View online|Preferences

Morning Subscriber / Issue 258 - Friday12July2013

Print Version /
In this issue /
Headlines
News
Also this fortnight
Have your say
Events
SItuations vacant
notes and subscriptions
Share this email /

Follow us /




/ HEADLINES /
English Heritage disappointed at 10% cut
The Government has announced that as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review English Heritage will receive a 10% cut to its revenue costs for the financial year 2015/16.
This comes after the news that the organisation will split, with EH's statutory and advisory functions being taken up by a provisionally-titled National Heritage Protection Service. This NHPS, with an exclusive focus on planning and heritage protection, will become a more public-facing organisation that offers services to local government and private individuals.
The 420 sites and monuments that make up the National Heritage Collection - including Dover Castle and Stonehenge - have been granted a capital sum of £80million to support its transition into an independent charitable body. This new charity retain the name English Heritage and continue its guardianship role with its historic properties.
This 10% cut to English Heritage's is severe, particularly compared to 5% for arts and museums and 7% for DCMS overall. This means that EH has seen a 38% cut in real terms since 2011. The Churches Conservation Trust, an Alliance member and another arms-length DCMS body, has also seen a 10% cut.
While the Alliance sees some advantages to the new structure, it is particularly concerned about a lack of adequate financial support for the new NHPS. For a full statement from the Alliance, please click here. For a full breakdown of cuts within DCMS, please click here.

HLF - Heritage tourism worth more than ever
The Heritage Lottery Fund has published a follow-up to its 2010 Investing in Success study, showing that heritage-based tourism has actually grown despite general economic downturn.
According to the revised report produced by Oxford Economics, heritage-based tourism is now worth £26.4billion to the UK economy annually - a rise of £5.8billion compared with data from 2010. The report also indicates that heritage is a growing concern among domestic tourists - over a quarter of all UK holiday activities undertaken by UK residents now involve heritage.
Loyd Grossman, Chair of The Heritage Alliance speaking on the links between heritage and the tourism business at today’s Tourism Alliance AGM, warmly welcomed the report: "I‘m delighted that these figures once again clearly demonstrate the links between heritage and tourism. This is incontestable proof that our unique heritage is one of our major national assets andcan contribute to our national economic recovery. Heritage means business for Britain.”

Curriculum review - the Government responds
The Department for Education has finally responded to its public consultation on the content of the new National Curriculum - and the news is good.
After an detailed response from the Heritage Alliance and 58 other organisations from the heritage and cultural sector, the controversial framework for the teaching of history has been overhauled - in light of concerns about its prescriptive nature and narrow focus on English history.
Now, teaching aims are considerably broader - with the previously obligatory topics now present as 'suggested' courses of actions. There is also an increased focus on history outside the British Isles and on local history, with an obligatory 'local history study'.
Overall, there were 17,312 responses to the consultation with History receiving the greatest number of subject-specific comments. Gratifyingly, the Government's response notes the concerns expressed about the impact on local museums and heritage assets of their original curriculum.
This is an excellent result for the many heritage organisations who expressed concern about the potentially damaging impact of the draft curriculum. To respond to the new draft framework, click here or see 'Have Your Say' below.

Back to top
NEWS /
Did you know that you are able to advertise in Update - which reaches around 13,000 people around the world – and it’s FREE for Alliance members!
If you wish to advertise please contact the Editor Sam Bradley and for vacancies, voluntary and paid, in the sector please scroll to ‘Jobs’.

BIS puts duty to have regard for growth in Deregulation Bill
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has published its response to the Spring 2013 consultation on the duty to have regard to growth by Non-economic Regulators, that is those bodies who enforce the rules, and provide advice and guidance on how to comply with them. The Heritage Alliance’s responseraised concerns how this would affect Non Departmental Public bodies such as English Heritage and Natural England whose regulatory functions relate to non-renewable resources, the historic environment and the natural environment, and whose time frame is considerably longer than most.
The Alliance was not alone in objecting to the duty in principle on environmental grounds and in recommending that the duty should be for sustainable development rather than economic growth but BIS has concluded that the growth duty will deliver clear benefits which will be instrumental in creating a regulatory environment conducive to economic growth without compromising the independence of regulators or undermining the importance of the essential protections they deliver.
The duty will not override existing duties or undermine regulators’ ability to carry out essential protection objectives but the regulators must be able to justify a decision to intervene that does not support growth. Government brought forward this duty for non economic regulators to have regard to growth in the draft Deregulation Bill published on 1 July.

Consultation on online GiftAid
The government have launched a new consultation aimed at investigating the role of GiftAid and digital giving - and examining how it could be more effective for charities.
Primarily, the consultation will focus on how to increase the level of Gift Aid takeup on digital donations, as well asinviting thoughts on a database of universal Gift Aid declarations and howthe wording of the Gift Aid declaration might be improved.
The consultation will run until the 20th September of this year. For more information and to respond, click here or see 'Have Your Say'.

'Cultural education' for schoolchildren never better
The Department for Education and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have produced a joint list detailing the range of cultural activities available for schoolchildren up to 2015.
The Heritage Schools initiative gets a mention, as does a 'Museums and Schools' programme, funded by the Department for Education, which will provide £3.6million to provide curriculum-relevant activies in museums across England. Mention is also made of the poetry recitation competition Poetry by Heart.
Overall, the government is spending £292 million to 2015 on cultural education.
Education Secretary Michael Gove said "No education can be complete without the arts and creativity playing a central role in a child’s life.Successful schools put culture at the heart of their curriculum. I want all schools to be able to emulate, indeed surpass, those which are currently outstanding."
For a full list of cultural education initiatives, please click here.

Award for Ecclesiastical
Specialist heritage insurer Ecclesiastical Insurance, sponsor of The Heritage Alliance's Heritage Day and Heritage Debates, has won a top industry award for its campaign against metal theft.
Hands Off Our Church Roofssaw Ecclesiastical invest £500,000 to install specialist security systems on selected 'at risk' churches across the country.These have already helped thwart a number of attempted thefts and have significantly reduced the number of metal theft incidents, with the insurer’s 2012 church metal theft claims figures showing a 64% drop.
On collecting the BIA Risk Management Initiative of the Year award last night, Ecclesiastical’s Group Chief Executive Mark Hews said "We know we haven’t won the war on metal theft quite yet, but we’re encouraged by at least winning this small battle and we’re delighted the industry has recognised our efforts with this award.”

HLF - Funding for Parks
£23 million from the Big Lottery Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund will go to boost eleven public parks across the UK.
Alexandra Park in London and Lightwoods Park near Birmingham are two of the green spaces that will see investment and nearly a million hours of volunteer time flooding in over the next year. With local government budgets slashed, many public parks are struggling - with dire consequences.
TheHLF has commissioned a major new report aiming to provide a thorough insight into the challenging situation faced by the sector. A team of industry experts will deliver the ‘State of the UK’s Public Parks’ Report in Spring 2014.
Alan Titchmarsh, gardener and broadcaster, commented, “Public parks are so important to people’s well-being but - like all landscapes and gardens - they need continuous love and care to keep them in good condition. With sources of funding increasingly hard to find, failure to invest properly in maintenance in particular means that our much-loved parks are at risk of becoming places that are no longer safe or fit for purpose."

National Heritage Science Forum launched
The National Heritage Science Forum held its first AGM and launch event in the House of Lords on 27 July.
Encompassing many disciplines, the Forum aims toaddress the research and practice needs of institutions interested in or engaged with heritage science.
The Forum's foundation comes after the heritage sector published the National Heritage Science Strategy in 2010 in response to a Lords Committee of Science and Technology pointed out the absence of strategic national priorities and vision in the sector.
For more information about the Forum and its work, please click here.

EH - Changing Face of the High Street
English Heritage have released the latest in their ongoing series of of reports connecting heritage and growth - this time looking at the changing fortunes of historic high streets and town centres.
The Changing Face of the High Street: Decline and Revival,commissioned by English Heritage in partnership with Historic Towns Forum (a member of the Alliance),looks at heritage-led and heritage-sympathetic development in places like Brixton Village in London and Princesshay in Exeter and asks what makes them successful.
A key finding is that there are strategies whereby small town centres can flourish - such as creating a niche shopping and leisure experience to complement mainstream shopping areas.
To download a copy of the report, please click here.

Concerns over export of City church altarpiece
A Benjamin West altarpiece from one of the City's Christopher Wren churches can be sold for display in the United States, a judge has ruled.
Devout Men Taking Away the Body of St Stephen was commissioned and donated to St Stephen Walbrook by priest Thomas Wilson in 1776. It was subsequently removed from the church in 1987 and put in storage.
In his ruling Judge Nigel Seed,chancellor of the consistory court of the Diocese of London, said that the church should be allowed to sell the piece but was highly critical of both the priest who installed and the one who removed the painting.
He added “This case, if nothing else, is an object lesson of the consequences of incumbents behaving as though the church building is a sort of personal doll’s house for them to play with, without reference to the parishioners.”
The Churches Building Council was opposed to the sale and says that it is "deeply disappointing". The Council is now considering an appeal the outcome of which will be of concern to heritage and church bodies as the case has serious implications for the future of church furnishings.

Back to top
ALSO THIS FORTNIGHT /
Heritage Open Days - time to register!
It’s that time of year again; historic properties around the country are planning events, dusting off the welcome signs and gearing up for Heritage Open Days 2013, which this year runs from September 12-15. If you haven’t registered yet there’s still time – but registration closes on August 1.
For more information visit www.heritageopendays.org.uk and click on ‘Get Involved’, which has all the details on how to take part.

Book now forManaging Major Buildings Projects in Places of Worship
The Heritage Alliance's Historic Religious Buildings group is running another training day on Managing Major Buildings Projects in Places of Worship on 8 October in Bristol.
Aimed at those concerned with places of worship of all sizes, types and location, the purpose of the day is to help with the management of all stages of a building project in a place of worship, from start up through to making sure benefits are achieved over the long term.
Anyone who would benefit from the day is welcome to attend. For more details and to book, please click here.

English Heritage Advisory Committee - Call for Expressions of Interest
The Advisory Committee advises English Heritage, on request, on historic environment issues which are novel, contentious, exceptionally sensitive, technically or intellectually complex or which raise broader policy issues.
English Heritage are currently seeking new members for EHAC with expertise in the following areas:
• Local government historic environment management;
• Maritime heritage.
If you are interested, please write to Stephanie Jenner, Commission Secretariat Manager (English Heritage, 1 Waterhouse Square, 138 – 142 Holborn, London, EC1N 2ST or e-mail her)by 21 August, briefly explaining (no more than 2 sides of A4) why you are interested and enclosing a CV. Please say how you heard of the vacancy. These positions are not remunerated although meeting expenses will be paid.Shortlisted candidates will be invited to meet the Committee Chair and staff on 3 October.