National Museum Of Science And Industry

EDM number 1005 in 2007-08, proposed by John McDonnell on 21/02/2008.
Categorised under the topics of Cultural heritage, Employment, Pay, Pensions and Science.

That this House is shocked by recent announcements from the management of the National Museum of Science and Industry that it intends to close the pension scheme to all new staff from 1st April 2008 and that all new staff will also be employed by the museum's trading company and will be subject to worse terms and conditions, including less annual leave than staff on standard museum contracts and future pay awards linked to profits; is concerned that a new grading structure which links pay to market rates in retail outlets like Tesco and Disneyland, rather than the culture sector, has not been properly researched; is further concerned that the Director of the Museum has not ruled out charging visitors admission fees in the future and wants the national museum to move away from its status as a non-departmental public body (NDPB) to that of charitable company limited by guarantee; urgently calls for the Secretary of State to convene a meeting with the museum director, recognised trades unions and the permanent secretary to resolve these issues; and further calls on the Government to reaffirm its commitment to the arts and heritage sector by ensuring that grant-in-aid and NDPB status are retained for all such organisations and that a uniform approach is adopted in protecting the terms and conditions of both new and existing employees within the museum sector, including pay and pension scheme arrangements.

This motion has been signed by a total of 33 MPs.