Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an accelerated collection loans process from national to regional museums, for those with accreditation under the UK Museum Accreditation Scheme.

Fulfilling the manifesto commitment to increase loans from national collections is a key priority for the Secretary of State. DCMS is actively considering delivery models, in consultation with the sector and Arts Council England.

There is no single process for loans from DCMS-sponsored national museums to regional museums, as national museums’ loan policies and procedures are a matter for the individual museum. The conditions associated with each loan will vary according to the item being borrowed. In 2024/25, national museums made loans to 1,078 venues across the UK.

DCMS is also working with ACE on improvements to the Government Indemnity Scheme (GIS) - a key enabler for museum loans - in line with the government response to the recent ACE Review recommendation that it should adopt a more pragmatic approach to risk appetite in relation to the Scheme. Work is also underway to make the GIS guidelines clearer for museums, and to create a digital system which will speed up the current application process. As organisations in receipt of government funding, national museums are not in scope for cover under the GIS but may find improvements to the scheme beneficial when considering their own loans to regional museums.