1.  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  1.1  In submitting this paper I hope that this inquiry will trigger a longer dialogue.

  1.2  Thinktank is seeking national recognition and governmental support in order to develop what has already become a highly successful and vibrant project. However, in Scotland, where this debate has proceeded a great deal further than south of the border, independent economic consultants examined the Scottish centres in great detail and over a period of time before any funding package was determined. We conclude that if a science centre is to operate efficiently and to plan for future development there is a need for both revenue and capital funding based on the demonstrable value and benefit of centres like ours.

  1.3  Like many other science centres, Thinktank has grown, matured and now delivers a service to the nation second to none. It has attracted to Birmingham visitors from overseas and schools from as far afield as Norwich and Holyhead. In short, we offer an unparalleled breadth of learning opportunities for all.

  1.4  The unique characteristics of our approach exist in that we are hands on, investigative—leading to longer memory retention—and we provide a valuable role in keeping children switched onto science when take up of this subject area is declining and industry is crying out for science graduates. We complement and enhance the national curriculum. We widen access, remove cultural barriers and engage people in dialogue to promote involvement and to encourage greater literacy particularly in controversial, fast-moving science issues. Every year we help scientists to communicate the results of their research to the public.

  1.5  We work in partnership to provide end users with what they want. We measure impact and carry out evaluation in many different ways and we constantly measure what we do.

  1.6  Whilst not without challenges, Thinktank's short history is one of outstanding success and achievement. This hybrid of a major science museum within the new setting of a first rate Millennium project has been one of the most successful to date of the nation's new breed of science centres. Key performance indicators for our first five-year period are set out below in Section 3.

  1.7  However, despite steadily growing visitor numbers—combined visitors to Thinktank and its companion IMAX operation in 2006-07 were nearly 280,000—the financial reality of the day to day operation of Thinktank has become increasingly difficult.

  1.8  Overall the Millennium Point project, now fully let and operating independently, has been an outstanding success. The timing of this Select Committee process has come into critical focus in the context of Thinktank Trust's bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (see below, Item 6.2)—a unique opportunity for the Trust to secure substantial external funding to create a more sustainable future while adding substantial additional value to the City's own scheme for a new City Park and the development of Birmingham's Eastside.

  1.9  The focus of the Thinktank charity Trustees must always be on securing the solvency of the Trust in the future. This has been the position since Thinktank opened its doors and as such has dominated the business planning of the trust itself and of its year to year activities. The opportunity to build on the original Millennial investment has never yet been fully capitalized upon. This Commons Select Committee gives us the opportunity to put the case for an altogether better underpinning and one that might follow through on the Government's Millennium investment.

2.  SCIENCE EDUCATION; OUTPUTS, BENEFITS AND PERFORMANCE IN THE WIDER CONTEXT

  2.1  True to the original vision for Millennium Point and Thinktank to inspire young people in science and technology and to contribute to the skill base of the West Midlands region and economy, Thinktank's state of the art science learning facilities demonstrably:

—  Inspire young people to choose science subjects at school and consider science careers—directly supporting the regional economic focus on science and technology.

—  Support science learning at all stages of the national curriculum to raise attainment in science.

—  Provide a high quality community resource, hosting a range of courses and events, activities and employment for local people.

—  Tackle social exclusion through targeted projects which offer inspiring new experiences for children and young people from socially and economically deprived wards, making a real contribution to improving life chances.

—  Engage a broad range of public audiences in science issues (eg climate change), acting as a central public awareness tool.

  2.2  In other words, investment in Thinktank to date has resulted in a number of key benefits which directly support the City Council's Performance Plan.

  2.3  The partnerships that Thinktank has developed over the past five years make it the lynch-pin of the Government's Science Cities initiative—leading the working group tasked with engaging the public in science. We are a very active part of ecsite uk—the body charged with combining the efforts, activities and strategies pf the nations Science Centres. SITA are looking to us to provide the next generation of exhibits on protecting the environment and by acting together with several other science centres we have participated in the Rediscover scheme and operate as part of the Planetarium consortium.

3.  THINKTANK'S VISITORS AND USERS

  3.1  In 2006-07 over 280,000 people visited Thinktank and IMAX, with almost 70,000 school children participating in the Thinktank education programme. 190,000 visitors came to Thinktank with an additional 38,000 season-ticket holders and young children. 56,000 visits were made to the Planetarium and the website visits reached almost 185,000 in the period April to December. In total over 500,000 people engaged with Thinktank 2006-07.

  3.2  This makes Thinktank:

—  The most popular school museum visit in Birmingham.

—  One of the most successful regional learning attractions, competing very favourably with well established attractions such as the Black Country Living Museum, open 25 years and attracting 220,000 visitors per year and around 80,000 schools.

  3.3  Across the country visitor numbers to museums and galleries showed a decrease of 3% in 2005, conversely visits to outdoor attractions increased with the trend being expected to be repeated in 2006. Although Thinktank has been adversely affected by the fine weather of recent years it has still managed to buck the trend and is one of the few Millennium Science Centres (and one of the few major regional attractions) that after the initial high and dip has shown consistent and steady growth since opening.

  3.4  School visits grew by 6% last year, with an overall growth in visitors from the previous year of 2% despite the hot weather and the football World Cup.

  3.5  In June 2001 The Trust's business plan forecast visitors of 300K by year 3, and an admissions income level of £1.4 million by 2005-06. Despite good visitor numbers, the actual admissions income in 2006-07 was £768K nearly half of the forecast. 28% of our income comes from schools, and yet our Learning and Programmes team is reducing due to current resource levels. The education market demand is currently greater than The Trust's capacity to deliver.

  3.6  The museum attracts large numbers of Birmingham residents, with 34% of visitors in 2006 coming from the city of Birmingham and 17% from the wider west midlands area. Over 70% of Birmingham schools have participated in the museum's education programme since opening.

  3.7  In addition, visitor research to date shows that:

—  Dwell time is much higher than that of comparable institutions, on average people stay for 4 hours, the national average is about 2.5 hours.

—  Visitor satisfaction is very high, 93% in 2006 rated their visit as excellent/good and 98% of teachers rated the school visit as good or excellent.

—  Extensive evaluation and visitor research underpin all Thinktank development and activity.

—  In 2005 Thinktank was awarded best regional attraction and in 2006 it achieved the status of Quality Assured Visitor Attraction.

4.  MUSEUM AND HERITAGE BENEFITS

  4.1  The City Council's Science and Industry Collection has `Designated' status, meaning it is of national importance. Thinktank provides the only public venue for this collection, the rest being in store at the Museums Collections Centre in Dolman Street.

  4.2  The development of Thinktank secured significant external funding (including money form the Heritage Lottery Fund £750k) to conserve, protect and catalogue this collection, key objects of which were previously at risk due to conditions at the old science museum. In other words, Thinktank ensures that the City Council is able to fulfil its responsibilities in relation to this historic collection. Thinktank was short-listed (1 of 13 nationally) for the prestigious Museum of the Year Award in 2004.

  4.3  Thinktank continues to secure external funding to develop and improve understanding of and access to the collection. Almost £250k has been invested in research and improved interpretation of the collection since 2004. Thinktank achieved Museum Accredited status in 2006, more onerous than the previous Registration scheme and the only industry benchmark for museums.

  4.4  All Thinktank's visitor and user information is supplied to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Council on a monthly basis and included in the City's Best Value statistics on museums.

  4.5  The close connections with four of the region's universities, two of which are "members" of the organisations trusts, has yielded both research and learning benefits.

5.  ECONOMIC REGENERATION AND THE CHANGING PERCEPTION OF EASTSIDE

  5.1  In the context of Birmingham's Eastside economic and social regeneration, Thinktank has generated a real and substantial market in a relatively short period of time against many odds. It was effectively an island site in a sea of demolition and construction during the first 3 years of operation in a part of the city outside the public's perception. The presence of Thinktank as a family visitor destination has contributed profoundly to the changing perception of Eastside as part of the City of Birmingham, as an investment opportunity, as a place to reside and to changing land values. Together with the commitment now to City Park and other projects, the City's vision for Eastside will be of enormous and lasting public benefit. It is crucial to ensure the interests of the family market continue to be properly served through an integrated approach to specific projects in the area.

6.  RENEWAL AND DEVELOPMENT: STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN £14 MILLION

  6.1  The Council has previously recognised the importance of the renewals process to the development, growth and sustainability of the museum, and is referred to in the Grant Agreement as a relevant issue with regard to setting levels of grant, although it was not able to commit any specific funds in the original funding agreement. Thinktank has nevertheless successfully raised some £4.5 million since opening to invest in new galleries and facilities to attract repeat and new visitors and to ensure that it remains a cutting edge science learning facility. It is essential that the museum continues this process of investment and renewal to continue to grow its visitor base, sustainability, capacity and strategic position as the main science museum/education provider for schools and families in central England.

  6.2  Underpinned by strategic business development issues and the overriding need to continue to strengthen and develop Thinktank as a sustainable entity, The Trust will submit a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund in June (2007), a bid crafted to date with encouragement from HLF, for funding towards a £14 million scheme of investment to create exciting new product, improve visitor facilities and interface with the new Eastside City Park. In summary the scheme will create and deliver:

—  An outdoor science garden: a unique outdoor, highly interactive environment exploring the science and technology principles that underpin Birmingham's unique heritage.

—  Refurbished historic galleries with a new "hands on" science dimension: the redisplay and improved presentation of the City's designated science and industry collections together with a new gallery "Made in Birmingham" looking at the materials, design and innovation in the region's industry past and present.

—  A new Changing Planet Gallery: a new collections rich gallery exploring the natural world with content focused on the changing Earth, biodiversity and the impact of our lifestyle choices, will include a new "Science on a Sphere" exhibit, a first for the UK.

—  A new entrance, café and enlarged shop: a clearly branded, highly visible entrance for all Thinktank visitors located on the ground floor with easy access to the park and new car/coach park. The plans include a larger shop accessible to visitors and non-visitors and additional visitor facilities.

  6.3  Major outputs, benefits and opportunities for Birmingham and the West Midlands.

  6.4  As part of this major redevelopment, Thinktank aims to become the City's main central resource for environmental education, delivering very real benefits in terms of public awareness of climate change through:

—  A city wide schools programme including a free outreach visit for every school to highlight climate change issues and support National Curriculum learning in new and innovative ways.

—  Free family visit vouchers for all participating school children to encourage follow on visits by whole families.

—  Free access to the UK's first "Science Garden" as part of the City Park.

—  A public programme of free events and activities to support family learning about climate change and our role in arresting global warming.

—  A public programme of "Ranger" led activities throughout the park, to interpret the science and heritage of the park.

  6.5  This programme aims to reach up to 185k school children and over 200k family visitors annually.

—  In addition, the museum plans to escalate and expand its programme of community engagement. It targets those who live in the City's most deprived wards, offering the children and families who live in socially and economically deprived areas new and inspiring learning experiences which help widen experience and contribute to improved life chances. Thinktank's access and inclusion service has demonstrated success in attracting and engaging new audiences, who had not previously benefited from the cultural services on offer in the City. Thinktank believes that it has a very real contribution to make in combating social exclusion, by involving people in inspiring and motivating learning programmes, building self esteem, developing new skills and broadening horizons. In this way Thinktank can demonstrate very real benefits in fostering positive and cohesive communities.

  6.6  Thinktank Trust will be submitting a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for up to 70% of the cash costs (£13 million) of the Development Plan, identifying a potential capital funding gap in the order of £3.5 million. The Heritage Lottery Fund have actively encouraged Thinktank's application, recognising both inherent merit and relevant criteria in the scheme and the wider benefits to be delivered in terms of the context of the City Park and wider Birmingham public. Similarly, the bid to Living Landmarks (Big Lottery Fund) recognises the value provided by Thinktank's family market profile and added value of access and environmental education to be provided by linking the projects.

  6.7  However, Trustees are under no illusions about the intensely competitive pre-Olympic environment in which the Heritage Lottery Fund is operating and it is clear that the further BCC can go towards underwriting the 25% matched funding requirement, the greater the chances of success, notwithstanding Thinktank's commitment to raise the funds from external sources. Thinktank has an excellent track record and will use its best endeavours to raise the capital requirement. At the very least, the time required to raise third-party funding is likely to be greater than the period available in which to commit to deliver the project and to ensure the City Park and Thinktank projects continue to develop in tandem. By agreeing to underwrite the project in principle, BCC will hugely influence the impact of the bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

7.  OTHER SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

  7.1  Staff reductions and operational savings 2006-07:

—  During the last six months Thinktank has had to cut all non essential expenditure. There have been a number of staff redundancies and non replacement of leavers. This has resulted in a saving of £120K on the Trusts salaries budget for the year. This level of staff resourcing cannot continue as all areas are very short staffed and this is having an effect on staff morale and motivation. This has led already to the loss of key people. The costs of replacing these staff will be very high, in addition to losing excellent key staff and irreplaceable skills and experience.

—  In addition it now impacts on our capacity to deliver education products and services, thereby not maximising our income and business potential.

  7.2  Cash flow:

—  The Trust's main area of concern at present is cash flow. Due to the operational losses over the past five years, the overall lower than planned visitor levels and earned income, and the increasing base fixed costs, the Trust is constantly short of cash. This means that our level of investment in the Museum and its staff is restricted. Marketing budgets have been cut in half—to less than £150k for Thinktank—and training is restricted to essential health and safety activity. Lack of cash leads to poor decision making, as short term fixes result in long term problems.

  7.3  Investment in Fundraising and Marketing:

—  The fundraising climate has changed significantly over five years to become intensely competitive, with funders increasingly prescriptive and sources more limited. Despite this, the Trust has managed to secure and invest some £4.5m in new product and has some significant funding partners. Funding streams are now much more difficult to secure, and are often only actually funded after the expenditure has taken place, which due to the Trust's cash flow situation makes development increasingly problematic and some sources of funding potentially unavailable.

—  Whilst our research shows that our products are valued and popular—our lack of marketing budget means that we are severely restricted in our ability to communicate with our audiences in the way we would like. Market research has recently shown overwhelmingly positive reaction to the development proposals but more worryingly suggests a low level of awareness.

—  Inherent in the HLF Development Plan is the objective to increase the fundraising capacity of the Trust going forward, capitalising on the development fundraising activity necessary to secure and deliver the project. Thinktank continues to lobby Central Government for revenue funding for science centres. (As now happens in Scotland and Wales). The trust will be submitting evidence to a Government Committee enquiring into the funding of science centres in June 07, but attempts previously have not resulted in any commitment of Central Government funds, despite its clearly stated Science and Technology agenda.

8.  IN CONCLUSION

  8.1  Much has been achieved in the last five years of operation. However, the lack of effective financial underpinning has meant that much of the invention and expertise that might have been applied to an altogether greater social and learning impact has been diverted into the business of organisational survival and financial solvency. Given the demonstrable impact of our project and the nation's need for scientists and an enlightened population, we argue that national recognition and central funding should now be taken seriously by the Government.

June 2007