A review undertaken by The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) has presented a number of recommendations in an attempt to address the organisation’s “substantial and growing financial deficit.”
The review, which was commissioned by the trustees and carried out by management consultants Deloitte (MCS) Ltd, was based on the ‘Best Value’ model used by local authorities attempting to assess the efficiency of their services. NGS includes the National Photography Collection, the National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, which last month won the Gulbenkian prize. The review found evidence of significant achievements in recent years, particularly in the field of education and corporate management. However, there remains an urgent need for the galleries to address their financial situation and a number of measures are being considered, including efficiency savings and a review of staffing levels. The review also highlighted a need for the organisation to improve management structures and to clarify relationships between the individual galleries, and noted that no plan of succession is in place for the current Director General, Sir Timothy Clifford, whose term of office ends in eighteen months. NGS is now revising its business plan to present the case for an increase in grant-in-aid funding, to the Scottish Executive: current funding from the Scottish Executive stands at £10.3m for 2004/2005. NGS issued a statement saying “The Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland have, broadly, welcomed the report… A comprehensive Implementation Plan has been created by the Galleries’ Senior Management Team to address all of the issues raised within the Report. This Implementation Plan is already in action.”