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December 2003

MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES OF NORTHERN IRELAND
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes of a meeting of the Board of Trustees held on Friday 19 December 2003 at 1100 hrs in the Evans Room at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra, Holywood.
Present: 
  Mrs M Elliott (Chairman)
  Sir K Bloomfield
  Mr T Shaw
  Mr H Bicker
  Mr S Neeson
  Miss L Beers
  Dr A Walker
  Dame G Keegan
  Mr D Harvey
  Ms W Osborne    

In attendance: 
  Mr T Cooke (Chief Executive)
  Mrs K O'Dowd (Director of Finance)
  Mr M McKee (Director of Operations)
  Mr J Gilmour (Director of Development)
  Mrs Heather Henning (Committee Secretary) 

1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies were received from Professor E McLaughlin, Mr M Adair, Mr W Montgomery and Ms P Flanagan.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 31 October 2003
The minutes of the meeting held on 31October 2003, previously circulated to Board members, were agreed as a true record of the meeting.  They were subsequently adopted by the Board and signed by the Chairman.

3. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 31 October 2003
Re:source Registration
The Director of Operations advised the Board that the revision of MAGNI's Acquisition and Disposals policies was ongoing.  As each element of the document was revised it was being forwarded to Re:source, in draft form, for their approval with the intention that the full suite of documents will be presented to the Board of Trustees for its approval at the February Board meeting, with the knowledge that the policies had already been approved by Re:source.

Risk Management
The Chairman invited the Director of Finance to update the Board of Trustees on any risk management issues that had arisen following the previous Board meeting.  Mrs O'Dowd reported that representatives from the various government departments and public bodies had recently been invited to a risk management seminar by Deloitte and Touche.  The aim of the seminar was to assess how the various bodies were coping with the implementation of the risk management process within their organisation.  The Director of Finance reported that the implementation process was progressing well within MAGNI and this had been confirmed by the internal auditors, KPMG.  The Director of Finance said that in line with best practice, the Risk Register would be revisited and was hopeful that this task would be undertaken in within the next few months.

4. TRUSTEES' COMMITTEES
4.1 Audit Committee

4.1.1 Approval of minutes of Audit Committee meeting held on 31 October 2003
The Board of Trustees approved the minutes of the Audit Committee meeting held on 31 October 2003.
 
4.2 Staffing Committee

4.2.1 Approval of minutes of the Staffing Committee meeting held on 18 November 2003
The Director of Operations said that Professor McLaughlin, Chairman of the Staffing Committee had asked for the minutes of the Staffing Committee meeting held on 18 November 2003 to be tabled at the Board meeting on the understanding that they were unapproved by herself or the Staffing Committee.  Following a brief discussion of various issues contained within the minutes it was agreed that approval of the minutes be deferred until the next meeting.

4.3 Marketing, Development and Fund-raising Committee

4.3.1 Approval of minutes of Marketing, Development and Fund-raising Committee meeting held on 11 November 2003
The Director of Development advised the Board of Trustees that the results of the UFTM exit survey, UFTM Omnibus Survey and MAGNI Omnibus Survey were currently being analysed and evaluated by Millward Brown Ulster and that their findings and recommendations would be presented to the Marketing, Development and Fund-raising Committee at their January meeting.  The Director of Development said that an exit survey would be undertaken at the Ulster Museum over the next few months followed by a similar exercise at the Ulster American Folk Park in the spring/summer of 2004. The resulting information will be cross-correlated to provide important benchmarking information for MAGNI's business and marketing planning strategy together with the development of a MAGNI wide strategic marketing research programme.

Mr Neeson reported that 2005 had been deemed to be the Year of the Sea and that a number of events were planned throughout the United Kingdom.  An information and promotional meeting would be held in Northern Ireland in early March 2004 and the Chairman suggested Mr Neeson meet with the Chief Executive to discuss how MAGNI might be involved in events planned for Northern Ireland.

4.4 General Purposes and Finance Committee

4.4.1 Verbal report of General Purposes and Finance Committee meeting held on 28 November 2003
The Chairman reported that the Director of Operations had advised Committee members that he was hopeful that MAGNI would receive £52K from PEACE II towards the second phase of the Flight Experience exhibition at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.  This was in addition to £231K already received from the ReDiscover Fund and £90K from Shorts Bombardier.  A project manager had been appointed to manage the refurbishment in conjunction with a project team and project board.

The Director of Finance also clarified three queries that had arisen at the Audit Committee meeting on 31 October 2003.  The initial query related to the clarification of MAGNI's relationship with W5 and an explanatory note had been agreed with the Northern Ireland Audit Office and included within the foreword to the Annual Report and Accounts.  The second query related to the salary disclosure note within the MAGNI Financial Statements for 2001/2002.  In compliance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act (1998), the Director of Finance had sought the prior consent of those individuals concerned in respect of salary disclosure.  In the instances where this consent was withheld, the necessary confirmation of the withheld consent was obtained in writing from the individuals concerned.  The third and final query related to annual expenditure on staff uniforms. The Director of finance provided further analysis of this expenditure and confirmed that in each of the three years in question, one of the sites had had a uniform replacement year.

5. Whowhatwherewhenwhy (W5)

5.1 Minutes of W5 Board meeting held on 21 October 2003
The Board of Trustees noted the minutes of the W5 Board meeting held on 21 October 2003.

5.2 Minutes of W5 Board meeting held on 21 November 2003
The Board of Trustees noted the minutes of the W5 Board meeting held on 21 November 2003.

5.3 Verbal report of W5 Board meeting held on 19 December 2003
Mr Harvey, Chairman W5, reported that visitor numbers for November were encouraging.  Corporate and outreach activities during November were also good.  As in previous years, December was proving to be quiet, however visitor numbers were expected to take an upturn during the Christmas holiday period.  The remainder of the Chairman's report of the W5 Board meeting was minuted under "Reserved Business" as it was deemed to contain commercially sensitive information.

6. BUSINESS OF CHAIRMAN

Local Assembly Elections
On behalf of the Board of Trustees, the Chairman congratulated Mr Neeson on his reappointment as an MLA to the NI Assembly.

Capita Review
This item was discussed under "Reserved Business" as the review, commissioned by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, had yet to be finalised.

7. BUSINESS OF EXECUTIVE

NIPSA Action
The Director of Operations explained that the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA) were in dispute over the pay award for the year 2003.

The Director of Operations explained in detail the NICS pay offer and the impact of the current industrial action on each of the four MAGNI sites. Trustees noted that the management side of the NICS were in the process of implementing the pay offer without trade union agreement.

Executive Summary 
The Chief Executive reported that from January to November 2003, MAGNI had attracted 717,832 visitors to its sites.  This indicated that performance in terms of visitor numbers during the calendar year was going to be strong.  Events of note were the launch of the Hector McDonnell exhibition at the Ulster Museum in association with the 2004 Baird Group calendar and Conflict: the Irish at War an exhibition that explored aspects of conflict in Ireland from archaeological times to the present. The Chief Executive advised the meeting that the Ulster Museum would also be staging the Dinobirds exhibition from the Natural History Museum in London in January 2004.  Hallowe'en celebrations at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and Ulster American Folk Park proved popular and over the festive season a series of events were being promoted across the sites, entitled Days of Christmas Past, as part of a broader marketing campaign.  The Chief Executive advised Board members that the Ulster Museum had received good publicity in a recent article of Quarterly, the National Art Collections Fund magazine.  Copies of the article were circulated to Board members.  MAGNI had also undertaken some additional publicity for the Ulster American Folk Park following the closure of the Ulster History Park. 

Development Issues
As recommended at the previous Board meeting, the Chief Executive and Director of Development had met with DCAL and other interested parties to discuss a number of development issues in relation to MAGNI.  These discussions were reported under "Reserved Business" as the discussions were considered to contain commercially sensitive information.

Recruitment of Human Resource Director
The Chief Executive advised the meeting that the revised job description, person specification and proposed revised grading had been forwarded to DCAL for approval and he was hopeful that they would respond early in the New Year.

Update on Financial Position
The Director of Finance reported that MAGNI had received an additional £300K from DCAL, primarily to fund the in-year deficit.  Included within this figure however was £25K for the installation of a new telephone system at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and £15K to purchase an awning for the schooner, Result, currently exposed to the elements at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.  The Director of Finance explained how the additional funding had been incorporated into the existing budget.

7.2 Approval of Loans
The Chairman sought the approval of the Board of Trustees for a number of loans to and from the Ulster Museum.  The Board of Trustees formally approved the loans (archive copy attached to minutes).

7.3 Disposal from the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum
The Chairman sought the approval of the Board of Trustees for the disposal of two McAdam motorcycle trophies from the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum collection under Disposal Principle 4.3 and Category 3 of the MAGNI Disposal Policy.  The Board of Trustees formally approved the disposal from the collection (archive copy attached to minutes).
 
8.   ANY OTHER BUSINESS
There was no other business raised at the meeting.

9.   DATE, TIME AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING
The date of the next meeting was set for Friday, 27 February 2004 at 1000 hrs in the Kennedy Room at Cultra Manor at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

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