I would add to Patrick Boylan's comments that the amount of money on
offer by DCMS to Museums as a substitute for charging does not appear to
be sufficient.  In Britain charging not only provides direct income,
(This may not be much more than can be obtained by "voluntary" donations
at the door.)  More importantly, charging allows the Museum to reclaim
VAT, (Value Added Tax).  This benefit often outweighs the direct income
gain from admissions and can be particularly significant where the
musuem is engaged in any major capital project, eg Lottery supported.
It appears that the offer by the DCMS does not include compensation for
this VAT reclaim benefit.  Unless it does there is the possibility of
one Ministry giving money which is taken back by the Treasury, plus some
more.  The Museum may well lose funds in the process.

Thus, any reluctance of museums to accept the Governments offer may have
more to do with accountancy than with philosophy.

Gift horses must be carefully examined.

--
Julian Ravest
Museum Consultant

Everyone's actions are rational
in the world as they see it.