85/98 MOD Policy Statement for the Principal Service Museums(U)

[D/DS Sec/1106/6: 89640MB]

Background

1. The Quinquennial Review of the Principal Service Museums recommended that DS Sec(Sec) drew up a Departmental policy statement for the museums, since none currently existed. This task has been carried out by the Museum Working Party and the statement at the ANNEX has been discussed with the Museums & Galleries Commission.

2. Following approval by the Service Personnel Policy Board, the Departmental policy statement has been cleared by 2nd PUS. It will be reviewed every five years at the time of the Quinquennial Review.

ANNEX

Ministry Of Defence Policy Statement The Principal Service Museums

1. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is the lead Government department for museum policy, the most recent statement of which, Treasures in Trust, was published in July 1996. The Ministry of Defence, which sponsors the principal Service museums, welcomed this statement and noted that the Service museums have an important role on behalf of the nation as repositories of the history and heritage of the three Armed Services. While not providing a direct contribution to the ‘front line’, they have an influential part to play in support of Defence Policy through the contribution to recruiting, the education of Servicemen and in expressing the institutional persona of the Armed Forces; in addition, they assist in raising public awareness of the role and achievements of the Services.

2. The principal Service museums are: the Royal Naval Museum, the Royal Marines Museum, the Royal Navy Submarine Museum, the Fleet Air Arm Museum, the National Army Museum and the Royal Air Force Museum.

3. All of the principal Service museums are registered with the Charity Commission and should aim to be registered with the Museums & Galleries Commission. The museums should set themselves to achieve best practice in the relevant sectoral standards for collections care e.g. Code of Practice on Archives and the Museums & Galleries Commission Care of Collections series.

4. The purposes of the museums are to.

a. Collect, preserve and exhibit articles and records relating to the history and traditions of their respective Armed Service.

b. Collect, collate and publish information relating to the history and traditions of their respective Armed Service.

c. Encourage and carry out scholarship and research into the history and traditions of their respective Armed Service and make the product of this scholarship available through publications and lectures as a means of nurturing the ethos of that Service.

d. Provide an educational resource for the community with particular reference to children in relation to the National Curriculum.

e. Raise public awareness of (ie role and achievements of the United Kingdom's Armed Forces.

These will be more specifically defined tor each museum in its Deed of Trust or Royal Charter as applicable.

The Principal Personnel Officer (PPO) of each Service is responsible for the implementation of Ministry of Defence policy in respect of his Service museum(s); PPO interests will be handled by a nominated sponsor branch within his Top Level Budget area. Tri Service museum policy is developed and co ordinated by the Defence Services Secretary (DS Sec) in conjunction with advice provided by the following Central divisions:

a. DOMD Policy on machinery of government issues pertaining to Non Departmental Public Bodies and the implementation of that policy by the Service museums.

b. RP(Fin) Advice on Financial Memoranda and liaison with the Treasury and National Audit Office.

c. GF Advice on Accounting Officer responsibilities and gifting policy.

DS Sec is also responsible for liaison with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Museums & Galleries Commission.

6. The museums are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence as Non Departmental Public Bodies. The focus of the Department's relationship with the Service museums is the corporate planning process, which, together with the Financial Memorandum governing the management of the Grant in Aid, forms the key element of the framework, within which the museums run their own affairs.

7. The Ministry of Defence will provide an annual Grant in Aid to each Service museum towards its maintenance, staffing, operating and acquisition costs. The museum's Corporate Plan, which will show all sources of income, including trading income and funding to be raised by appeal, will form the basis of the museum's annual submission to its sponsor branch for the Grant in Aid. This will be considered within the normal annual LTC process. Museums are to be encouraged to become financially more self reliant and to apply for development money through the National Heritage Lottery Fund and European Commission funding; they should in addition explore the applicability of funding through the Private Finance Initiative.

8. The precise terms and conditions, under which the Grant in Aid and other assistance will be provided, will be set out in a Financial Memorandum agreed between each museum and its sponsor branch. The Financial Memorandum will be reviewed every 3 years, although amendments may be made with the agreement of both parties as and when required.

9. The Ministry of Defence will consider requests to gift to the museums, or transfer on the best possible terms, artefacts, items of obsolete equipment and documents of agreed historical significance within the constraints of Government Accounting regulations and current Ministry of Defence policy.

10. The Ministry of Defence will offer advice and, where practicable, training to museum staff, where such training is agreed by the museum and the sponsor branch to be relevant to the requirements of the Ministry of Defence.

11. Each sponsor branch will produce a policy statement applicable to its Service in respect of its principal museum(s).

12. Both the Ministry of Defence and the sponsor branch policy statements will be reviewed every 5 years at the time of the Quinquennial Review.