Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting Members were asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they might have in relation to the business on the agenda or any other general interests they might have within the remit of the Committee, other than those already listed within the agenda papers. No further interests were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 30 April 2012.

RESOLVED:       That the minutes of the meeting of the Learning and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 30 April 2012 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak on an item on the agenda or an issue within the committee’s remit can do so.

Anyone who wishes to register or who requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officer for this meeting, details of whom are listed at the foot of this agenda.

The deadline for registering to speak is 5.00pm the working day before the meeting, in this case 5.00pm onTuesday 12 June 2012.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This report provides an update on the ongoing scrutiny review of York Museums Trust, and asks the Committee to agree a method for progressing the review and a timeframe for its completion. 

Members considered an interim report which provided them with an update on the ongoing scrutiny review of York Museums Trust and asked them to agree a method for progressing the review and a timeframe for its completion.

The Task Group provided the committee with a verbal update on work they had undertaken since the last meeting. With regard to their visit to the Fulford Cross storage facility they reported that the facility appeared to be run down and there were problems with damp. They raised concerns that the majority of items were not protected and nothing was being done to prevent their decay and if they were allowed to deteriorate they could never be useful for display. However they agreed that there were many interesting items stored at this facility, including a hearse and a car which appeared to be worthy of rescue.

The Task Group had suggested to YMT that there may be interest groups who may be willing to take on responsibility for refurbishing specific objects and an open day should be held. However YMT expressed concern about security issues. Any decision to allow access would have to be carefully managed. The Committee agreed that the issue of security would be negated once the whole collection had been catalogued, as groups would be able to access details of the collection on the internet rather than requiring physical access.

The Task Group agreed it had been a very useful and interesting exercise seeing the various storage areas which YMT uses and agreed that, in the main part, they were happy with procedures in place. However they did have concerns about the current procedures for how items were disposed of. They agreed that there were a lot of items which needed to be disposed of but noted that this process needed to be undertaken in line with national guidance.  They also recognised it was important that the disposals policy which was due to be updated in had yet to be revised.

The Committee commended the work of both the task group and the officers on putting together what they felt was a good interim report. The acknowledged the work which was required in order to complete the review, as listed within paragraphs 74 to 76 of the report  including meeting with curators and volunteers.

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RESOLVED:       (a)     That the findings to date be noted by the         Committee.

(b)     That it be agreed that the Task Group be reformed with the same membership in order to complete the review on behalf of the Committee

(c)     That the issues listed in paragraphs 74-76 be investigated by the task group in order to complete the review.

(d)     That a final report be presented to the Committee at its meeting on 19 September 2012.

REASON:            In order to progress the review.

Members will be asked to consider a draft workplan for the    forthcoming year including a list of proposed topics for 2012-13 and associated documents.

Members considered a draft workplan for the forthcoming municipal year as well as a list of proposed topics for which had been submitted at the Scrutiny Work Planning Event which had taken place in May.

The Committee had been asked to consider undertaking a review into how to make local libraries work for communities and the Head of Head of Libraries and Heritage was in attendance at the meeting. Members were provided with a copy of the final report of Leisure and Heritage Board who in 2005 had undertaken a review titled “Putting Libraries at the Heart of the Community”. They also received a copy of the update on the implementation of recommendations arising from this review as at January 2007.

The Head of Libraries and Heritage reported that libraries have progressed greatly since 2007 including:

·        Self issue machines and free Wi-Fi in place at all libraries. Staff now have more time to be more interactive with customers.

·        Self service machines have led to increase in collection of fines – due to anonymity of using machines and use of chip and pin machines to pay fines. Also looking at extending services offered though self issue machines including paying for printing/photocopying and possibly in future using to pay for other council services

·        Staffing – 2 restructures have taken place since 2005 and another is due to take place in near future. Staff all  have clear job descriptions and there have been improvements in line management and use of appraisals etc

·        Transformation of Central Library into York Explore – Phase 1 now complete and hailed a great success. It is a flexible space which can be used for a variety of purposes.

·        A bid has been submitted to the Heritage Lottery Fund to renovate upstairs area of York Explore and build additional wing to house archive store – this will fit in with YMTs plans for the Art Gallery and provide a world class local history archive centre.

·        Refurbishment of Library Square – now a social place used for a number of purposes including protests!

·        Libraries Asset Management Plan is now in place – looking at updating it – looking at each community and its library to see what it can offer.

·        Partnership with Adult Education is working well – since last summer people have been able to enrol at local libraries onto courses as a local alternative to enrolling online.

·        Public Consultation – a lot has already taken place with more planned for the next few months including undertaking a  review asking communities what they want to see in local libraries

Members noted that there were now five Explore Centres in York. One Member stated that York and Acomb both offered an exceptional experience but raised concerns that the customer experience was not the same in all centres.

Members agreed it would be useful to have a further update on changes which had taken place since the publication of the January 2007 update on the implementation of recommendations from the previously  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.