A row has broken out about the future funding of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
The scheme is funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and up until now its baseline budget has been ringfenced.
But in the latest spending review the money was not protected. As the MLA faces cuts to its budget from next year there are worries that the cuts may be passed on to organisations that it funds.
Roy Clare, the chief executive of the MLA, said that it was committed to seeing the scheme continue and that the main priority for the MLA was frontline services. But he was only prepared to guarantee the scheme's funding for 2008/09.
Tim Schadla-Hall, a reader in archaeology at University College London, said he was "appalled by the refusal of the MLA to confirm the scheme's funding for the next three years".
He added that he was not impressed that the department for culture had failed to ringfence the funding for the scheme.
The scheme is funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and up until now its baseline budget has been ringfenced.
But in the latest spending review the money was not protected. As the MLA faces cuts to its budget from next year there are worries that the cuts may be passed on to organisations that it funds.
Roy Clare, the chief executive of the MLA, said that it was committed to seeing the scheme continue and that the main priority for the MLA was frontline services. But he was only prepared to guarantee the scheme's funding for 2008/09.
Tim Schadla-Hall, a reader in archaeology at University College London, said he was "appalled by the refusal of the MLA to confirm the scheme's funding for the next three years".
He added that he was not impressed that the department for culture had failed to ringfence the funding for the scheme.
