English Heritage and Heritage Lottery Fund may merge
Gary Noakes, 25.08.2010
DCMS reviews heritage organisations
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is likely to confirm in the next few weeks which heritage organisations it will axe or merge to achieve part of the £800m savings demanded by the government.
The Department is reviewing bodies that it supports after being told to slash 25 to 40 per cent of its £2bn budget. A DCMS spokesman indicated that announcements could be made before the party conference season begins in late September.
“We are due to make a formal announcement in the next month or so,” he said. The DCMS must have proposals in place well ahead of the publication of the Treasury’s Spending Review on 20 October when budgets for the next three years are revealed.
“We are not saying there will be a single level of reduction that will apply to all bodies,” said the DCMS spokesman, but he added: “The clear thrust of government policy is to reduce the arms length bodies that have grown up over the last decade.”
The DCMS’s £2bn budget includes around £470m for museums and galleries and £200m for English Heritage, which is expected to become the umbrella organisation in the heritage sector, absorbing several smaller bodies.
English Heritage declined to comment on the review, but said it would work closely with DCMS.
The Heritage Alliance is lobbying government to keep English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) separate. Kate Pugh, Heritage Alliance chief executive, said the two were very distinct bodies.
“English Heritage covers England and is an official advisor, HLF is UK-wide and a lottery distributor and doesn’t give grants to private owners. They have different remits, I am not convinced it is a happy marriage but it might be possible to share some back office functions.”
HLF has given £1.4bn to museums and galleries in the past 16 years, funding more than 2,300 projects in 900 UK locations. It declined to speculate on how this funding would be administered if it lost its autonomy.
The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) also face scrutiny over their existence or independence. The NHMF declined to speculate on the outcome of the review, but indicated that it was keen to remain independent.
“We are a fund of last resort and have specialist grant-making responsibilities,” said a spokeswoman.
CABE has already had its 2010/11 DCMS funding cut by 3 per cent. “The idea of a merger has been raised before, in November 2009,” said a spokeswoman.
“The commissioners concluded that it would not be in the interests of either sector to merge, because both sectors needed to maintain independence and avoid conflicts of interest.”
Image: Portsmouth Naval Base's Motor Gunboat 81 and High Speed Launch 102, saved earlier this year with the help of a £580,000 NHMF grant
The Department is reviewing bodies that it supports after being told to slash 25 to 40 per cent of its £2bn budget. A DCMS spokesman indicated that announcements could be made before the party conference season begins in late September.
“We are due to make a formal announcement in the next month or so,” he said. The DCMS must have proposals in place well ahead of the publication of the Treasury’s Spending Review on 20 October when budgets for the next three years are revealed.
“We are not saying there will be a single level of reduction that will apply to all bodies,” said the DCMS spokesman, but he added: “The clear thrust of government policy is to reduce the arms length bodies that have grown up over the last decade.”
The DCMS’s £2bn budget includes around £470m for museums and galleries and £200m for English Heritage, which is expected to become the umbrella organisation in the heritage sector, absorbing several smaller bodies.
English Heritage declined to comment on the review, but said it would work closely with DCMS.
The Heritage Alliance is lobbying government to keep English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) separate. Kate Pugh, Heritage Alliance chief executive, said the two were very distinct bodies.
“English Heritage covers England and is an official advisor, HLF is UK-wide and a lottery distributor and doesn’t give grants to private owners. They have different remits, I am not convinced it is a happy marriage but it might be possible to share some back office functions.”
HLF has given £1.4bn to museums and galleries in the past 16 years, funding more than 2,300 projects in 900 UK locations. It declined to speculate on how this funding would be administered if it lost its autonomy.
The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) also face scrutiny over their existence or independence. The NHMF declined to speculate on the outcome of the review, but indicated that it was keen to remain independent.
“We are a fund of last resort and have specialist grant-making responsibilities,” said a spokeswoman.
CABE has already had its 2010/11 DCMS funding cut by 3 per cent. “The idea of a merger has been raised before, in November 2009,” said a spokeswoman.
“The commissioners concluded that it would not be in the interests of either sector to merge, because both sectors needed to maintain independence and avoid conflicts of interest.”
Image: Portsmouth Naval Base's Motor Gunboat 81 and High Speed Launch 102, saved earlier this year with the help of a £580,000 NHMF grant
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