Covid-19: Museums, Galleries and Historic Buildings

Baroness Andrews Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Andrews (Lab)]

My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, for this debate and for the way he introduced it. This pandemic has dramatically exposed the fragile and precarious state of the culture and heritage sector. It is ironic that in recent years museums and heritage sites have done exactly what the Government asked them to do and boosted their commercial income, and that has made them even more vulnerable. The arts and heritage agencies have stepped up very resourcefully. I declare an interest as the deputy chair of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which has £50 million of emergency funding, but the problem is that, faced with massive cuts in in-year income and unless there is strategic support available, the whole sector is facing irreparable loss of people and places. We urgently need an investment plan from DCMS for future resilience as well as for recovery, driven by active partnership and consistent guidance for the whole sector—from craft apprentices to national organisations. Will the Minister tell us today what timetable the cultural renewal task force is working to and when the funding and support package will be available?