Funding for Scotland’s museums remains level in ‘stability’ budget

Government funding for Scotland’s museums and galleries will remain static in 2021/22, according to the draft budget set out by finance secretary Kate Forbes last week.

In spending plans aimed at providing “certainty and stability” as the country tackles the ongoing Covid pandemic, Forbes announced that the Scottish Government was allocating a total of £230m to the culture and heritage sectors.

She said this investment would “ensure our diverse and evolving cultural heritage is valued, nurtured and celebrated, protecting thousands of jobs in the culture and heritage sectors”.

Of this sum, £75.7m will go to Scotland’s cultural collections, which include the national museums, galleries and libraries. This will be topped up by £2m of Covid consequential funding to cover forecasted budget shortfalls within the national collections.

Core funding for Scotland's national museums and galleries will remain level, but will be supplemented by additional grant-in-aid towards the cost of implementing the public sector pay policy that was also announced in the draft budget.

National Museums Scotland is to receive £23.3m in 2021/22, compared to £22.8m the previous year, while National Galleries Scotland has been allocated just under £16m in the coming year, compared to £15.4m in 2020/21.

A spokeswoman for NMS said: “We have spoken to the Scottish Government regarding our allocated grant-in-aid for 2021-22 and are in the process of reviewing our budgets for next year.”

A spokesman for NGS said: “We recognise that there is immense pressure on all aspects of public sector funding so we are pleased that the Scottish Government continues to recognise the importance of the national art collections for culture, wellbeing and for economic growth in this country.

“This support will enable us to continue to play an important part in Scotland’s recovery from the crisis brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and, in these challenging times, we remain committed to providing the widest possible access to the collection with all the benefits this can bring for the health and wellbeing of the public."

Funding for non-national museums will remain level at £3.75m. This covers the allocation for Museums Galleries Scotland and the Industrial Museums Scotland group, as well as the Scottish Maritime Museum, National Mining Museum Scotland and Scottish Fisheries Museum.

Historic Environment Scotland has seen its budget allocation increase from £42.8m to £55.9m.

An MGS spokeswoman said: “MGS’s base budget will be sustained at a flat level in 2021/2022 and we continue to make the case for additional funding support.”

The Scottish Government said that the Covid crisis has caused the nation’s economy to shrink by 7.1% and that GDP is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024. Forbes called on UK chancellor Rishi Sunak to extend measures such as the Job Retention Scheme, warning that if the initiative ends prematurely, “the impact on jobs and livelihoods will be severe”.

Emergency funding

MGS is currently offering the following funding for eligible museums:

Recovery and Resilience Fund

A further £3.1m is currently available from the Museum Recovery and Resilience Fund for independent museums. To save museums time in reapplying, MGS is in direct contact with applicants from the first round of the fund. Regardless of whether their application was successful or not, they are eligible to submit an expression of interest to apply for funding from round two.

Independent museums who did not apply in the first round are asked to submit an Expression of Interest before applying in order to judge eligibility and save them time. These must be submitted no later than 12 February.

Covid-19 Adaptation Fund

This fund has been reopened until 22 March. Museums can apply for up to £7,500 (£10,000 for partnerships) to purchase equipment and training that will enable them to reopen safely and in accordance with restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak.