer of title documentation. Our disposal policy is based on the requirements for meeting registration. Is withdrawal of registered status and bad publicity the only consequences of disposing of our museum collections?
A. The wholesale disposal you refer to would not only result in deregistration and lasting bad publicity, catastrophic in themselves, but also ostracism from the museum community. It would probably lead to expulsion from the Museums Association.
Your local authority would need to be fully informed about the implications of de-registration. One result would be that the museum service would be unlikely to secure grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund or other funders.
De-registration would also mean the local authority would fail to meet the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Region's Best Value Performance Indicators for museums. In addition, the council may not be able legally to sell off or give away collections entrusted to it.
The legal position is complex and may well vary from donation to donation. A transfer of title form may state that the council will keep the object in perpetuity as a community asset. As such, the form may constitute a contract between your council and the donor. The council might then be sued by the donor for breach of contract.
Also, some donations may be subject to charity law, which would lead to the Charity Commission taking action. Even if acquisitions are not covered by modern transfer of title forms, past donors would have understood donations to be inalienable in the belief that the museum would hold such material in trust for future generations. Disposals of such material may also be challenged by the original donors or their descendants.
You will also need to take into account the conditions of any grant aid received towards the purchase of objects. Most grant bodies, such as the Purchase Grant Fund for the Regions, require a refund from any sale proceeds. This will not just be the original grant but the same proportion of the sale price as the original grant to the purchase price.
Ensure that your reflections on options as part of your Best Value review are fully informed by your normal source of legal advice. Ethically, wholesale disposal is not an option-full stop.
Code of ethics: 1, 6
As well as our council running it more effectively, the options include: closing the service down entirely; running it jointly with another council; our council continuing to own the museum but getting an outside body to run it; or putting the museum in the hands of a charitable trust.
Our council is not, at this point, thinking of disposing of anything. But for this Best Value review all options need to be considered. I am trying to find out what the repercussions might be if the council were to dispose of its museum collections.
Of these, some items were purchased, many were acquired before modern transfer documentation was used, and some, since the 1970s, have modern transfer of title documentation. Our disposal policy is based on the requirements for meeting registration. Is withdrawal of registered status and bad publicity the only consequences of disposing of our museum collections?
A. The wholesale disposal you refer to would not only result in deregistration and lasting bad publicity, catastrophic in themselves, but also ostracism from the museum community. It would probably lead to expulsion from the Museums Association.
Your local authority would need to be fully informed about the implications of de-registration. One result would be that the museum service would be unlikely to secure grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund or other funders.
De-registration would also mean the local authority would fail to meet the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Region's Best Value Performance Indicators for museums. In addition, the council may not be able legally to sell off or give away collections entrusted to it.
The legal position is complex and may well vary from donation to donation. A transfer of title form may state that the council will keep the object in perpetuity as a community asset. As such, the form may constitute a contract between your council and the donor. The council might then be sued by the donor for breach of contract.
Also, some donations may be subject to charity law, which would lead to the Charity Commission taking action. Even if acquisitions are not covered by modern transfer of title forms, past donors would have understood donations to be inalienable in the belief that the museum would hold such material in trust for future generations. Disposals of such material may also be challenged by the original donors or their descendants.
You will also need to take into account the conditions of any grant aid received towards the purchase of objects. Most grant bodies, such as the Purchase Grant Fund for the Regions, require a refund from any sale proceeds. This will not just be the original grant but the same proportion of the sale price as the original grant to the purchase price.
Ensure that your reflections on options as part of your Best Value review are fully informed by your normal source of legal advice. Ethically, wholesale disposal is not an option-full stop.
Code of ethics: 1, 6
