Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by both authorities, no interests were declared.

 

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the West Glamorgan Archives Committee meeting held on 18 December 2015.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the West Glamorgan Archives Committee Meeting held on 18 December 2015 be approved as a correct record subject to Minute No.15 being amended to read as follows:

 

 

Archive Service Budget 2016/17.

 

Members from Neath Port Talbot CBC supported by other Members of the Committee expressed their extreme disappointment and anger regarding the lack of consultation of the proposed budget cut to the service in Neath.

 

K Collis presented the report of the Director of Place which gave details of the Joint Archive Service Revenue Budget for 2016/2017 and the reserves held by the Joint Archive Service, which was submitted for information only. The detailed original budget was shown in Appendix A.

 

He detailed the £36,000 reduction from the Archives budget and outlined the impact on the staffing and service particularly at Neath. The detailed revised budget was shown in Appendix B. Further discussions with Neath Antiquarian Society will be needed to establish how the service will operate once the staff reductions were in place.

 

The table in the report showed the estimated position of the Archive Reserves as at 31 March 2016.

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

 

The County Archivist presented a report which outlined the work of the Archive Service during the period December – February 2016. 

 

Archive Service Budget

The County Archivist gave a Power Point presentation to Committee outlining the major issues affecting the service, particularly areas around the budget, savings, current and future provision and location of the service.

 

Members of the Committee discussed the following areas during the presentation:-

 

·       Future Challenges for the service.

·       Statutory Provision and requirements.

·       Non-Statutory Provision.

·       Wider Community Links.

·       Impact of Sustainable Swansea Budget Review.

·       Reduction/Loss of Full Time Posts and Implications for Staff..

·       Removal of the Conservation Budget.

·       Future Service Provision at Neath.

·       Joint Agreement Implications.

·       Future Budget Cuts.

·       Wider Context of Austerity Measures on Services across the United Kingdom.

·       Future Location of the Archive Service in Swansea and implications of the sale of the Civic Centre.

·       Implications for the Archives Accreditation process.

 

The Committee requested that if possible officers from HR in Neath Port Talbot be involved in the interview process on an advisory basis for the staff affected.

 

Commissioning

The County Archivist that Swansea had issued a Prior Information Notice(PIN) in a market testing exercise regarding possible alternative future service provision. Members requested that a separate report on this issue be included in the papers for the June meeting.

 

West Wales Regional Archives Partnership

The County Archivist reported that discussions are still progressing between the partners on a shared new-build facility. A provisional report will be produced at the end of March by an external consultant which is to be further discussed by the Committee at the June meeting.

 

Ancestry Website

The County Archivist reported that a contract with Ancestry had been signed and work was ongoing to make a number of the archive collections available on line. The Service will receive royalties based on views and downloading of the material by the public.

 

Use of the Service

The County Archivist reported on the use of the Service for the quarter.

 

Service Outreach

The County Archivist reported on the various areas of work that staff have been involved with during the quarter.

 

He detailed that the Service had won an all-Wales Marketing Exercise award in the Archives category for its CD resource ‘Swansea in 1852’.

 

Professional Meetings and Partnership Working

 

The County Archivist referred to the professional meetings and training

attended by staff during the last quarter.

 

Accession of Archives

 

The County Archivist detailed the various accessions received by the Service.