Museum of London Act 1986

1986 CHAPTER 8

An Act to make provision with respect to the composition and functions of the Board of Governors of the Museum of London and the funding of the Museum.

[26th March 1986]

Be it enactedby the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1 Composition of Board of Governors.

(1) The persons who immediately before 1st April 1986 are members of the Board of Governors of the Museum of London by virtue of appointment made by the Greater London Council under paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section 1 of the [1965 c. 17.] Museum of London Act 1965 shall cease to be members on that date; and as from that date the number of members to be appointed by the time Minister under paragraph (a) of that subsection and by the Corporation of the City of London under paragraph (b) of that subsection shall be increased in each case from six to nine.

(2) Of the three additional members first appointed by the Prime Minister (" Ministerial appointees ") and of the three additional members first appointed by the Corporation of the City of London (" City appointees ") one Ministerial and one City appointee shall be appointed to hold office for the period beginning with 1st April 1986 and ending on the first occasion on which other members of the Board are due to retire after that date, one Ministerial and one City appointee shall be appointed to hold office for the period beginning with 1st April 1986 and ending on the second such occasion and one Ministerial and one City appointee shall be appointed to hold office for the period beginning with 1st April 1986 and ending on the third such occasion.

(3) Section 43(1) and (2) of the [1985 c. 51.] Local Government Act 1985 (which makes provision concerning the membership of the Board of Governors of the Museum and is superseded by this section) shall not have effect

2 Functions of Board of Governors.

(1) For section 3 of the [1965 c. 17.] Museum of London Act 1965 (general powers of the Board of Governors of the Museum) there shall be substituted—

“3 General functions of Board.

(1) So far as practicable and subject to the following provisions of this Act, it shall be the duty of the Board—

(a) to care for, preserve and add to the objects in their collections ;

(b) to secure that those objects are exhibited to the public and made available to persons seeking to inspect them in connection with study or research; and

(c) generally to promote understanding and appreciation of historic and contemporary London and of its society and culture, both by means of their collections and by such other means as they consider appropriate.

(2) The Board may, subject to the provisions of this Act, do all such things as they think necessary or expedient for those purposes and their functions under this Act.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2) above, for the purposes mentioned in subsection (1) above the Board may—

(a) provide archaeological services and undertake archaeological investigations and research in connection with land in London, publish information concerning such investigations and research and promote the provision of such services and the undertaking of such investigations and research and the publishing of such information;

(b) subject to subsection (4) below, acquire or dispose of any land or any estate or interest inland.

(4) The Board shall not acquire or dispose of any land or any estate or interest in land without the consent of the Secretary of State and the Corporation and such consent may be given subject to such conditions as the Secretary of State and the Corporation consider appropriate.

(5) In this section ' London' includes all Greater London and the surrounding region.”

(2) For section 8 of that Act there shall be substituted—

“8 Use of premises occupied or managed by the Board,

(1) The Board may use the premises known as the Museum of London for any educational or cultural purpose whether or not connected with the Board's functions under this Act.

(2) The Board may allow any premises occupied or managed by them to be used by other persons (for payment or otherwise) for purposes not connected with the Board's functions under this Act if the Board are satisfied that to do so would not conflict with those functions.”.

(3) At the end of section 9(1) of that Act (which provides for the appointment of a Director of the Museum and for his functions) there shall be added " and for the administration of any services provided by the Board in the exercise of their functions".

3 Funding of general expenses in respect of Museum.

(1) In section 15(3) of the [1965 c.17.] Museum of London Act 1965 (payment of the expenses of the Corporation of the City of London in respect of the Museum as to one-third out of moneys provided by Parliament and one-third by the Greater London Council)—

(a) for the words " the Secretary of State out of moneys provided by Parliament, and the Greater London Council shall each pay to the Corporation a sum equal to one-third" there shall be substituted the words " the Secretary of State shall pay to the Corporation out of moneys provided by Parliament a sum equal to one-half " ; and

(b) for the words " the Corporation, the Secretary of State and the Greater London Council" there shall be substituted the words " the Corporation and the Secretary of State ".

(2) Section 43(4) of the [1985 c. 51.] Local Government Act 1985 (which makes provision concerning the funding of expenses in respect of the Museum and is superseded by this section) shall not have effect.

4 Funding of Greater London archaeological service.

(1) The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England may make grants to the Board of Governors of the Museum of London for the purpose of assisting the Board in providing archaeological services; and undertaking archaeological investigations and research in connection with land in London and publishing information concerning such investigations and research or in promoting the provision of such services or the undertaking of such- investigations and research or the publishing of such information by another body or person.

(2) A grant under this section may be made subject to such conditions as the Commission think fit to impose.

(3) In this session " London " includes all Greater London and the surrounding region.

(4) In section 14(1) of the [1965 c. 17.] Museum of London Act 1965 (general obligation on. Board to apply moneys received by them otherwise than as mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c) to defray general administrative expenses) after paragraph (c) there shall be inserted the words “or

(d) under section 4 of the Museum of London Act 1986”.

5 Reports.

Not later than 31st March 1989 and subsequently at intervals not exceeding three years the Secretary of State shall lay before each House of Parliament a report on the exercise of the functions of the Board of Governors of the Museum of London since the commencement of this Act or, in the case of the second and subsequent reports, since the end of the period to which the previous report related.

6 Expenses.

There shall be paid out of money provided by Parliament any increase attributable to this Act in the sums payable out of money so provided under any other Act.

7 Short title, commencement and repeals.

(1) This Act may be cited as the Museum of London Act 1986.

(2) This Act shall come into force on 1st April 1986.

(3) The enactments mentioned in the Schedule to this Act (which include spent provisions) are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column of that Schedule.

Section 7 (3).

SCHEDULE REPEALS

Chapter	Short Title	Extent of Repeal
1965 c. 17.	The Museum of London Act 1965.	Section 1(2)(c) and the word "and" immediately preceding it.
		Section 13.
		In section 14(1)(a), the words " section 13 or ".
1973 c. 2.	The National Theatre and Museum of London Act 1973.	The whole Act.
1985 c. 51.	The Local Government Act 1985.	In section 43, subsections (1), (2) and (4).
		In Schedule 17, in column 3, the entry relating to section 1(2)(c) of the Museum of London Act 1965.