Museums and Galleries: Financial Sustainability

Lord Lee of Trafford Excerpts

Tuesday 8th October 2019 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Lee of Trafford]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the current financial sustainability of national museums and galleries.

[Lord Lee of Trafford (LD)]

In begging leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper, I declare an interest as the chairman of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Barran) (Con)]

My Lords, the 2017 Strategic Review of DCMS-sponsored Museums found that the national museums and galleries received £340 million in government grant in 2016-17—around 42% of their total income, which also comprised other public funding, donations and self-generated income. Year on year, this investment, maintained in real terms for the next spending review, allows them to welcome millions of visitors, promote Britain to the world, and protect and preserve their unique collections for their global audiences.

[Lord Lee of Trafford]

I hear what the Minister said, but in a letter to the Times last week headlined “Neglected Museums At Breaking Point”, museum chiefs and the director of the Art Fund drew attention to the serious essential maintenance backlog at our national museums. Do not the fires in Notre-Dame and the Glasgow School of Art, and, indeed, the costs and upheaval we now face on the Parliamentary Estate, point to the dangers and extra costs of putting off vital necessary work? I urge DCMS Ministers to shake the Javid/Johnson money tree for extra resources to protect our national treasures. If the Government wish to maintain free entry, they surely have to pay for it.

[Baroness Barran]

The noble Lord is absolutely right that many of our national museums are housed in wonderful heritage buildings, but those buildings require constant upkeep, which is obviously very expensive. To help address this, the Government awarded earlier this year £44 million of one-off funding over the next two years to support essential maintenance for our national museums.