|
1.0
|
Apologies
|
| 1.1 |
Apologies were received from David Barrie, Loyd
Grossman, Nicholas Hodgson, Mark Jones and Mark Wood. |
|
2.0
|
Minutes of Previous Meeting and Matters Arising
|
| 2.1 |
The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as
a true record of the proceedings, with the following
amendment: s.12, Vic Gray's name to be added to the
list of Board members comprising the Resource Board
Cultural Diversity Sub-group |
| 2.2 |
The Chairman signed the minutes. |
| 2.3 |
There were three matters arising not on the agenda. |
| 2.4 |
New ministerial appointments: Ajay Chowdhury asked
if the recent ministerial changes affected Resource.
Matthew Evans replied that he and Neville Mackay had
met with both the new Secretary of State for
Culture, Tessa Jowell, and the new Minister of
State, Baroness Tessa Blackstone, and reported that
they were supportive of Resource and its aims and
workplans. There may be changes of emphasis but the
general direction of Government policy was likely to remain. |
| 2.5 |
The regional agenda: Vic Gray asked about progress
with the appointment of a senior policy adviser to
manage Resource's regional agenda, Neville Mackay
replied that Fran Hegyi (formerly of the Scottish
Museums Council) had been appointed to this post in
the Strategy and Planning Team, and would be joining
Resource in September. |
| 2.6 |
DCMS Public Library Responsibilities: Vic Gray asked
about progress with the transfer of this function to
Resource. Matthew Evans said that no firm proposals
had been agreed, and he and Neville Mackay were to
meet with Baroness Blackstone to discuss options. A
report would be made to the next Board meeting. |
|
3.0
|
Progress against workplan objectives - first
quarter report
|
| 3.1 |
Neville Mackay outlined progress to date against the
objectives identified in Resource's 2001-2002
workplan. Although this was only the first quarters
report. Resource was progressing well against the
targets set. Since the workplan had been devised,
Resource had taken on a number of additional new
tasks, such as the Archives Review, The 2010 Vision
and the Regional Museums Taskforce which had
affected progress. Thought now needed to be given to
developing the workplan for 2002-2003. |
| 3.2 |
Alan Watkin remarked that the layout of the report
was clear and concise. He asked about progress with
volunteer research, and whether or not this took
account of recent work the Library Association had
carried out producing guidance for public libraries
in this area. Neville Mackay replied that he would
check. Ajay Chowdhury said that it would be helpful
if future reports flagged key objectives and any
potential problems or issues. Lola Young requested
that the report include an indication of which Board
members and Resource teams were responsible for each
task. Neville Mackay agreed that this would be done
for future reports. |
| 3.3 |
Neil MacGregor commented that the workplan contained
a mixture of macro and micro objectives. Neville
Mackay replied that this was partly due to the
legacy of responsibilities inherited by Resource and
that future plans would be more tightly drawn with a
clearer focus on macro objectives. Neil MacGregor
also asked if the methodology for assessing the
accessibility of museums, archives and libraries
would go before the Board. Neville Mackay replied
that it would. |
| 3.4 |
Michael Stevenson asked about progress with DCMS
Culture On-line (COL). Chris Batt replied that the
business case for COL was currently being considered
by the Her Majesty's Treasury. It was expected that
this would be accepted and that a COL Chief
Executive would be appointed by March 2002. There
would not necessarily need to be primary legislation
to set COL up. Resource was monitoring the COL
agenda in the interim. Chris Batt agreed to give a
presentation on COL at the next board meeting. |
|
4.0
|
Corporate Planning for Resource
|
| 4.1 |
Neville Mackay introduced a paper outlining the
proposed objectives, key components and timetable
for a corporate planning cycle within Resource. A
new Head of Corporate Planning, Fennah Podschies
(formerly of the Art Council) would be joining
Resource in September. It was agreed that a Board
Awayday would be held (probably in October) to
discuss the 2002 plan objectives. |
| 4.2 |
Alan Watkin asked how our stakeholders would be
consulted on the plans. Neville Mackay said that the
sector was actively participating by responding to
our draft consultation strategy documents such as
those on Learning and Access, ICT, Archives and Libraries. |
| 4.3 |
Michael Stevenson asked how the number of themes and
deliverables had been reached. Neville Mackay
replied that they had been identified through
consultation with stakeholders and discussion with
the Board. They represented a portfolio of
inter-linked strategic themes. The plan for
2002-2003 was likely to have fewer but more focussed deliverables. |
| 4.4 |
Matthew Evans asked how this plan was linked to the
wider 10 year Forward Look (2010 Vision). Neville
Mackay replied that Resource's corporate planning
needed to reflect some of the longer term issues
identified by the 2010 report. |
| 4.5 |
Ajay Chowdhury asked about the responsibilities of
the new Head of Corporate Planning. Stuart Davies
replied that her post was not simply process
orientated. It would make a highly creative input to
policy in a number of areas and would include
responsibility for the 2010 Vision, and help manage
Resource's relationship with DCMS. |
| 4.6 |
The Board agreed the process and timetable set out
for Resource's Corporate Planning cycle. |
|
5.0
|
Review of UKOLN: the UK Office of Electronic Networking
|
| 5.1 |
Chris Batt presented a paper which outlined the
background to the review of UKOLN, and summarised
the main conclusions and recommendations. He said
that UKOLN had a global reputation and was a strong
link for Resource to the HE sector. |
| 5.2 |
Matthew Evans said that it was encouraging to see
UKOLN, JISC and Resource working together. Neville
Mackay said that it was a core part of Resource's
role to co-ordinate and bring together such
partnerships aligned to the Resource agenda. |
| 5.3 |
Alan Watkin suggested that it would be helpful for
UKOLN to make a presentation at a future board
meeting, as part of their improved communications
strategy. Vic Gray asked about the relationship
between UKOLN and the mda. Chris Batt replied that
UKOLN and mda have worked closely together to define
their respective work plans. |
| 5.4 |
The Board approved these recommendations and the
actions suggested. |
|
6.0
|
Memorandum of Understanding with JISC (The
Joint Information Systems Committee)
|
| 6.1 |
Chris Batt presented the draft text of the
memorandum of understanding for consideration by the
Board. This was approved. |
|
7.0
|
Review of Designation and the Designation
Challenge Fund
|
| 7.1 |
Neville Mackay presented a paper outlining the main
findings and recommended next steps of the Review of
Designation and the Designation Challenge Fund. The
main recommendations were that the scheme should be
extended to libraries and archives and should apply
throughout the UK. The scheme should remain
collections based, and more could be done to
encourage partnerships between collections to
achieve Designated Status, and reflect contemporary
collections. A full report would be presented to the
Designation Review Steering Group in September. |
| 7.2 |
Alan Watkin commented on the clarity of the paper
and suggested that it could be more strongly worded
to emphasise that Resource was actively pursuing
extension of the scheme opposed to discussing it. He
recommended that Resource should take full advantage
of the opportunities afforded by a re-launch of the Scheme. |
| 7.3 |
Vic Gray said that this was a good report, and
welcomed the proposal to extend the Scheme to
archives, but commented that the important work
would be the detail of the proposals, and that the
selection of designated collections needed to
handled skilfully and transparently, and should not
just reflect the current political agenda. He
commented that the concept of pre-eminence was wider
than that identified in the Board paper and this
needed to be considered by the Designation Review
Steering Group. |
| 7.4 |
Neil MacGregor asked if the Designation Challenge
Fund would be increased given the extension
proposals. Neville Mackay replied that the Scheme
and the Fund should be considered separately. The
Scheme could be applied across the UK. The fund, and
its uses, was largely in the gift of government(s). |
| 7.5 |
Matthew Evans said that the Designation Scheme was
one of the successes of Resource, and that the
report must make clear that extension of the Scheme
should be linked to increasing the Fund. |
| 7.6 |
The Board approved the recommendations and proposals
of the Review of Designation and the Designation
Challenge Fund. |
|
8.0
|
Progress with staffing policies
|
| 8.1 |
Neville Mackay gave a report on progress to date in
establishing a comprehensive set of personnel
management and development policies and procedures
for Resource. Resource was nearing the end of the
process of cultural change and harmonising policies
and procedures of its predecessor bodies. There had
been a clear shift in culture to create a Resource
identity, helped by consolidation at 16, Queen
Anne's Gate. |
| 8.2 |
There followed a discussion on staffing. Neville
Mackay said that Resource had a broad mix of staff
with a wide range of skills. The senior management
team had been strengthened, and it was important to
invest in strong middle management to drive forward
the challenging agenda. The decision to apply for
Investors in People was part of the process to
identify skills gaps and areas for improvement. |
| 8.3 |
The Board strongly recommended that Resource should
develop a rigorous appraisal scheme to identify
development needs, with strong management to deal
with any under-performing staff. A robust but fair
approach to staffing was needed to ensure that
Resource had effective staff with the right blend of skills. |
|
9.0
|
Statistics
|
| 9.1 |
Stuart Davies presented a paper setting out
identifying Resource's statistical needs. The
development of a national approach to the collection
of accurate meaningful data across our sector is
vital to support Resource's advocacy role. |
| 9.2 |
Alan Watkin commented that the approach identified
was excellent, but lacked information on economic
impact data. Stuart Davies replied that it was
difficult to find a series of agreed indicators
across our sector and the UK, and that this type of
research was most effectively carried out in a
series of one-off studies. |
| 9.3 |
Neil MacGregor raised concerns over how data was
collected. A recent request for data to his
institution had emphasised the need to fully brief
and monitor consultants when collecting data. It was
vital for Resource to ensure that the value and
benefit of data contribution was helpfully explained
to participating organisations, so as to encourage
full participation. Karen Knight said that she would
investigate the particular case highlighted. Stuart
Davies said that the credibility of data was
improved if it was collected close to the point of
generation, and that data collection was a role
which the regional agencies and structures might be
asked to take on in the future. |
| 9.4 |
The Board approved the proposals outlined. |
|
10.0
|
Regional Museums Taskforce: verbal report
|
| 10.1 |
Stuart Davies gave an update of progress with the
Regional Museums Taskforce. Matthew Evans e-mail to
all Board members had given full details of the
revised timetable and the reasons for this. The full
report was due to go to Government in September. A
revised draft was currently being worked on. Stuart
Davies would be meeting with DCMS in the week
beginning 30th July to discuss the new ministerial
view of the Regional Museums Taskforce. Nearer the
final publication date a synopsis together with
Q&A guidance would be produced for all Board members. |
|
11.0
|
Stewardship Strategy: verbal report
|
| 11.1 |
Karen Knight gave an update on progress with this.
The May Board had approved the emerging findings,
and the prioritised objectives. The next stage was
to develop the overarching themes which would draw
together work to date. The Stewardship Steering
Group would re-convene to oversee this work, and a
revised paper would be presented to the September
board meeting. It was planned to find an alternative
term to Stewardship. |
|
12.0
|
Review of Communications: verbal report
|
| 12.1 |
Karen Knight said that her team had been re-named
Communications and Standards to more accurately
reflect the work programme and to draw together team
members. Pending the appointment of a Communications
Manager, Karen Knight will directly be managing the
team, who are currently working on creating an
accurate mailing list for all our stakeholders. The
next edition of the Resource Newsletter is due in
October. |
|
13.0
|
Any other business
|
| 13.1 |
Neville Mackay gave a report on a meeting held on
Monday 30th July with regional representatives from
all three domains, and all nine regions. The purpose
of the meeting was to discuss regional business
planning and funding for cross-sectoral regional
agencies from 2004. The meeting had been very
successful, and progress was encouraging. |
| 13.2 |
Viv Griffiths announced that she was taking early
retirement from her post as Director of Libraries
and Learning, Birmingham at the end of 2001. |
| 13.3 |
Matthew Evans said that discussions were taking
place concerning library representation on the Board
and that he may be in a position to report further
at the next Board meeting. |
|
14.0
|
Date and Time of Next Meeting
|
| 14.1 |
The next Board meeting will be on 19 September 2001
at North East Museums, Libraries and Archives
Council, House of Recovery, Bath Lane, Newcastle
upon Tyne, at 11.00am -1.30pm, followed by
lunch.
The meeting closed at 1.30pm. |
|
|
Action List
|
| 3.0 |
PROGRESS AGAINST WORKPLAN OBJECTIVES
- The Board approved the layout of the report
with some minor amendments
- Chris Batt to give presentation on COL to
future Board meeting
|
| 4.0 |
CORPORATE PLANNING FOR RESOURCE
- The Board agreed to process and timetable
set out
- Board Awayday to be held in October
|
| 5.0 |
REVIEW OF UKOLN
- The Board approved the recommendations of
the Review
|
| 6.0 |
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH JISC
- The Board approved the memorandum
|
| 7.0 |
REVIEW OF DESIGNATION AND THE DESIGNATION
CHALLENGE FUND
- The Board approved the recommendations and
proposals of the Review Of Designation And
The Designation Challenge Fund
|
| 8.0 |
PROGRESS WITH STAFFING POLICIES
- The Board recommended a robust approach to
staffing, and supported a rigorous appraisal
system
|
| 9.0 |
STATISTICS
- The Board agreed the proposals outlined
|
| 10.0 |
REGIONAL MUSEUMS TASKFORCE
- Synopsis and Q&A to be produced for
Board members before final publication
|
| 11.0 |
STEWARDSHIP STRATEGY
- Stewardship Strategy Steering Group to be re-convened
- Karen Knight to present paper to September
Board
|
| 12.0 |
REVIEW OF COMMUNICATIONS
- Karen to report progress to next Board
meeting
|
| 13.0 |
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
- Matthew Evans to report on progress
concerning library representation on the
Board to the next Board meeting
|
