Museums and Galleries: Admission Charges for Non-UK Residents

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay Excerpts

Thursday 6th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

Funding for national museums supports museums and sites across London. The noble Baroness is correct that a large number of these museums are in London, but we do have national museum sites in Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford, York and St Ives. The Government have announced a new £20 million museum renewal fund, in addition to the more than £44 million a year that Arts Council England currently invests in museums. As the noble Baroness is aware, there is an ongoing review of Arts Council England, led by my noble friend Lady Hodge.

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the answers that Minister has given, although a few ears will have picked up the word “currently” in her first response. But there are many downsides to reversing the legacy of the noble Lord, Lord Smith of Finsbury. It cuts against the excellent work that the sector has done to widen access, and it erects new barriers. Like other noble Lords, I do not want to see people turned away because they do not have their ID, or people from ethnic minorities challenged about their citizenship. Most of all, it lets politicians, local and national—of all parties—off the hook, when they should value and fund our museums. So might the Minister look at the VAT 33A scheme that her department runs and perhaps give it a more user-friendly name to help promote it? Might she even look at the 1964 Act, which gives local authorities a duty to deliver comprehensive and efficient library services, and widen that to museums as well?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I find myself having to defend giving good news to your Lordships’ House. I will have to write to the noble Lord on the specific VAT rule that he referred to.