CELG(4) HIS
44
Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee
Inquiry into the Welsh Government’s Historic Environment
Policy
Response from Richard Keen
28th June
2012
I would like to
comment to the current debate on the merging of the functions of
the RCAHMW with other organisations, including Cadw.
I do so from a
background of having spent my life involved with and contributing
to the heritage of Wales including working for the National Museum
of Wales,the National Trust and in the private heritage sector as
well as serving on the HLF Committee for Wales, Ancient
Monuments Board for Wales and the Historic Buildings Advisory
Council (as Chairman until its dissolution).
For the sake of
brevity I wish to make the following points:
- the RCAHMW is one
of the jewels in the crown of Welsh Heritage, it has, in my
opinion, an unassailable and highly laudable record of service and
provision to our heritage
- it is staffed by
individuals of very high quality and commitment
- its output
and publications are of the very highest standard
- the role performed
by its Commissioners is absolutely vital in that they provide
all-important independent scrutiny and advice. This independence
is, I think, essential to maintain the existing high standards of
performance and to ensure that the work and output of the
RCAMMW are not subsumed and diluted in a large
organisation that has multiple roles to perform, and likely to be
less focussed and provide less insight into the valuable work of
recording and presenting the breadth and depth of our heritage
- the publicly
appointed Commissioners, besides providing their acknowledged
academic skills and knowledge for the benefit of Welsh heritage,
also provide independent advice not necessarily conditioned by
political expediency. They are able to offer a wide spectrum of
advice and opinion
- the RCAHMW has a
proven track record of adaptation as is evident in the way that it
has embraced and led the way in technological change
- the RCAHMW is a
specialist body with specialist functions and I perceive the
potential for the diminution or loss of those functions
if incorporated into a large organisation. There is a distinct need
for plurality in the function and presentation of our heritage
- I perceive that
the important research and record keeping roles currently performed
by the RCAHMW being vulnerable to short-term pressures constantly
extant in a multi-functional organisation, especially one with a
strong tourism brief
On a personal note,
I have had the privilege of using the services of the RCAHMW over
many years and drawing upon the knowledge and expertise of its
staff in their particular fields. That knowledge and
expertise has been, and is, seldom matched elsewhere in Wales.
May I make the plea
that this service and independence is not lost in a, perhaps
misplaced, desire for reorganisation and cost saving that has
been proved so often in the past to be quite the reverse.
The RCAHMW has high
national and international status as one of our principal
repositories and storehouses of the the richness and depth of the
human history of our nation. We owe it to future generations to
ensure that it is allowed to continue with this
work unassailed and unencumbered.
Richard Keen