Museums and galleries in Glasgow could be transferred out of local authority control to trust status, it was announced last month.
Glasgow City Council is proposing that its entire culture and leisure services department becomes a charitable trust. If the move goes ahead, the museums and galleries could be out of council control by next year.
The plan, which was approved by the council's executive committee last month, recommends that a business plan is drawn up by January 2007 to identify, among other things, the amount of funding required, and to indicate which staff and assets would transfer to the new body.
The council estimates that the move will save £9.7m a year, because a charitable trust would not be liable for business rates and would qualify for some VAT exemption.
Steven Purcell, the leader of Glasgow City Council, said that a trust would also be able to apply for grants that are open only to charities. 'This will help us raise money we couldn't get as a council. The trust would have tax breaks and the right to apply for benevolent and lottery funds that are not open to councils.'
Brian Lang, an HLF trustee in Scotland, was one of many to come out in favour of the move. He said: 'It's an exciting new way of doing things - a charitable trust will bring more imagination and creativity to the museum service.' Lord Macfarlane, who headed the Kelvingrove refurbishment appeal, said he was supportive of what the council was doing and would do all he could to help.
Joanne Orr, the chief executive of the Scottish Museums Council, was more circumspect. 'Glasgow is doing some invaluable work with its museums and galleries and we would hope that this progress would not be compromised by any proposed changes to governance and organisation,' she said.
But not everyone is in favour. Unison, the public sector union, is opposed to the plan. David O'Connor, the Glasgow branch secretary, said: 'The net result of transfer will be that salaries, pay and conditions will be reduced and attacked.' He added that it would also mean a loss of democratic control of museums.
O'Connor said that a trust might be able to raise money from outside funding bodies, but there was a 'high likelihood' that the council would decrease its share of the funding if that happened.
Julian Spalding, an author and former director of Glasgow museums, told Museums Journal he couldn't see the advantage of the plan. He questioned the size of the proposed trust and said museums would struggle to get their voices heard in it.
'It sounds like a financial fiddle. It won't increase the amount of money that museums and galleries have and it will be at the price of losing direct public control. This kind of thing is usually a way of spending less money - if the reason is to reduce salaries and remove local control, then it's bad news.'
In a poll conducted by the Glasgow Evening Times, 75 per cent were against the museums being moved to a trust.
The council has said that it will retain ownership of all 'assets', including buildings and collections. But in a surprise move, Purcell, said the change to trust status would also mean that paintings and sculptures from the collections could be loaned out in return for cash.
'We have the biggest civic collection of art in Europe,' he said. 'Most of it is in storage. Why shouldn't it be used in other parts of Scotland, the UK or even America? Every penny we raise would be reinvested in our services.' A spokesman for the council said that such loans would be to other public museums and galleries.
The museum service includes: Kelvingrove, which recently underwent a £28m redevelopment; the Museum of Transport, which is due to undergo a major revamp; the museum resource centre, which has plans for a big extension; the Burrell Collection; the Gallery of Modern Art; the People's Palace; and St Mungos.
Sharon Heal
Glasgow City Council is proposing that its entire culture and leisure services department becomes a charitable trust. If the move goes ahead, the museums and galleries could be out of council control by next year.
The plan, which was approved by the council's executive committee last month, recommends that a business plan is drawn up by January 2007 to identify, among other things, the amount of funding required, and to indicate which staff and assets would transfer to the new body.
The council estimates that the move will save £9.7m a year, because a charitable trust would not be liable for business rates and would qualify for some VAT exemption.
Steven Purcell, the leader of Glasgow City Council, said that a trust would also be able to apply for grants that are open only to charities. 'This will help us raise money we couldn't get as a council. The trust would have tax breaks and the right to apply for benevolent and lottery funds that are not open to councils.'
Brian Lang, an HLF trustee in Scotland, was one of many to come out in favour of the move. He said: 'It's an exciting new way of doing things - a charitable trust will bring more imagination and creativity to the museum service.' Lord Macfarlane, who headed the Kelvingrove refurbishment appeal, said he was supportive of what the council was doing and would do all he could to help.
Joanne Orr, the chief executive of the Scottish Museums Council, was more circumspect. 'Glasgow is doing some invaluable work with its museums and galleries and we would hope that this progress would not be compromised by any proposed changes to governance and organisation,' she said.
But not everyone is in favour. Unison, the public sector union, is opposed to the plan. David O'Connor, the Glasgow branch secretary, said: 'The net result of transfer will be that salaries, pay and conditions will be reduced and attacked.' He added that it would also mean a loss of democratic control of museums.
O'Connor said that a trust might be able to raise money from outside funding bodies, but there was a 'high likelihood' that the council would decrease its share of the funding if that happened.
Julian Spalding, an author and former director of Glasgow museums, told Museums Journal he couldn't see the advantage of the plan. He questioned the size of the proposed trust and said museums would struggle to get their voices heard in it.
'It sounds like a financial fiddle. It won't increase the amount of money that museums and galleries have and it will be at the price of losing direct public control. This kind of thing is usually a way of spending less money - if the reason is to reduce salaries and remove local control, then it's bad news.'
In a poll conducted by the Glasgow Evening Times, 75 per cent were against the museums being moved to a trust.
The council has said that it will retain ownership of all 'assets', including buildings and collections. But in a surprise move, Purcell, said the change to trust status would also mean that paintings and sculptures from the collections could be loaned out in return for cash.
'We have the biggest civic collection of art in Europe,' he said. 'Most of it is in storage. Why shouldn't it be used in other parts of Scotland, the UK or even America? Every penny we raise would be reinvested in our services.' A spokesman for the council said that such loans would be to other public museums and galleries.
The museum service includes: Kelvingrove, which recently underwent a £28m redevelopment; the Museum of Transport, which is due to undergo a major revamp; the museum resource centre, which has plans for a big extension; the Burrell Collection; the Gallery of Modern Art; the People's Palace; and St Mungos.
Sharon Heal
