Meeting held Friday 8 June 2007
The Board met without staff present at the beginning of the meeting, to discuss issues arising out of the resignation of the Director.
The staff joined the meeting.
Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising
1. The Board approved the minutes of the meeting held on 11 May 2007, which were later signed by the Chairman.
The Chairman confirmed that the offer of a gift of four paintings which had been discussed at the last meeting had been declined with thanks.
The Chairman reported that the DCMS had approved the appointment of the Director of Conservation as acting Director and the appointment of the Director of Resources as acting Accounting officer to take effect from the end of July, pending the appointment of the next Director.
Process of Appointment of the Next Director
2. The Board approved a job description subject to minor amendments. The Board noted the contents of the Trustees' conflicts of interest policy, as made applicable to the appointments process and resolved on the appointment of a selection panel and the appointment of head hunters.
The Board agreed that the selection panel should comprise Mr Simon Burke, Professor David Ekserdjian, Mr James Fenton, Mr Mark Getty, Lady Normanby and three non- Board members, subject to the latter agreeing to be involved. The Board agreed that the Press Office should prepare a press statement outlining the likely timetable and that the staff should be informed of progress.
Director's report
3. Visitor numbers: the Director reported that visitor numbers for May were good at 406,807.
The Board expressed their thanks to the Curator of Italian and Spanish paintings for arranging sponsorship for the 2009 exhibition of Spanish seventeenth-century paintings and sculpture.
Potential acquisitions
4. There was a discussion of a potential acquisition under consideration.
Diversity Plan for Board membership
5. The Board approved the draft Diversity Plan, subject to the substitution of a brief definition of the meaning of public value in place of Appendix 4 and amendments to paragraph
Loans out Policy
6. The Board approved the Loans out policy paper, subject to the amendment of paragraph 6 to provide (in accordance with the recommendation of the Governance Review) that:
- The Loans Committee will consider all loan requests according to the above principles and will record the reasons for approval or refusal of loan requests
- The Loans Committee papers setting out the decisions of the Committee and reasons for approval or refusal of loan requests will be submitted to the Board for information
- The Board will receive annually a report on trends in loans out.
It was noted that the statistics on loans out indicated an upward trend in loans out and it was agreed that a report should be made available to the Board in September analysing the reasons behind this trend.
National Gallery Review Trustees' Introduction
7. The Board approved the draft Trustees' Introduction to the National Gallery review, subject to agreed amendments.
Gallery relationship with the Art Trade
8. The Board approved the paper on relations with the Art Trade subject to one minor amendment.
The Board approved the proposal for the seeking of sponsorship for the Alison Watt catalogue.
Loan requests and schedule of loans out
9. The Director declared an interest in the loan request from the Royal Academy of Arts and took no part in the discussion of that item or the decision arising.
The Board agreed to the loan requests, including those with qualifications, recommended in the Senior Curator's paper as amended by the tabled Addendum; endorsed the Gallery's decisions to decline to lend and noted the changes of dates and venues.
Picture movements
10. The Board noted the report on picture movements.
Any other business
11. The Board discussed the contents of a letter received from Paul Holmes MP.
Copies of previous Board minutes can be obtained from the Libraries and Archive department.
Confidential and sensitive information has been excluded from these published minutes in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000