THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-EIGHTH MEETING OF
THE TRUSTEES OF THE NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
6 MARCH 2014
IN THE BOARDROOM
MINUTES
Present:
Sir Charles Dunstone
Chairman
Linda Hutchinson
Sir Robert Crawford
Eleanor Boddington
Professor Geoffrey Crossick
Chris Lintott
Joyce Bridges
Jonathan Ofer
Eric Reynolds
Gerald Russell
In attendance:
Kevin Fewster
Margarette Lincoln
Andy Bodle
Sandra Botterell
Richard Doughty
Anupam Ganguli
Mike Sarna
Christopher Gray
Director
Deputy Director
Director, Operations and HR
Director, Commercial
Director, Cutty Sark
Director of Finance
Programming and Exhibitions Director
Museum Secretary
i.
Chairman and Board matters – the retirement of Professor Crossick
The Chairman and Trustees gave their thanks to Professor Crossick for his
effective engagement with the Museum as a Trustee over the last four years
citing in particular his work chairing the Collections and Research Committee,
the Academic Awards Sub Committee and overseeing and advising the Museum
on academic research funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Professor Crossick responded by remarking on the Museum's significant
progress especially in the field of exhibitions and paid tribute to the Director
and the senior team who had delivered this improvement. Professor Crossick
also considered that the Board's strategic role will be enhanced over the period
ahead with a new Chairman and Trustees and that the Board would benefit
from a closer relationship with its Committees.
1.
Apologies
Received from Carol Marlow.
2.
Declaration of relevant interests related to this meeting
None other than those previously declared.
3.
Draft Minutes of the previous meeting: 337 of 21 November 2013
The Board agreed the minutes to be a true record of the meeting and the
minutes were certified accordingly.
3.1
Trustees noted that separate papers on both audience collection data and
audience segmentation, including the profiling of overseas visitors, would come
to the next set of Trustee meetings.
Action: Director, Commercial
4.
Director's report with Key Performance Indicators
The Director took Trustees through his quarterly report drawing attention to:
1. the good performance of Turner & the Sea, which was already 10% over its
visitor target with 2 months still to run, and that the exhibition catalogue is
has been voted Art Book of the Year by the Spectator and the Observer
2. that visitor numbers across the sites were very strong and numbers looked
as if they would be the highest yet achieved in the Museum's history
3. the vital admission charges at the ROG were key to resourcing a great deal of
the Museum's overall charitable outputs for the public
4. year to date Cutty Sark visitation was running at 8% below target.
The Director also reported that the Chairman and he would be meeting the new
DCMS Permanent Secretary, Sue Owen, later that afternoon to introduce her to
the challenges and opportunities for the Museum in the immediate period
ahead.
5
Director of Finance Report
i. Finance Report Quarter ended 31 December 2013
The Director of Finance took Trustees through the management financial
statements, which had been reviewed by the Finance Committee at its 6
February meeting, making the following points:
1. the forecast outcomes on both admissions and secondary spend from the
Turner exhibition were very good
2. to date expenditure on exhibitions is lower than forecast due to timing
differences on payments for Turner and Longitude
3. corporate bookings for the Upper Deck have picked up but have been offset
by fewer weddings and other bookings in the Queens House
4. the resources of the Development dept. have been focused on fund raising
for the Stubbs acquisitions hence the lower than budgeted income from
Trusts and Foundations
5. The £123k underspend on digital projects is due to the deferral of the
Citizen Science project and less demand for replacement audiovisual/interactive equipment.
Trustees noted and accepted the report.
ii. Revised forecast for 2013–14
Trustees noted the revised forecast surplus for 2013–14 of £559k
iii. Strategic Risks as at 31 December 2013
Trustees noted that all ‘medium’ risks had been reviewed by the Executive and
the Senior Management Team to ascertain whether their status should be
increased to ‘amber’ and three such risks were identified:
1. Exhibition master plan – insufficient resources to implement totality of plan
2. Fundraising – targets not aligned with exhibition/capital programmes
3. Estates rationalisation – inappropriate strategy and ineffective management
of NMM’s assets
The Board then approved the Strategic Risk Register as at 31 December 2013.
iv. Grants to Royal Museums Greenwich Foundation
Trustees noted that the question of access to historic reserves is still to be
resolved with DCMS and HM Treasury. Trustees therefore agreed that the
Foundation was still of strategic importance to the Museum, approved the
proposal and resolved to make the grants.
Action: Director of Finance
Trustees and the Executive then agreed that the five-year rolling programme of
exhibitions and gallery renewals should come to the Board on an annual basis.
Specific reports and updates on individual exhibitions and galleries would also
come to the Board on an annual basis and at a six monthly spacing from the
rolling programme.
Action: Programming and Exhibitions Director
6.
New Management Agreement with DCMS
Trustees noted the paper and that the final drafting of the Management
Agreement by the Department was not yet completed. However, Trustees
approved the Management Agreement for signing by the Chairman and
Director provided there were no material changes in the engrossed version.
Trustees agreed that in reality there were not many significant Freedoms but
that the loan Freedom should certainly be exploited and the forthcoming
restructuring programmes may be assisted by speeding up some of the
administrative processes.
Trustees also noted that the Freedoms are a pilot, and therefore could be
withdrawn - potentially before the end of the four year trial. This means that for
the NMM it is important to make any loan application at the outset of the
Freedoms period.
7.
The Board's evaluation of effectiveness
Trustees noted and agreed to undertake an externally facilitated assessment
which could be timetabled prior to, or as part of, the September Board meeting.
Action: Chairman and Secretary.
8.
Reaccreditation with Arts Council England
Trustees noted the paper.
Trustees understood that standards for National Museums are rightly much
higher than other museums and that this exercise, similar to an audit, at threeyear intervals is a useful and good discipline.
Trustees also noted that the preparation of the submission is a demanding task.
The Museum's submission was over 400 pages long and took three months to
assemble. Trustees agreed that despite the significant and time-demanding
input required, now was not a propitious time to explore with the Arts Council a
more pragmatic or risk/exception based approach.
[Post meeting note: the Museum received officer level confirmation that
reaccreditation will be recommended to the next ACE Accreditation Panel that
meets on 5 June 2014.]
9.
Collections Disposals
Trustees noted that the current recommendations are made in line with the
Board’s powers of disposal and the Museum’s Disposal Policy. There were three
items recommended for disposal all on the grounds of duplication, accuracy
/quality and the fact that one object was a replica.
Trustees agreed the disposals and asked that these go forward to the Secretary
of State for consent. [Post meeting note: the Museum received consent from the
Secretary of State in May]
10.
10.1
Corporate Plan 2014–18 and onwards
Vision, context, the income imperative, process and communication
The Director reported to Trustees that the phrase ‘Stimulating Curiosity’ from
the 2009–14 plan has resonated throughout the Museum and has been very
successful in describing the overarching objective of the Museum. The Director
also reiterated to Trustees the context of the challenges and opportunities that
lay ahead.
Trustees were content with the proposed direction and approach to be taken by
the Executive to draft the Plan. A first draft of a new Corporate Plan would
come to the 22 May Board meeting for full discussion, challenge, debate and
response. Trustees' views and guidance will then be incorporated and a final
version brought back to the 18 September Board.
Trustees questioned whether more could be made of the strapline – for some it
felt that the strapline is underused and needed more visitors to see and embrace
it. The Director agreed that this needed further consideration.
Trustees noted and approved the overall direction of the paper.
10.2
The Endeavour project
The Director presented the outline of the recently scoped and major Endeavour
project to Trustees for their consideration.
The Director stressed that the Museum has the world’s finest collection of Cook
material and that therefore the 250th anniversary of Cook's first voyage is a
unique opportunity to link the multiple sites and promote RMG as a powerful
brand.
The Director also stated that the Endeavour project:
 was a realistic, achievable and fundable project which would solve the
imminent collections storage and conservation studio problems and provide
much more for gallery space for the public;
 would be very attractive both to the Department and funders;
 had strong possibilities for partnership working at Kidbrooke (which could
also be a generator of income); and
 English Heritage is in favour of the approach proposed for active
conservation of the buildings at the ROG.
The Chairman stated that the project was absolutely in line with Trustees'
obligations to secure and care for the collection and make the collection even
more available to the public through more gallery space.
Points made by Trustees included:
 the need for a new navigation gallery at the ROG, supported by external
sponsorship, which has to be part of the overall attraction
 in addition, the need for a good exhibitions space at the ROG
 the new staff layout would lead to more synergies between departments and
provide further efficiencies in ways of working
 two large comprehensive schools near the Kidbrooke site could participate
in this project with the conservators to enable this to become a RMG led
neighbourhood cultural activity project
 that the gallery strand of the project amplifies the space and makes it more
coherent and able to tell the master narrative
 that the intellectual connection between the ROG and Museum – navigation
and exploration – is very sound.
 could the Museum also enhance the journey between the two main sites
making a WHS reference
 how much more gallery space can the Museum afford to staff
 although the Master Narrative themes of migration/trade still needed a
home, a heavily collection-based gallery on the second floor would be very
attractive to the public and funders.
[Information has been exempted under Section 43 (2) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000]
In conclusion Trustees were extremely positive and enthusiastic about the
project and agreed that the Executive continue to develop the project
accordingly. The Director was pleased to assure Trustees that an update on
progress with the project would come to the 22 May meeting and thereafter.
Action: Director and Executive
10.3
[Information has been exempted under Section 36(2)(b) (i) and (ii) and Section
43 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000]
10.4 Reorganising to deliver
The Director took Trustees through the report which he stressed needed to be
seen as a balance between the necessary savings that are required by reason of
the reduction in Grant in Aid and the Museum's public service delivery and
ambitions for the future.
Trustees agreed that it was most important that staff had a clear understanding
of the context requiring the reorganisation and that the review is clearly linked
to the Museum's priorities – this was vital for the health of the Museum. It was
additionally agreed that the work must also ensure an appropriate reward
structure is in place for 2015–16 onwards.
Trustees requested that the long-term value of Research receive more attention
in the paper and that the Museum should recognise that the quality of research
is fundamental to the vitality of the public offer. There was a danger of short
term exigencies overlooking long term capacity and knowledge.
Trustees noted that over the coming months the Museum will work on
developing and implementing an organisational structure which, while meeting
the savings target, will deliver on the Museum’s corporate plan objectives for
2015–16 to 2018–19. This reorganisation will come to the May meeting for
Trustee consideration and decision.
11.
2014–15 Budget
The Director of Finance took Trustees through the budget paper, which had
been endorsed by the Finance Committee of 6 February, making the following
points:
 the budgeted revenue surplus for 2014-15 is £565k allows the Museum to
address in-year risks
 works to QH would need to be fully externally funded before
implementation
 that 2014–15 will be the last year of access to historic reserves (but that the
new Freedoms may provide an alternative method of access)
 the surplus grants to the Foundation (the funds of which now comprise
some £5million) provide the ability for the Foundation, if it wishes, to
support the Endeavour project.
Trustees questioned whether the continual generation of a surplus puts at risk
the level of Grant-in-Aid. The Executive responded that DCMS require their
ALB's to perform well and this form of disincentivization would be a selfdefeating exercise.
The Director of Finance stated that in 2015–16 Revenue Grant-in-Aid reduces
by a further £468k and that it is possible that there may be further cuts to the
figure of £13.8m. Furthermore, there will be certain rises in expenditure as a
result of increases in utility costs, inflation etc. Therefore, it would be prudent to
aim for savings of £700k to £800k for 2015–16 in order to deliver a surplus
revenue budget for that year.
Although all revenue and expenditure will be scrutinised, the bulk of the savings
will have to come from staff costs as about 65% of the Museum’s total
expenditure relates to staff.
The 2014–15 budget assumes that the new structure will be in place by 1
January 2015 which will result in three months’ savings of £200k in staff costs
in that financial year. The cost of restructuring is estimated to be £200k.
The Chairman of the Finance Committee stated that the Committee had
reviewed the budget plans at its meeting of 6 February and that in
recommending the budget to the Board the Finance Committee would make two
specific points:
1. The budget is predicated on raising a good deal of self-generated income and
without an exhibition like Turner & the Sea to drive income and secondary
spend there was some residual risk to achieving this.
2. 2014–15 is a critical year for structuring headroom into the following 2015–
16 year, and the longer-term future. It was therefore vital that the budgetary
targets for 2014–15 are achieved.
Trustees also reviewed the proposed uplift in headline admission charging at
the ROG during the Longitude exhibition, and thereafter, to £8.50. The Board
agreed that the experience of value for money at the ROG was very important to
the public and that therefore the Museum must ensure that short and medium
term enhancements must continue to be made to ensure visitor satisfaction.
Trustees then noted and approved the 2014–15 budget and the change to
headline ticket prices at the ROG.
12.
Interim Divisional Plans: Q1 2014–15
Trustees noted and agreed the Interim Divisional Plans for Q1 2014–15 though
also agreed with the Finance Committee's view that a revised approach was
needed in the future to tighten and streamline the level of detail currently being
presented.
Trustees also made the point that more work needed to be prioritised to secure
a higher number/value of donations from visitors. Trustees requested a report
from the Executive at a Board meeting in the near future on the ways forward
for maximising donations, Gift Aid and Membership sales
Action: Director, Commercial
13.
Matters arising from Volume B
There were no matters arising from the information in Volume B.
14.
Next Board Meeting:
Thursday 22 May 2014.
Minutes approved by Sir Charles Dunstone, Chairman
Date