Review of the ten Key Recommendations in the First Report of the All-Party Parliamentary Archaeology Group

The Current State of Archaeology in the United Kingdom (2003)

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The first report of the All-Party Parliamentary Archaeology Group entitled The Current State of Archaeology in the United Kingdom was published in January 2003. In the 20 months since then much progress has been made on many of the points raised in the report. The purpose of this Review is to re-examine the ten key issues identified in the original report.

The First Report generated much interest and was generally hailed as a success in opening up the debate for the whole sector, even if all the recommendations were not universally welcomed.

In keeping with APPAG as a Westminster focus group, devolved issues are not specifically included in this Review.

Recommendation 1:

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) should adopt a new high-level objective of defining, protecting and sustaining the historic environment for the benefit of our own and future generations and it should accept the full consequences of this both in its own spending plans and in the business plans of its sponsored bodies and the devolved administrations should be encouraged to do likewise. DCMS should also establish an inter-departmental committee on archaeology, at ministerial level, chaired by the DCMS and including the Office of Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), the Department for Education and Science (DfES) and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and representatives from the devolved administrations, whose remit should be to co-ordinate Government policy on archaeology. This committee should meet at least twice a year and minutes of its discussions should be published. This committee should be serviced by a strengthened team to provide policy advice at the DCMS, at least one of whom should be an expert on archaeology seconded to the Department.

No apparent progress.

The 11th Report of the Select Committee of the ODPM published on 29 July 2004 criticises the infrastructure of public bodies concerned with the environment, and in particular notes that the ODPM and DCMS are not working together closely enough.

Key heritage bodies such as English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery fund would appear to have an uncertain future. The funding to the sector in real terms has been cut dramatically in recent years and the position of Chief Archaeologist within English Heritage has been axed. Furthermore, it is particularly regrettable that since February 2004 there is no one in DCMS with specific archaeological expertise.

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Recommendation 2:

There is a need for a single non-governmental organisation to lobby for archaeology. The Council for British Archaeology (CBA), the Institute of Field Archaeologists (IFA) and the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC) (and possibly other umbrella organisations) should be encouraged to institute a review, under an independent chair, in order to clarify and re-define (or merge) their respective functions. APPAG stands ready to advise on this process.

The case for more coherent lobbying is now well made and APPAG’s pilot lobbying course aimed to enable a number of individuals from a wide-range of bodies across the sector to acquire skills which could be cascaded to others. Umbrella organisations such as Heritage Link and the Historic Environment Forum represent a wide range of heritage interests and lobby for them.

IHBC and IFA, which are professional bodies with strict entry requirements,
have recently agreed on the development of a strategic partnership to enable more
unified working. The CBA has a different remit, its membership is open to all and its range of activities is very broad. Thus amalgamation of all three organisations is not appropriate, although it is encouraging that all three organisations are working together closely through the Historic Environment Forum. When appropriate, the sector is now speaking with one voice.

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Recommendation 3:

There is an urgent need to improve pay and conditions for employment in field archaeology so that they are commensurate with graduate entry level in allied professions such as local authority planning officers, civil engineers and university lecturers. The IFA, working with English Heritage (EH) and the other national heritage agencies and Prospect, should create a structure for training and qualifications related to career development that will set standards for best practice in archaeological work, one in which employers are obliged to support the continuing professional development of staff. Only those contractors that meet these standards should be eligible to bid for developer-funded work. In the longer term, the current fragmented commercial unit system which has resulted from competitive tendering should be replaced with a more stable regional, or more local framework of archaeological organisations.

The Institute of Field Archaeologists (IFA), the Standing Conference of Archaeological Unit Managers (SCAUM) and Prospect are currently discussing a national collective pay bargaining mechanism for archaeological units.

National Occupational Standards are now in place. The Archaeological Training Forum is continuing to take the lead on a number of initiatives to embed skills development within the sector and thereby encourage high standards. The IFA is undertaking a number of relevant projects looking at training, CPD, etc on behalf of the Forum.

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Recommendation 4:

In support of Article 3 of the Valletta Convention, the Government should ensure that a voluntary Code of Conduct is implemented to cover archaeological investigations, with appropriate resources being made available as necessary, and monitored to assess its effectiveness. The Code of Conduct should enable developer-funded evaluations, excavations, watching briefs and other fieldwork to allow volunteers to take part without undermining the position of the professionals.

A 'high level' Statement of Principles for archaeological practice will shortly be issued for consultation, following discussion between the four UK state agencies for archaeology, together with IFA and CBA.

The Review of Heritage Protection (DCMS, July 2004) mentions the need for good practice and skill sharing between English Heritage, Local Authorities and other relevant parties.

The CBA has published a report on Participating in the Past (M Farley, September 2003) to articulate the potential for increased volunteer participation and community-based engagement. This work has been aided by the outreach activity associated with the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

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Recommendation 5:

Sites and Monuments Records (SMRs) should be made statutory with additional funding from central Government to ensure that they meet a minimum standard of content and service delivery. Public accessibility should be improved, and recognition of the community and educational value of SMRs must be included in their development. The national, regional and local SMRs need to be reviewed to streamline the infrastructure. There is a need for increased access to SMRs through a single Internet portal.

The DCMS Benchmarks for Good Practice consultation has been issued and a positive response received. Further work has estimated that at least £8m will be needed to bring all HERs up to the first benchmark. Although the Government’s Review of Heritage Protection (DCMS July 2004) proposes to make the maintenance of HERS a statutory requirement for Local Authorities, and whilst there is recognition that this has a ‘major resource implication’, it is difficult to see how this is to be achieved in a climate of Local Authority resource constraints.

There are developments underway to provide Internet portals through separate initiatives by HEIRNET and English Heritage. However, the efforts of the Higher Education and Research communities and English Heritage need to be brought together to avoid duplication, building on the work of the Archaeology Data Service.

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Recommendation 6:

Urgent consideration should be given to replacing the present system of competitive tendering in developer-funded archaeological investigations by a more stable regional, or more local franchise system, requiring review at regular intervals. Franchises should be offered after consultation with the relevant local and national authorities. The mechanisms of who awards the franchises will need to be discussed taking into account local circumstances. Such a system would also ensure greater public accessibility to the past, and also improved protection of the archaeological resource.

The consultation on the new Planning Policy Statement which covers the PPG 15 and 16 guidance notes is now deferred for 2-3 years until completion of EH pilot projects.

Feedback has demonstrated much scepticism of the value of this approach within the archaeological community, although others have argued that a more detailed study by a competition expert would be beneficial to assess the options.

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Recommendation 7:

The system of class consents permitted by the 1979 Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act, whereby Scheduled Ancient Monuments continue to be damaged by agricultural operations, should be abolished.

In July 2003 English Heritage launched Ripping up History: Archaeology under the Plough. In October 2003, the campaign led by Rescue at Verulamium led to a decision by the land owners to permanently take the site out of ploughing and stop the ongoing damage to the archaeological remains. The Government’s Review of Heritage Protection (DCMS, July 2004) pledged to review the Ancient Monuments (Class Consents) Orders 1994 no later than 2007. In practice, protection of sites currently under the plough will depend on support from DEFRA’s agri-environment schemes.

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Recommendation 8:

The Government should give long-term support to the network of finds liaison officers which is to be established across the whole of England and Wales next year under the Portable Antiquities Scheme, since the current lottery funding will end in April 2006. Such a development needs to be seen in the context of both regional and local museums as well as inputs to SMRs. The Government should also provide resources to provide analogous schemes in Scotland and Northern Ireland, adapted to local conditions.

There have been numerous positive statements about the Portable Antiquities Scheme from DCMS, and there is some expectation that the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council will be funded to continue the Scheme. In addition the Renaissance in the Regions Programme is expected to be funded across England, and this would set the Scheme in the context of a wider programme of improved collections management and educational activity. Nevertheless, we await the announcement of the Spending Review.

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Recommendation 9:

There is an urgent need to boost the teaching of archaeology in schools. Teacher training courses should be made more accessible to those with a single honours degree in archaeology and national curricula should be reviewed to include the historic environment in all relevant courses. Prehistory should be part of all national curricula.

Work is underway to get archaeology into new 14-17 education (through the Tomlinson review) and the CBA has helped to develop the new hybrid history GCSE which will make medieval history and archaeology more widely available. It is deeply disappointing that the only examining board to offer GCSE Archaeology, the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), has announced its intention to drop the subject in 2006. APPAG has supported the Council for British Archaeology (CBA) in its campaign against AQA’s decision.

The CBA has the support of the Teacher Training Agency to ensure an increase in the acceptance of archaeology graduates for teacher training.

The recent Attingham Trust report The Opening Doors: learning in the historic environment (June 2004) on education and the historic environment provides a major opportunity to take forward many of our aims in this area.

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Recommendation 10:

The future of the Renaissance in the Regions project should be reviewed in the light of the Government’s recent disappointing spending settlement. At the same time the role of national and local museums needs to be clarified and regularised. Every local authority should be given a statutory legal duty to provide adequate public museum provision to meet the reasonable needs of those whose residence or place of work is within the area of the authority, or who are undergoing full-time education within that area, and for contributing to the costs of maintaining those services whether provided by the authority or not.

In the Chancellor’s spending review it was announced that Renaissance in the Regions is to be rolled out to the remaining six regions in England. Details are anticipated in the detailed statements from DCMS expected shortly.

There has been no progress on statutory status for local museums.

The postponed review of PPG16 means that developers still do not contribute towards the costs of the long-term storage of archaeological archives in museums.

December 2004

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