Wedgwood Museum

Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Lord Howarth of Newport

Tuesday 14th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, I agree with my noble friend Lord Flight that one hopes that the Wedgwood collection would not be sold off. I assure him that the Government have had several meetings with the honourable Member for Stoke, Mr Tristram Hunt, and several other people concerned to find the most effective way to save this very valuable collection, which has been nominated by UNESCO as one of the 20 most valuable sites in the UK. Regarding the final meeting, meetings are taking place at the moment, and I will update your Lordships’ House as they go on.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

My Lords, should we not be cautious about reaching conclusions until we have seen the full written judgment? We will then know whether the predicament of the Wedgwood Museum has arisen because pensions legislation was poorly drafted and scrutinised or, perhaps, because the trustees of the museum were poorly advised when they could have placed the collection securely in trust and beyond the reach of the Pension Protection Fund. Meanwhile, I express unreserved appreciation for the way in which the Minister, Ed Vaizey, has kept watch over the whole situation in regard to the Wedgwood Museum, and helped to bring people together so that they can develop plans for the museum’s archive and collection to be properly preserved for the benefit of the nation. Finally, will the noble Baroness, who is playing such a valuable role in this, ensure that the Minton Archive is not overlooked?

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, has touched on very important points. One is right to be cautious until we get the written judgment, which should come through soon. A difficult situation applied when the trustees were advised. I totally agree with the noble Lord that the Minister, Ed Vaizey, has held several meetings on this matter and has become very involved. The Government have good will in all this and will do all that they possibly can. The Minton archive is very important and is arguably the greatest industrial archive of its kind. I can assure the noble Lord that it has certainly not been forgotten. It is now the property of WWRD UK, the new owners of the Wedgwood Group. The Minister for Culture has spoken to them about this matter. The archive is still safely in storage in Bonhams, which is awaiting a resolution on the future of the Wedgwood collection and the museum before taking any decision about its future.

Culture and Arts: Funding

Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Lord Howarth of Newport

Wednesday 7th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Rawlings]

I congratulate the right reverend Prelate on what has been happening in Exeter and the reopening of the museum. I totally agree with him that quality of life will be enhanced by all that. I would like to stress what the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his autumn Statement: that the overall annual budget for the acceptance in lieu scheme will now be £30 million, an increase of 50 per cent, which will have an effect in Exeter as well.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

My Lords, while there is all too little that the DCMS can do directly to assist local authorities faced with the devastation of their finances to carry out their cultural responsibilities, will Ministers at the department do everything in its power to support the Arts Council in its efforts to mitigate the effects of this, and will it also encourage national institutions that the department funds to emulate the excellent example of the British Museum and its programme of partnership with museums across the country?

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, makes an important point. I could not agree with him more in his praise for the British Museum and for its director, Mr Neil MacGregor, for all his excellent work in the area. I can reassure him that each of the national museums that the DCMS sponsors has a specific obligation to work in partnership with regional museums. We will give every support to the Arts Council and to Dame Liz Forgan. The noble Lord is right to be concerned—we are all concerned—and I know she is talking across the board with local authorities and that they are interested in fostering their cultural enterprises.

Public Libraries: Closures

Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Lord Howarth of Newport

Monday 12th September 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Rawlings]

My noble friend Lord Brooke raises a valid point, which is very topical at the moment. Over the past 10 years we have seen an increase in the number of people volunteering in libraries. Volunteers regularly help to deliver homework clubs for schoolchildren. They contribute to projects, they digitise items in library collections and they provide buddy support for people new to using computers. It is important to remember that authorities remain accountable to their communities for the changes they make, and that includes the use of volunteers.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

My Lords—

[The Lord Bishop of Hereford]

My Lords, the point was made earlier about the need occasionally for other premises where libraries are being closed. We have in Hereford diocese an excellent example, of a library in a church tower. A lift, loos and other facilities are provided. If local authorities have to relocate libraries that are under threat of closure, I would be grateful if the Government would give them every encouragement to look at partnerships in a whole range of ways, including with the churches.

Museums and Galleries

Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Lord Howarth of Newport

Tuesday 25th January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Rawlings]

The noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, has a good point, of which the Government are aware. The Secretary of State has announced his firm funding plans for the national museums and galleries over 2011-12 as part of the spending review, as I said. I hope that we will go further into the noble Earl’s point in the debate in his name next week.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

My Lords—

[Lord Myners]

My Lords, what action have the Government taken to encourage philanthropy?

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Rawlings]

Yes. My noble friend Lady Bonham-Carter makes an important point, of which the Secretary of State is fully aware. He will be doing as much as possible to encourage private giving, as I was saying to the noble Lord, Lord Myners. We will be protecting regarding the cuts to museums so that we protect the fine quality we have in this country as expressed in the question of the noble Lord, Lord Sheldon.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

My Lords—

[Baroness Jones of Whitchurch]

My Lords, does the Minister recognise the crucial role of local councils in funding local and specialist museums and galleries? What steps will the department take to preserve these collections when the cuts in local council funding inevitably take their toll on those collections?

Heritage: V&A Purchase Grant Fund

Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Lord Howarth of Newport

Thursday 13th January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the benefit to the nation of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s purchase grant fund.

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, the Government are fully aware that the Victoria and Albert Museum’s purchase grant fund is a valuable means of helping the nation’s non-national museums, specialist libraries and record centres to develop their collections. Through the acquisitions that it supports, the purchase grant fund helps to develop and strengthen the quality and standards of regional collections for the understanding and enjoyment of the public.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

Is the noble Baroness aware that there will be widespread appreciation of her recognition that this modest fund—now only £900,000—which has been administered for the past 130 years by the Victoria and Albert, has been invaluable in enabling museums, libraries and archives whose main funding does not come from central government to make acquisitions for the public benefit, ranging from finds of archaeological treasure to modern literary manuscripts? Following the decision of the Government to abolish the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, through which this funding has been channelled in recent years, will the noble Baroness give an assurance to the House that Ministers will continue to provide funding specifically to enable institutions across the regions of England and Wales to develop their collections? Will Ministers challenge philanthropic donors to double up the fund?

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, we recognise that the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, has tirelessly campaigned for the preservation of the V&A purchase grant fund and I respect his knowledge and expertise in this area. I am very pleased that he has asked this Question as it gives Her Majesty’s Government the chance to inform your Lordships that Arts Council England will continue the funding of the V&A purchase grant fund, once it assumes responsibility for the museum and library functions of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. Over the coming months, Arts Council England will be consulting those concerned before reaching a conclusion about the level of funding that will be made available to this grant for the next spending period. On the noble Lord’s final point, the department would like to stimulate a culture of charitable giving and believes that there is scope for all public collections to strengthen their fundraising skills.

Public Libraries: Funding

Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Lord Howarth of Newport

Thursday 2nd December 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Rawlings]

I agree with my noble friend Lord Shipley about the importance of the digital divide. The three-yearly public library user survey found that 25 per cent of library users surveyed in 2006-07 intended to use computers during their visit to the library. It found that 16 per cent of users had used a library computer when visiting the library. DCMS does not hold centrally the number of visits made to libraries. A digital section for libraries, too, is more and more important, as we heard on the wireless this morning.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

The Minister said, quite rightly, that discretion as to how to provide a public library service is largely in the hands of local authorities. Will she say how, in the context of the Government’s requirement that local authorities should reduce their spending by 28 per cent—and a substantial proportion of that in the next financial year—Ministers will interpret and invigilate the statutory duty of local authorities to provide a comprehensive as well as an efficient public library service?

[Baroness Rawlings]

The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, is right: it is all important that the library service should continue. However, a number of authorities, I am afraid, are currently considering closing libraries. Before doing so, it is important that they should consider other options for delivering a more efficient service such as the future libraries programme. For example, authorities might consider bringing other council services together with the library service; merging parts of the library service; sharing staff with neighbouring authorities; using volunteers; and delivering library services in other community buildings.

Wedgwood Museum

Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Lord Howarth of Newport

Tuesday 30th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Rawlings]

The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Winchester is absolutely right that the collection is outstanding. DCMS has been in conversations and has provided money—and is continuing to do so—because the collection is for the whole of the area of Stoke-on-Trent and the Potteries. We realise that this is an extraordinary situation that has unfortunately come about—under the new Act of, I think, 2008—because of the pension fund.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

Would it not be grotesque if the Wedgwood archive, which is so extraordinarily important for our country’s industrial heritage, were broken up, destroyed and sold to raise no more than a small fraction of the deficit in the Waterford Wedgwood pension scheme? While we hope that the court will rule in this case that the collection is inviolate and thus enable the collection to remain as and where it is in the Potteries, will the Minister please say what the Government will do to put in place a regime that will ensure that there is reliable protection in the future for nationally designated museum collections?

[Baroness Rawlings]

The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, has been involved with this for a long time. We have discussed this and he is absolutely right that the Government cannot influence what the court will take into account. The administrator is currently in control of the museum’s operations and will present the case to the court with evidence from the trustees. We hope that the trustees will be able to put their view to the court as part of the evidence. Timings are difficult, but the noble Lord is right that the museum trust is currently liable under the new pension law for the pension debts of around £60,000. That is tiny compared to the liability of £134 million.

Built Environment: Design Quality

Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Lord Howarth of Newport

Monday 22nd November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to promote good design quality in the built environment.

[Baroness Rawlings]

The Government believe that the quality of the built environment is crucial in creating liveable communities. In the context of the deficit reduction programme and the proposed major reform of the planning system, we are still considering future measures the Government can take to promote high standards of design, especially at local level. There will be a proposed national planning policy framework.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

Does the noble Baroness acknowledge that the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment—CABE—has made a very valuable contribution to improving design quality in the built environment, not least by making available across the country, to developers, planners and members of the public, the advice of excellent professional people? Does she agree that design quality is crucial to functionality, value for money and well-being and that it is desirable that CABE, in an appropriate future incarnation, should support local people to shape the physical development of their neighbourhoods to high standards of design?

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, I know how much the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, cares about the built environment and design, not only from his letter to the Times on 25 October but also as he was responsible for the founding of CABE. The Government acknowledge that good design is indeed important to achieving value for money and happiness. I pay tribute to the work of CABE, which the Government greatly value. I agree that CABE has helped to raise the standards of architecture and design in public building and more widely through its internationally known design review service. On whether we are continuing to discuss future arrangements with CABE and the Department for Communities and Local Government, a further announcement will be made in due course. Part of the discussions will be about high standards of design and how they can be promoted at local level.

Treasure Act 1996

Debate between Baroness Rawlings and Lord Howarth of Newport

Thursday 11th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Rawlings]

The Portable Antiquities Scheme is very important and I thank the noble Lord for that question. I appreciate that there is concern over the future of the scheme in the light of the announcement that the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, which currently provides most of the scheme’s funding, will be wound up by April 2012. I am pleased to confirm that the scheme will continue. Discussions are taking place about the best way for it to be managed and funded.

[Lord Howarth of Newport]

My Lords, can the Minister offer any comfort to archaeologists, faced as they are with cuts to funding for museums, universities, English Heritage and local authority archaeological departments and, indeed, the collapse of archaeological businesses that are dependent for their funding on developers? Do the Government have any policies to support archaeology?

[Baroness Rawlings]

The noble Lord, Lord Howarth, is very much involved with this subject and I understand his concern about the cuts, which will be across the board and which we all know about. Measures included in the Coroners and Justice Act to improve the treasure system will be implemented. Ministers are still considering the feasibility of a coroner for treasure. DCMS and the Ministry of Justice are working together to assess the extent to which measures on treasure may be implemented within current financial constraints.