Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions the Government had with Historic England on the proposal to build the Holocaust Memorial and Holocaust Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens (a) before the site was announced and (b) subsequently; on what dates those discussions were held; and what observations Historic England has made of that proposal.

Historic England was consulted in August and September 2016 (ahead of the launch of the design competition in September 2016). They have subsequently played a formal role providing detailed input to the design competition assessing the design proposals, presenting to the shortlisted design teams at a site briefing session in November 2016 and contributing to the meetings of the Competition Jury’s Supporting Panel in February and March 2017.

Historic England’s role in the Supporting Panel was to help the Jury identify those proposals which have effectively acknowledged the heritage significance and its policy context, and conversely those which do not appear to have done so or where significant doubts or uncertainties remain.

The UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation also provided a briefing to the UNESCO Mission to Westminster in February 2017.