Renaissance inquiry is ruled out

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has ruled out an inquiry into the £4.8m Renaissance in the Regions underspend, despite calls from the Museums Association and mounting anger in the sector.

But a spokesman for the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) defended its decision not to draw down the money. “The MLA’s purpose is not to ensure that hubs don’t underspend, but instead to ensure that spending is effective and makes an impact,” he said.

“Any notion that spending to a maximum budget is the only test of achievement, regardless of effectiveness or value for money, is a fanciful one, not shared by taxpayers, government, museum visitors or the general public.”

In an open letter to culture minister Margaret Hodge last month, the Museums Association’s president, Stuart Davies, wrote: “This is not a message that the money is not needed. It is a message that the programme’s administration needs improving.”

Davies called for an inquiry into the failure to allocate the funds and spoke of “anger and frustration” in the sector.

Staff at hub museums are reluctant to speak out publicly, but one said: “The MLA is spinning this as a positive thing, but that money will never be got back. Government departments just don’t work that way. It is not Renaissance that is the problem, but the management of it.” Another described the relationship between the MLA and hub museums as “fraught”.

Much of the blame for the underspend is directed at the MLA, with some citing the amount of bureaucracy imposed on the business planning process and a failure to anticipate the level of underspend. Several also pointed to ineffective management in some hubs.

Nick Merriman, director of the Manchester Museum, said: “There will be a lot of finger-pointing, but the answer is that it is bad for the whole profession.”

The DCMS has promised £100,000 each to the Jewish Museum and Wiener Library, and £200,000 to the Wedgwood Museum (pictured above).

Last month £550,000 was promised to Chatham Historic Dockyard and £250,000 to Bletchley Park. Further announcements are expected.

The DCMS also said it would increase grant-in-aid for the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) by £5m for this financial year, but allow the money to be carried over to the next year.

Asked whether these projects were funded from the underspend, a department for culture spokesman said: “The £4.8m underspend was not used to support specific projects. “The DCMS seeks to balance underspends in one area of its budget with over-spends in another to come closely within budget.”

The MLA will publish its annual review of Renaissance in the Regions this summer.

Bill Ferris, chair, Association of Independent Museums
“There is genuine surprise and mystification that an organisation of the MLA’s size can underspend by £4.8m. We are pleased that most of that money has gone to museums, but puzzled as to how that allocation was decided upon.”

Mark Taylor, director, Museums Association
“At a time when we are gearing up to fight for the retention of Renaissance funding post-election, we have had the rug pulled from under us.”

Nick Merriman, director, Manchester Museum
“It puts us in a poor position to argue for an increase in funding levels. We are very disappointed.”

NHMF allocated an additional £5m, MJ April 2010, p7

Letters, MJ April 2010, p20