Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Adults and Communities which provided an update on the outcome of the private scrutiny workshop held regarding the Archives, Collections and Learning (ACL) Centre.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 12’ is filed with these minutes.

The Chairman thanked all officers and Members who attended the workshop, which importantly had provided a holistic view of the issues and involved property and finance officers, as well as officers from the Adults and Communities Department.   He also thanked the Cabinet Lead Member who had also participated in the discussion.

In presenting the report, the Director advised that:

       i.          Accreditation status from The National Archives (TNA) had been retained for two years (usually six years) on the proviso that within the next two years the County Council resolved the ongoing issues around the storage and access to records, alongside another recommendation that digital records were progressed.

      ii.          There would be an Arts Council England accreditation assessment of the museum service.  A date for this was yet to be confirmed but it was expected imminently.

    iii.          The capital and revenue projections requested at the workshop to cover a 25-year period for storage off site and retrieval, was being worked upon. It was the view of the Director that it would be a similar revenue cost to capital cost, so would likely be in the region of £20million. It was further noted that the £5million cost over the first five-year period included £1.7million capital requirement to maintain the Record Office at Wigston.

Arising from discussion, the following points were made:

    iv.          In light of the financial information made available during the private workshop, Members concluded that the cost of borrowing money to proceed with the new ACL Centre would not be dissimilar to the revenue required for the alternative options and would result in the Council having a building that would meet growing demand as was required for accreditation. It was recognised that further work was needed to fully assess costs over a 25-year period to inform the Cabinet’s decision which was being produced.

     v.          Members noted that the risk of losing accreditation would mean the County Council could be instructed on how to store items by the appropriate bodies with no regard as to the cost which would still need to be met by the Authority.

    vi.          A Member queried if there was an opportunity to dispose of collection items to reduce the space required and raise some funds. The Director reported that there was a slight difference to museum collections and archive collections. The Museums Service had had an active programme of rationalisation and disposal since 2015, and there had been a reduction in collections over that time. With regards to the Record Office there was very little that was taken in to be stored that did not need to be retained, and with regards to the public record had an obligation to keep. No further space was being sought for museum collections as with a different configuration the number of buildings currently being used could be consolidated and reduced. With regards to the record office provision, the County Council are required by the TNA to have 25-years growth space and provision for that growth had to be secured to retain accreditation beyond the two years.

  vii.          The Director reported that other areas of funding had been explored but the County Council was precluded from most grant funding because the storage of records was a statutory requirement the Council had to budget for.

RESOLVED:

a)    That the report regarding the Archives, Collections and Learning Centre be noted and welcomed.

b)    That the report and comments of the Adults and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee be forwarded to Cabinet for consideration at its meeting on 21 June 2024.

c)     That in light of the discussions held the Cabinet be advised that the recommendation of the Adults and Communities Overview and Committee was that the development of the ACL Centre be reaffirmed, and consideration given to funding being allocated to deliver this in the refreshed MTFS for 2024/25 – 2028/29.