Alistair Hardaker | Image: British Library, London WC1 (CC BY-SA 2.0 Christine Matthews)
Public Accounts Committee makes six recommendations for DCMS across a range of issues from cybersecurity to hiring
The Public Accounts Committee, Parliament’s financial watchdog, has warned of security threats, rising costs, falling visitor numbers and vacancies in key leadership roles at national museums and galleries.
It has made six recommendations to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), some to be completed before the end of the year. The recommendations follow a NAO report published in March, ‘The financial resilience of DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries’, and a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) evidence session in April.
The PAC says that DCMS has yet to put in place metrics for measuring museums’ and galleries’ delivery against its outcomes.
It claims the Department does not have a clear picture on whether museums and galleries are delivering value for the taxpayer with the public money it grants them each year and said DCMS lacks the necessary insight into museums and galleries’ financial situations to give it sufficient early warning of potential financial failures. It has asked DCMS to set out the circumstances in which it would allow the financial failure of a museum or gallery.
DCMS has previously confirmed that a strategic indicator tool is in development to consolidate financial and risk metrics, providing a more joined-up approach for both the department and the organisations.
The PAC has recommended DCMS set out clear metrics by which it will assess how successfully museums and galleries are fulfilling their role in achieving priority outcomes, and do so within six months, as well as spelling out the consequences for those that do not.
In April’s PAC oral evidence session, DCMS permanent secretary Susannah Storey said some KPIs could be considered “a bit out of date”, such as website hits, adding that new KPIs such as financial resilience metrics were being considered.
It has also suggested that national museums and galleries are vulnerable both physically and online. It cites the cyber-attack at the British Library and the thefts reported at the British Museum as examples. It said DCMS was unable to provide specific examples of concrete actions taken as a result to better protect systems and collections in the wake of these incidents.
The PAC has asked the DCMS to set out “the concrete actions it and museums and galleries have taken and are taking to address cyber and physical security threats”.
Vacancy rates across boards of trustees were also highlighted. It said in 2024-25, the average time taken to make an appointment was 219 days, more than the 90 day target. DCMS is being asked to report on the steps it has taken to ensure that board appointments “have the right mix of skills required to fulfil their functions effectively and the time taken to make these appointments.”
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, called museums and galleries “a treasured part of the fabric of our nation”, but said they are “being let down by a lack of leadership from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which appears to have taken an almost hands-off approach to the challenges they face.”
Clifton-Brown continued: “The Department must do more to encourage shared learning across organisations and play a more proactive role in driving value for money.”
