MLA Chief Executive Roy Clare has pledged the council will do all it can to ensure a smooth transition following its winding up order.

The MLA is to be wound up by April 2012 but in the meantime it has said it will continue to keep the sector informed and involved in whatever plans materialise, and ensure that the functions it delivers are maintained for the future.

Clare said the MLA is working with the Department for Culture Media and Sport and other bodies on the details and timescales for changes. Further clarity on the whole situation is expected in the autumn as part of the government’s wider Spending Review.

He said: "The MLA is committed to being a source of robust advocacy for museums, libraries and archives and for the people and places that depend on them, and for assisting a smooth transition to the best new arrangements achievable."

Over the course of its lifetime, the MLA has transformed itself an agency with ten separate charities and 90 trustees, to a single combined, cohesive entity with a governance board of ten. During this time it has also re-directing substantial savings to the front line, Clare said.

He added: "We have always supported the notion that the public should come first. If those responsible for services on the ground, especially local councils, can work with one government agency to help achieve improved museum, library, archive and other cultural services, rather than several, then the advantages are obvious.

"The MLA Board is determined to communicate the benefits of a coherent and integrated approach to the development and improvement of the sector within a wider cultural framework, and in the task of safeguarding and making accessible the nation's most important collections nationwide."

In July, Minister for Culture Ed Vaizey said the winding up of the MLA offered an opportunity to integrate Renaissance and the other important functions of the association into the wider cultural framework, and there have been reports the MLA could become part of the Arts Council England.

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