Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums Steering Group: FOI release

Information requested

1. To date:

• The total money spent on the creation and maintenance of the position of chair of the Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums Steering Group
• The total money given to the person holding the position of chair for their work in this role
• The total cash sum for expenses incurred by the holder of this role, broken down by reasons for expense if possible

2. To date:

• The total money spent on the creation and maintenance of the Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s
• Museums Steering Group as a whole
• The total amount for all expenses for this group overall, broken down by reasons for expense if possible

3. To date:

• The total spend on the Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums Steering Group overall, from inception, research, through to the present

Response

Regarding point 1, there were no specific costs associated with the Chair of the Empire, Slavery & Scotland’s Museums (ESSM) Steering Group. The Chair did not request to be remunerated, and no expenses have been claimed by the Chair. Information on expenses in the Terms of Reference for the ESSM Steering Group is available on the following webpage: essm-steering-group-tor.pdf (museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk)

Regarding points 2 and 3, the Scottish Government has provided £159,000 in total for the ESSM project. A breakdown of the expenditure spent is shown in the table below. As the timeline for the project was extended by an additional six months, further funding was provided to account for staffing, as well as the inclusion of external evaluation for this work. The formal external evaluation for the project is expected to be published in September 2022. As Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) may hold further information, I would advise you to contact MGS directly at admin@museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk.

 

Cost Heading	Details	Cost over project duration (£)
Project Management costs	This includes costs associated with the project manager for the project (salary, national insurance and pension contributions, travel/subsistence, equipment, and recruitment costs over a 20-month period from the project’s inception in December 2020), as well as administrative and event costs for MGS	76,256
Steering Group expenses and costs	Including loss of earnings, travel, and subsistence	2,569
Advisory Panel expenses and costs	Including loss of earnings, travel, and subsistence	3,650
Training for staff	Including in social media management, racial literacy, etc.	6,500
Communications costs	For design, print, photography, etc.	4,325
Consultation costs	Contracts for the development and analysis of public survey and the development and analysis of focus group research with priority communities; this also includes reimbursement of loss of earnings for participants in focus groups. Over 5000 individuals contributed their views through this work.	56,100
Evaluation	External contract evaluating the approaches taken by the project	9,600
TOTAL		£159,000

About FOI

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