National museums will be able to use their reserves for capital projects, it was announced last month. The release of reserves means Tate, for example, will be able to use £19m of its reserves for capital expenditure in 2011-12; the British Museum will receive £11.4m; and the Victoria and Albert Museum £1.9m.
The largest award, £25m, goes to the National Gallery, while the smallest amount, £201,000, is for the Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.
Current reserves, which come mostly from philanthropic donations, total more than £285m.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport revised funding allocation letters were sent to national museum directors last year, stating that “the approach taken has been to allocate 95% of the budget that organisations requested, enabling the department to remain within the budget set for it by the Treasury and substantially grant the access to reserves requested by its arm’s-length bodies”.
The move to allow national museums access to their reserves comes after the Treasury insisted that national museums should set up independent trusts for the purpose, which several, including the British Museum and Imperial War Museums, have done.
The largest award, £25m, goes to the National Gallery, while the smallest amount, £201,000, is for the Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.
Current reserves, which come mostly from philanthropic donations, total more than £285m.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport revised funding allocation letters were sent to national museum directors last year, stating that “the approach taken has been to allocate 95% of the budget that organisations requested, enabling the department to remain within the budget set for it by the Treasury and substantially grant the access to reserves requested by its arm’s-length bodies”.
The move to allow national museums access to their reserves comes after the Treasury insisted that national museums should set up independent trusts for the purpose, which several, including the British Museum and Imperial War Museums, have done.