Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what criteria the Government uses to determine which national museums receive government funding; and how such criteria are applied to the National Children's Museum, Eureka.

Government funds a small group of museums with Grant in Aid and there are no plans to extend the number of these at this time.

A range of factors determine what constitutes a ‘national museum’, and one of the central criteria is the significance of the museum’s collection.

In the case of the National Children’s Museum Government understands and supports the principle of family friendly interactive spaces. Government’s view is that this institution’s collection is not of a standard or scale comparable to National Museums such as the British Museum. It would not, therefore, fall within the criteria for receiving support from central Government or Arts Council England, which is responsible for regional museums.