On Tuesday morning (2 November) Chairman of The Heritage Alliance Loyd Grossman, President of the Historic Houses Association (a member of The Alliance) Edward Harley and Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund Carole Souter submitted their oral evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s Inquiry into Funding for the Arts and Heritage.
When asked the inevitable question about the impact expected on frontline heritage services as a result of the CSR settlements, Carole Souter said that based on work HLF had done prior to the spending review “we’re expecting maybe £650 – £675 million overall will come out of the sector” but that “the details of where that will come from I think are not yet clear”. The impact on local authorities and the consequent erosion of a substantial skills and knowledge base was highlighted to the Committee as an area of great concern to all: “The loss of local authority capacity is going to be pretty devastating” warned Loyd, and “local authorities will be having to look very hard at the services they provide” said Carole Souter. Loyd also warned against the shedding of the “less glamorous, less public facing activities” such as scholarship and technical skills.
Edward Harley highlighted cuts to tourism budgets, both at a national level and regional level, as an area of particular concern and also suggested that de-regulation (in areas such as licensing and temporary structures) could be a low or in some cases no cost way to help alleviate the burden on heritage sites.
When asked which of its functions English Heritage should prioritise in the wake of its 32% budget cut, the panel agreed that EH should continue to provide expert advice and professional support across the whole sector and to local authorities and managers/owners; strong leadership for the sector; expert advice upwards into the Department; and capacity building and benefits to the public via grants to other bodies within the sector.
When asked to consult their crystal balls and predict what heritage services may look like in the future, the panel agreed generally that asset transfer would be set to increase and that the heritage would be much more firmly rooted in local and voluntary management and ownership. The panel noted that the transition process would need to be managed very carefully over a significant timeframe for this to be successful, and as Carole Souter pointed out it would be vital that voluntary organisations were given the “time to develop the skills and the structures” to take on heritage assets successfully.
For the video of the full session and all the questions / answers, click here. The uncorrected and corrected evidence from past sessions can be found here. To read The Heritage Alliance’s full written evidence to the Committee, which has now been made public, click here.
Tags: budget, heritage, Heritage Alliance, heritage lottery fund, Loyd Grossman, The Heritage Alliance