Volume 1

The funding of science and discovery centres : eleventh report of session 2006-07 / House of Commons, Science and Technology Committee.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Science and Technology.
Date:
2007
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: The funding of science and discovery centres : eleventh report of session 2006-07 / House of Commons, Science and Technology Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    City’s vision for Eastside will be of enormous and lasting public benefit. It is crucial to ensure the interests of the family market continue to be properly served through an integrated approach to specific projects in the area.” Science centres and museums 18. In terms of their focus on education and the benefit they bring to the local economy, science centres share common features with museums. However, museums are different from science centres in that they house collections. The Museums Association defines museums thus: Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible artefacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society.”° If an institution meets this definition, it can apply for Accreditation with the MLA (Museums, Libraries and Archives), a Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).” The Museum Accreditation Scheme is well established and sets nationally agreed standards for UK museums. It places collections and the management of collections at the centre of everything that museums do, but also stresses the importance of providing the means for visitors to enjoy and learn from the collections. Only accredited museums can receive DCMS funding. 19. Alec Coles, Director of the Tyne and Wear Museums, has suggested that an equivalent accreditation scheme for science centres would be beneficial.” Given the diversity of science centres, and the fact that some are already accredited museums, it is difficult to see how such a scheme could be structured and calibrated. A more practical solution would be to alter the existing Accreditation scheme. 20. We believe that the Museum Accreditation Scheme should be adapted by separating out the dual roles that museums play in terms of maintaining collections and in terms of the educational and public engagement services that they provide. The funding streams could then be separated to match so that museums would receive funding from one stream to manage and store collections and receive funding from another for the educational and public engagement programmes that they run. A regime of this kind would have two key benefits. First it would focus attention on the importance of the educational and public engagement roles that museums play. Second, it would open up funding streams for those institutions, like science centres, that play a important educational and public engagement role in society but do not receive Government support because they do not house collections. 21. We recommend that the Government review the Museum Accreditation Scheme with a view to creating a funding stream for educational and public engagement programmes to which science centres could apply. 24 Ev59 25 www.museumsassociation.org/faq 26 Accreditation Standard, MLA, September 2004 27 ~Ev 123, Q 41 [Alec Coles]