Covid-19: Museums, Galleries and Historic Buildings

Baroness Eaton Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Eaton (Con)]

I declare an interest as a member of the advisory board of the National Science and Media Museum. The Covid crisis has highlighted the inequality that still exists in digital access. In Bradford, 31% of families do not have access to the internet. The National Science and Media Museum in Bradford has taken a creative and pragmatic approach to the challenge of serving its local communities by working with the local press to share inspiring online learning resources and activities to support the work of schools. Perhaps even more importantly, it has worked with the council and schools to produce and distribute 27,000 activity learning resource sheets to schools and families in areas where it knows that digital access is poor. When our museums reopen, they will need financial support to enable them to play a huge role in bringing our communities back together.