UPDATE ON PROGRESS WITH SOMERSET COUNTY COUNCIL’S REVIEW OF ITS
HERITAGE SERVICE DELIVERY
Members will remember that the last update report, published
in the autumn Newsletter, gave an account of the work that the Development and
Policy Committee of the Society has been examining with a view to protecting
the Society’s interests in relation to the proposed formation of a Somerset
Heritage Trust. The decision of the
Cabinet of the Council on the affordability, viability and sustainability of
the Trust has been delayed from its planned date of 23 October to 11 November,
and the so-called ‘Gateway Paper’ to inform that decision is expected to be
published by 28 October. These delays resulted
in the postponement of the SANHS General Meeting planned for 5 October.
The Society is assessing the extent to
which the new Trust seeks to exploit and develop our assets,
devolved to its care, in relation to the charitable
purposes of the Society and developing detailed
provisions of procedures to be followed in the event of failure of the Trust. The Society has
instructed lawyers to scope the requirements for new agreements with the
Council, the full costs of their work being born by the Council, and a first
meeting of these lawyers with the Council’s legal team was held in late
July. We have since consulted the
Charity Commission, Arts Council England and the National Archives for advice
on their views of the proposed devolved governance of Somerset’s heritage
services. The Society is as fully
involved as is practicable and possible in
the general process of resolution and clarification essential to the Trust proposal and not just sidelined to tinkering
with a few leases or agreements as though they were separable from or incidental
to the whole change process.
The Society had repeatedly requested details of the
financial model for the Trust and its likely purpose, governance, and structure
so that effective due diligence of the new management arrangements might be put
in place. The meeting of legal
representatives was the catalyst for the provision of the latter, which held no
significant surprises for the Society when analysed by the Development and
Policy Committee. The governance detail resembles
that on which the management of the Society is founded. Detail of the financial model remains
confidential to the ‘Gateway Paper.’ We
now know nearly as much about the proposed Trust as we do about that of the
existing Heritage Services organisation of the Council with the notable
exception of substantive detail of the affordability, viability and
sustainability of its funding.
The Council has reportedly discussed its proposals with the
National Archives and English Heritage and received an approach from Devon
County Council on the possible inclusion of its heritage services in the Trust. Devon Council
officers have yet to seek approval of their Cabinet and complete a period of
consultation. Any statutory
responsibilities that the Trust discharges will be on behalf of the councils,
who retain the statutory duty.
We have been told that Somerset County Council has assembled
a Trust budget for the first 5 year cycle in four categories:
- Staffing: This has used indicative figures for the level of staffing that would be needed to run this type of trust, benchmarked against 2012-13 staffing levels.
- Non-staffing: This has been based on current levels and future- proofed for inflation.
- Additional costs of operating as a
trust: Council will contribute to support these additional costs. The assumption is that budgets will move
to the trust and that relevant services (eg IT, payroll) will either be
bought back from the Council or sought elsewhere.
- Income: Projections have been
modelled in a variety of ways, and do not pre-suppose charging for entry
to
Council officers assure us that their main intent is to
maintain current service levels for the next 5 years, to fulfil key contracts
such as with Heritage Lottery Fund, and to establish a Trust that can be
expected to sustain leases and agreements for 30 years. They plan to establish a shadow Board of
Trustees to work in parallel with officers whilst developing the strategic and
operational management of the Trust until a not-for-profit company
limited-by-guarantee and charity is vested.
The ‘Gateway Report’, when published on the Council website
at the end of October, will reportedly include a section setting out the
financial case, a section explaining the major proposals and how risks will be
mitigated, under the broad themes of governance, scope, the mechanism for how
the trust will be set up, operations, property assets, collection assets, HR and
levels of support, and a summary of the main benefits. Invited to propose a paragraph for the
Cabinet Summary to the report, the Development and Policy Committee agreed the
following ‘Taunton Castle (excluding Castle House) will be
sub-let by the County Council (as tenant) to the trust (as sub-tenant) subject
to the consent of Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society (as
landlord). The Society has confirmed its intention to work positively with the
County Council and is supportive of the trust concept. The precise terms of any
sub-lease will be agreed during the implementation phase’.
The Development and Policy Committee will continue to
explore the Society’s relationship with a possible Trust and analyse substantive
financial information when it is published in the ‘Gateway Report’. After the last Board meeting the Committee
generated a set of fundamental points to guide discussions and negotiations
with the Council. Following Arts Council England
advice, it also plans to carry out a strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis to determine what
are our alternative options and prepare a paper on our 'Expectations of the new
Trust' which can be given to the Council.
You
should be assured that the Society is managing the significant opportunities
and threats posed by this Somerset County Council initiative as effectively and
professionally as is practicable and possible. Our Trustees will be involved
with discussion and negotiation of all sub-leases and agreements involving its
assets and, with their lawyers, will have oversight of them. On the basis of prior experience, this is
likely to be a complex and protracted process in the ambitious timetable
proposed by the Council to carry the project successfully through the Cabinet
gateway approval into autumn 2014. The
Board of Trustees, meeting on 24 October, will determine when and where the
re-timed General Meeting will be held.
Further
details and papers can be found on the SANHS website as follows:
http://www.sanhs.org/SHS%20Review.htm
