Nearly £20m has been allocated to military museums from funds raised through banking fines, following the Libor rate-fixing scandal.
The chancellor George Osborne announced the latest Libor funds at the spending review in November, but some figures in the sector are questioning the methods and lack of transparency behind the awards.
Vanessa Trevelyan, a museum consultant and former director of Norfolk Museums, says: “It is lovely for those that get the money, but I’m a bit puzzled as to whether there is a strategy behind the allocations.”
She adds that there are already well-established routes for revenue and capital development funding in the museum sector.
Application process
Recipients of the awards say that payments are made swiftly, usually within a couple of months of the announcement. But they add that the application process is hard to fathom.
Janice Murray, the director of London’s National Army Museum, says: “We had been talking to people about [raising funds], but until the chancellor stands up [and announces it], you just don’t know.”
“It’s a bit of a black art,” says Rebecca Dalley, the centenary programme manager at the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon.
“We got advice from organisations that had already made approaches, and spoke to our local MP who helped and advised us to make a case for the funds.”
Dominic Tweddle, the director general of the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, says: “There is no formal application process but, hopefully, [the chancellor] is taking advice and making informed decisions on what to award funding to.”
The chancellor stated in 2012 that Libor fines would be allocated to military charities and other good causes, including those that support personnel who represent the “best of values”.
But it is not clear how the allocations are made, with the Treasury saying only that “applications from military museums are considered on their merits on a case-by-case basis”.
Raised eyebrows
The fact that all of the museums that have received Libor funding are in Conservative constituencies or constituencies that became Conservative in last year’s general election has raised some eyebrows.
Oliver Green, a museum consultant and a former head curator at the London Transport Museum, says: “The Libor awards don’t fit with any policy for museums and seem like something the chancellor pulled out of his hat as a gift. It implies that the government is contemptuous of advice – and that is worrying.”
According to the Treasury there is supervision of the funds, which are restricted to specific projects outlined in the application.
Museums that benefit from money from banking fines are required to submit a report detailing how the funds are spent, which “is subject to scrutiny by Treasury officials who may also visit the museum to confirm the report”.
With the Financial Conduct Authority having imposed £450m in fines since 2012, it is likely that more funds will be available. The Treasury says that museums wishing to apply should write to the chancellor outlining their proposal.
Where the Libor fines have gone
IWM Duxford £8m
RAF Museum (Hendon) £2.5m
Bristol Aerospace Centre £2m
Royal Marines Museum £2m
Stow Maries Aerodrome £1.5m
National Museum of Royal Navy & £1m
Royal Navy Heritage Flying Trust
National Army Museum £1m
Ludlow Museum £250,000
Resource Centre
D-Day Museum £600,000
The chancellor George Osborne announced the latest Libor funds at the spending review in November, but some figures in the sector are questioning the methods and lack of transparency behind the awards.
Vanessa Trevelyan, a museum consultant and former director of Norfolk Museums, says: “It is lovely for those that get the money, but I’m a bit puzzled as to whether there is a strategy behind the allocations.”
She adds that there are already well-established routes for revenue and capital development funding in the museum sector.
Application process
Recipients of the awards say that payments are made swiftly, usually within a couple of months of the announcement. But they add that the application process is hard to fathom.
Janice Murray, the director of London’s National Army Museum, says: “We had been talking to people about [raising funds], but until the chancellor stands up [and announces it], you just don’t know.”
“It’s a bit of a black art,” says Rebecca Dalley, the centenary programme manager at the Royal Air Force Museum, Hendon.
“We got advice from organisations that had already made approaches, and spoke to our local MP who helped and advised us to make a case for the funds.”
Dominic Tweddle, the director general of the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth, says: “There is no formal application process but, hopefully, [the chancellor] is taking advice and making informed decisions on what to award funding to.”
The chancellor stated in 2012 that Libor fines would be allocated to military charities and other good causes, including those that support personnel who represent the “best of values”.
But it is not clear how the allocations are made, with the Treasury saying only that “applications from military museums are considered on their merits on a case-by-case basis”.
Raised eyebrows
The fact that all of the museums that have received Libor funding are in Conservative constituencies or constituencies that became Conservative in last year’s general election has raised some eyebrows.
Oliver Green, a museum consultant and a former head curator at the London Transport Museum, says: “The Libor awards don’t fit with any policy for museums and seem like something the chancellor pulled out of his hat as a gift. It implies that the government is contemptuous of advice – and that is worrying.”
According to the Treasury there is supervision of the funds, which are restricted to specific projects outlined in the application.
Museums that benefit from money from banking fines are required to submit a report detailing how the funds are spent, which “is subject to scrutiny by Treasury officials who may also visit the museum to confirm the report”.
With the Financial Conduct Authority having imposed £450m in fines since 2012, it is likely that more funds will be available. The Treasury says that museums wishing to apply should write to the chancellor outlining their proposal.
Where the Libor fines have gone
IWM Duxford £8m
RAF Museum (Hendon) £2.5m
Bristol Aerospace Centre £2m
Royal Marines Museum £2m
Stow Maries Aerodrome £1.5m
National Museum of Royal Navy & £1m
Royal Navy Heritage Flying Trust
National Army Museum £1m
Ludlow Museum £250,000
Resource Centre
D-Day Museum £600,000
