Dear Editor,

On June 28th, an important Cabinet decision will be made to decide if the Museums, Libraries and Archives services will be outsourced.

It was good to see a robust discussion take place in the Scrutiny Committee meeting in April, and at the time of writing this we are waiting to the see the minutes from that meeting, with the included actions to be considered before the Cabinet meeting.

However, we are still worried. As has been seen in the national press, outsourcing does not solve the problem, but simply shifts the responsibility, and pressures.

What concerns UNISON is that the decision to outsource is based on a number of flawed reasons; for example, expectations of the level of revenue that the services will raise through sales. These services do not have the capacity at this time to be solely self funding. The Council is clear it wishes to make savings, and the only way we can see that this can happen is through a continual reduction in the funding of the budget given to an outsourced provider, resulting in staff redundancies, and loss of specialist passionate staff, and ultimately, potential closure of the services.

Sadly, the Council has a history of completely cutting its funding, as we have seen with two other Leisure and Culture providers, Halo and the Courtyard. On March 1st UNISON provided Feedback over the soft market testing, and whilst there was no promise given over replying to the comments, we feel that they are such fundamental ones that they demand a response to ensure there is confidence in the Council and its processes. At the moment it feels that many of our questions are uncomfortable truths that are being ignored. Whilst we understand the pressures on the Council, it is saddening that the only option being considered is outsourcing. There are always other ways.

As we saw with the moving exhibition, ‘The Weeping Window’ there is a passion in Herefordshire for Culture. We have seen the interest and success tourism can generate in the County. Now is the time to see if this Council will change its approach, stop the cuts to staffing, who are woefully under manned, and instead give these services the resourcing and support they deserve, and remain in the public sector.

Hereford UNISON