The IHBC has welcomed the consultations on a new overarching Historic Environment (HE) Strategy developed by Historic Scotland (HS), alongside an innovative plan for a new charitable public body to carry out the work of a merged HS-RCAHMS, but urges more credible engagement by consultees in advance of the closing date of 31 July.
The IHBC has highlighted the following areas for initial exploration:
· The benefits of an impact assessment focussed on existing heritage & NGO operations
· If, and how, the evolving HE Strategy can shape merger outcomes in the short term
· How consultees & stakeholders might be urged to engage credibly and openly with the diverse options, opportunities & challenges raised by the consultations, including on the functions of the new body.
The new historic environment strategy underpins Scottish Ministers’ proposals to merge Historic Scotland and The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) as they recommend the establishment of a new Executive Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB). Provisions will be made to allow the new body to apply to the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator (OSCR) to become a registered charity.
The new body is intended to deliver on a core ‘placemaking’ agenda through the following headline outcomes:
· A national cultural institution relating to the historic environment
· Celebration of Scotland’s heritage
· A highly motivated and respected organisation, providing informed and enabling leadership
· Building knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the historic environment
· Organisational and financial resilience and sustainability of functions.
IHBC Director Seán O’Reilly said: ‘We do want to congratulate Historic Scotland on the consultation that underpinned the Historic Environment Strategy, and the high-level business plan exploring merger and charitable status, the Scottish Ministers’ response to huge funding challenges for the merging bodies. We also welcome the ambitious focus on developing a viable remit for the new body within a placemaking agenda, an area of particular interest to our members and one that we want to rise even higher on the agenda of the Scottish Ministers.’
‘The IHBC will need to digest the new material in the consultation, of course, as there are huge issues at stake for everyone. However the first challenge seems to be to secure credible engagement with such high-level plans by both a historic environment sector mired in its own economic problems and by large parts of a wider built environment sector that still sees the heritage ‘anorak’ rather than the skilled conservation specialist.’
‘For the IHBC, this consultation is not simply about the benefits of the proposals to the merging bodies, as these have been highlighted in the exemplary and honest outline business case now released under the consultation. Nor is it only about a protectionist plan to guard all the functions these bodies currently undertake, as even with savings that would not respond to the opportunities the papers highlight or the known pressures on funding and survival.’
‘In all this, the Historic Environment Strategy is especially critical, as it should help underpin the way the sector can shape the future and functions of the new body, and maybe even ‘regulate the regulator’. But we must also consider how the Strategy might deliver on that critical role if it is evolving alongside the new legislation, not ahead of it? These are fundamental matters for the current consultation.’
‘Usefully, the Cabinet Secretary has asked us for our honest advice and opinions. So it will not help anyone if we hide behind anodyne platitudes about partnerships and principles when so many essential players face a rapidly reducing market. Nor will we achieve success if we sideline critical concerns as items for future debate. All parties must engage properly in these proposals, for if we don’t get it right, with this open call for responses by government, we have only ourselves to blame.’
‘Of course it is very easy for heritage bodies to miss the very real issues this consultation raises, given the current pressures. But to secure the future of two of the sector’s biggest players, each faced with the most challenging economic environment, Scottish Ministers propose radical and imminent changes. That must make the plans an immediate priority for anyone interested in the future of Scotland’s places.’
‘In that spirit, among the IHBC’s concerns is the evident shortfall in our understanding of the impact that the merged body might have on the economic and operational viability of NGOs operating in what is already a hard-pressed heritage market. As we see it, the beneficiaries of the current proposals might be professional bodies such as the IHBC – who, in all honesty, often benefit from the more precarious employment infrastructure proposed under the new arrangements, outside the civil service proper – and of course the merging bodies themselves.’
‘At the same time, we want to make sure that placemaking as a whole benefits from these plans, not just the interested parties, as that is what is being asked of us. So the IHBC does sincerely hope that the heritage and built environment sectors will now start a substantial and credible evaluation of what these proposals may mean for all parties, as well as for Scotland’s placemaking, and respond accordingly.’
For background to and details on the consultation see: LINK and: LINK
