Agenda item

Oral questions were received from Mr Richard Gibbons of Warren Avenue, Orpington; these are outlined below, together with the Portfolio Holder’s response.

 

Question 1

 

If Bromley Council is successful in claiming ownership of ‘Old Flo’ later this year, will the Council honour its pledge not to sell the work, and if so where does it propose to display the sculpture for the benefit of the public, as Henry Moore intended? 

 

Portfolio Holder’s Response

 

The Council has no intention to sell ‘Old Flo’, subject to the High Court ruling; it is our intention to ensure that ‘Old Flo’ continues to be enjoyed by the public. Subject to the ruling we will be discussing options for the siting of ‘Old Flo’ with the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (its current location), the Museum of London and other London Councils.

 

Supplementary Question

 

'Old Flo' was originally sited in East London and regarded as part of the area’s heritage.  If the Council was successful in claiming ownership of  'Old Flo', would the sculpture be returned at any point to East London?

 

Portfolio Holder's Response

 

Yes, we would hope to exhibit 'Old Flo' in London and Bromley from time-to-time.

 

Question 2

 

For the avoidance of doubt, please confirm which of Bromley’s “museum collections” - archaeology, fine and decorative art, social history, and Lubbock - as currently described on the Council’s website are included within the term “local history exhibitions” referred to in item 10.3 on page 21 of R&R Portfolio Plan 2015/16?

 

Portfolio Holder’s Response

 

The Bromley Revisited exhibition will tell the story of Bromley’s past through the theme of innovation and creativity. The exhibition will display the most interesting and important objects in the collection, with the exception of the John Lubbock artefacts which will have their own dedicated space, thus incorporating all those areas referenced, archaeology, fine and decorative art, social history and Lubbock.

 

Supplementary Question

 

Given ongoing discussions concerning the merits of the Lubbock collection to the Borough, could reference be given to the collection in the Bromley Revisited exhibition?

 

Portfolio Holder's Response

 

There is no issue with the relevance of the Lubbock collection and as part of the Borough's heritage, it is my intention that it be displayed.

 

Question 3

 

What are the per annum running costs for the Museum Store in Orpington Priory Gardens - heat, light, power, rates, security, maintenance, etc. - for the past three years (2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15); and what is being planned and considered for the store going forward?

 

Portfolio Holder’s Response

 

It has not been possible, within the timeframe of the question to determine the running costs of the Museum Store; however, I can confirm again what has been said on a number of occasions that the Museum Store will be remaining in its current location housing the collections. As such, the Council will continue to meet the costs of managing and maintaining the store.

 

Supplementary Question

 

Are store costs included in the new museum budget going forward?

 

Portfolio Holder's Response

 

Yes, however they are currently included as part of the complete museum budget.  We will write to you when the individual cost has been calculated. 

 

 

The following written question was received from Mr Martin Curry of Highlands Road, Orpington, relating to the provision of software to access the worldwide web at Orpington Library:-

 

Question

 

‘The public library service provides access to the resources of the world wide web using PCs and also WiFi.

 

At  Orpington Library, access via the bookable PCs uses Internet Explorer 9 operating with Windows 7.

 

When searching the internet for web sites, such as NASA.gov, the Orpington PCs do not provide access to the selected site, but display the message shown below:-

 

 

It can be seen from this, that the Library service has not downloaded the free upgrade to Internet Explorer 11 that is required in order to access the resources of that site.

 

The current version of Internet Explorer 11 has been available for free download to PCs running Windows 7, since November 2013, and yet the PCs at Orpington have not been kept up to date.

 

At the Central Library in Bromley, the additional web browser Google Chrome has been installed on all of the public PCs in order to allow access to web sites that do not support IE9.

 

Will the Portfolio Holder take action to ensure that the free downloads of Internet Explorer 11 are installed on the PCs at the Orpington Library in order that residents of Orpington are not discriminated against by having access to the world wide web restricted in comparison with those in central Bromley?

 

I am told that Capita will charge the Library Service for carrying out this basic maintenance function, and if this is indeed true, I further ask that in future contract negotiations, will the Council's officers ensure that basic maintenance designed to ensure the continued operation of IT systems, including the downloading of program upgrades, is included in the contract specification?’

 

Portfolio Holder’s Response

 

The Internet Explorer upgrade itself is indeed free.  However, the PC’s are of an older build developed by a previous contractor which are not centrally managed and therefore do not allow upgrades to be remotely downloaded.  It is an involved process requiring individual policy changes and updates to the installed software to be installed on each PC manually.  This work is chargeable as it is not part of the contract.  

 

To fully address all the current problems these PCs need to be replaced with the new public internet access machines and network piloted at the new Penge Library, in order to give us consistency and ease of management across the estate.  The cost of rolling this out to additional libraries is currently being determined with a view to obtaining the necessary funding.  The new solution has been designed to be centrally controlled allowing us to upgrade software quickly with minimal cost to the Council.

 

As this may take some time, a low-cost interim project is underway to ensure that at least one of the current PCs at each library has the Google Chrome web browser installed (the current machines cannot support any version of IE higher than version 8).  This has been proved at Central and Beckenham Libraries to deal with most issues regarding access to websites.  This should ensure that users of any library have the same access.