Agenda item

To consider the attached report.

The Museum, Heritage and Culture Manager, T O’Connor introduced a report to the Select Committee regarding the Museum, Heritage and Culture LGA Peer Challenge, He advised that earlier this year, the Council’s Museum, Heritage and Culture service was successful in securing a competitive Peer Challenge Review of its services undertaken by the Local Government Association (LGA). The cost of £7000 was fully funded by Arts Council England and the Local Government Association.

In November 2017 EFDC were made aware of an offer from the LGA to undertake a fully funded Peer Challenge review of Museum, Heritage and Culture Services. In consultation with Councillor H Kane, A Hall (Director of Communities) and J Chandler (Assistant Director, Community Services) an application was made.

EFDC were one of only three authorities in the country selected for this type of review which was undertaken by the following team of experienced professionals from the museum and cultural sector:

·        Mark Harrison – LGA Peer Challenge Manager;

·        Councillor Nick Worth – Executive Member for Culture & Emergency Services, Lincolnshire County Council and Deputy Leader South Holland Council; and,

·        Tony Witton – Cultural and Creative Economy Service Manager, Kent County Council.

The team prepared for the peer challenge by reviewing a range of documents and information in order to ensure they were familiar with the Council and the challenges it was facing. They then spent two days onsite at Epping Forest Museum, during which they; spoke to more than 25 people including a range of council staff together with councillors and external partners and stakeholders; gathered information and views from more than 12 meetings and collectively spent more than 75 hours to determine their findings.

It was important to highlight that this was not an inspection. Peer challenges were improvement focussed and tailored to meet individual councils’ needs. They were designed to complement and add value to a council’s own performance and improvement and the process was not designed to provide an in-depth or technical assessment of plans and proposals. The peer team used their experience and knowledge of local government to reflect on the information presented to them by the people they met, things they saw and material that they read.

The Peer Review team identified areas and made key recommendations to the Council as follows:

(1)       Prioritise the completion of the business plan (2018-2023) and implementation of the new staffing structure;

(2)       Consider the value of a developing cultural forum;

(3)       Review capacity when considering new projects;

(4)       Agree a coherent commercial approach;

(5)       Take a strategic approach to outreach and embrace hard to reach groups;

(6)       Establish a cultural strategy;

(7)       Agree the relationship with the development trust;

(8)       Prioritise a dedicated website, building on the success of social media campaigns;

(9)       Explore the viability of digitalisation to bring greater access to collections and the potential of commercial opportunities; and

(10)   Review the collections and disposal policy.

In conclusion the Peer Review team reported that they saw evidence of an excellent well run service, supported by enthusiastic and professional staff. There was a high level of political and stakeholder support for the service and this enthusiasm had helped in securing additional external funding. The newly refurbished museum in Waltham Abbey showed the benefit of this shared ambition and there was a clear appreciation of the main purpose of service delivery that was to collect, preserve and promote the heritage of the Epping Forest District and to provide opportunities for people to engage in wider cultural opportunities.

Councillor H Whitbread asked if the museum had volunteers and if so how many. Mr O’Connor stated that the museum currently had 27 volunteers and their help included:

·        A team of 5 volunteers who attended and looked after the gardens;

·        Help in the shop and reception area;

·        A team that helped with the collections and updating the records; and

·        A range of various other all important tasks that needed attending to.

If they were all to leave tomorrow the museum would be in serious trouble as they gave over 4,000 volunteer hours to the museum each year.

Councillor H Whitbread asked if there had been any engagement with schools. Mr O’Connor advised that they offered school programmes and supported dance and development courses.

            RESOLVED:

That the report on the Museum, Heritage and Culture LGA Peer Challenge be noted by the Select Committee.