Agenda item

This report updates members on the new partnership delivery plan agreed by the Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Tourism.

Members received a report which updated them on the new partnership delivery plan agreed by the Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Tourism. The Partnership Delivery Plan, a joint agreement between the Council and the York Museums Trust, was an annex to the funding agreement agreed through the budget process and covered the period from 1 April 2013 to 31March 2018.

Members acknowledged that the work of the York Museums Trust had moved on from when the previous Partnership Delivery Plan had come into effect five years ago and during this time the priorities for the city had changed. Members were advised that the new delivery plan looked at how YMT would operate until 2018 and had been agreed by the Cabinet Member in March this year.

Members made the following comments:

·         Covering Report – para 5– add to list of information to be included in the twice yearly update report to the committee the following:

o   Add to VIII the “names of the schools which have used the Trust’s services”

o   Add the number of people taking up lifelong learning opportunities (broken down by theme/type)

·         Partnership Delivery Plan - Para 57 – third bullet point should state that YMT will submit a performance report to the Learning and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee (instead of the Cabinet Member) in May and October each year.

·         Partnership Delivery Plan - Para 58, 11) – this currently refers to Ward Committees and needs to be amended.

In response to a question regarding YMTs intention to increase their work internationally (para 44 of Partnership Delivery Plan refers), one Member asked what was being done in relation to developing the use of languages in its premises. The Chief Executive advised that they were currently at the beginning of a journey which would see them develop partnerships to take collections and work into an international context but confirmed that at present there was no international policy in place. She acknowledged that languages were an important issue.

Members agreed that the use of technology to make collections accessible to speakers of other languages worked well where a collection was static but not so well for changing collections. The Chief Executive of YMT explained that their current limited use was due to lack of resources and available funding rather than due to a lack of ambition. However a policy decision had been taken that every project would have a digital aspect to it.

The Commercial Director advised Members that the aim was to get all the basic collection records online so people could interact with them, and to start to produce material for visitors to download onto their own devices before they visit the museums.

Members agreed that the Partnership Delivery Plan achieved its purpose but felt that it would benefit from having an aspirations page, which would set out those developments the Trust would like to see if funding was available.

Members noted that they did not necessarily expect visitors figures to continue rising year on year and accepted that there would be a saturation point past which it would not be realistic to expect figures to increase further.

Some Members raised concerns about the introduction of potential charges for some exhibitions and stated that it would be useful to look at what criteria would be applied if charging is introduced.

RESOLVED:             That the new Partnership Delivery Plan be noted and Members comments on the suggested reporting arrangements be taken into account.

REASON:                  To fulfil the Council’s role under the Partnership Delivery Plan.