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“The work of the V&A contributes to the Government’s aim of extending access to the arts. The museum is clearly working hard to broaden access to its collections and to make the Museum a more visitor-friendly place.

“However, the sharp fall in visitor numbers in 1999-2000 shows that more needs to be done. The V&A needs to press ahead with the work in hand to improve public understanding of the nature of its collections and to improve the way they are presented. The V&A also needs to improve communication about the activities it offers. There are good things going on at the V&A but not enough people know about them”.

“Building and opening the Millennium Dome on the very short timescale required was a tremendous achievement. But the New Millennium Experience Company has experienced severe financial difficulties this year and has required considerable additional lottery funding.

“The main cause of these difficulties is the failure to achieve the visitor numbers and income required. The targets were highly ambitious and inherently risky leading to a significant degree of financial exposure on the project. In addition, the task of managing the project has been complicated by the complex organisational arrangements put in place from the outset, and by the failure to establish sufficiently robust financial management.”

“The Gaming Board has taken steps in recent years to improve the way it regulates the gaming industry but could achieve still more with a lighter regulatory touch. Better risk assessment, together with more use of the regulatory work already being done by the major operators, would enable the Board to reduce its routine inspections. This would benefit both the industry and taxpayers. Another area it must address is the failure to fully recover the costs of regulating the industry, the current shortfall being around £1.3 million over a five year period.”

“Individuals in receipt of taxpayers’ money have a public responsibility to honour any conditions attached. English Heritage need to do more to monitor compliance. Our work shows that while the vast majority of grant recipients comply with access requirements, a small number do not”.

“I am pleased that the great majority of projects are on course to make a real difference to the lives of the disadvantaged. However, in a minority of cases use of lottery money may not result in all of the benefits intended. The Charities Board have already taken action to ensure that society gets better value from lottery funds, but there is still some scope for further improvement.”

Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today on the way in which the Arts Council of England manage the risks during the construction phase of major capital projects funded by the National Lottery. He found that the Arts Council have, from the outset, adopted a pro-active approach to monitoring … Read more