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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what her Department's policy is on national museums charging for entry to temporary exhibitions.

The Government is committed to maintain free entry to the permanent collections of major national museums and galleries as a condition of funding. Temporary exhibitions are a valuable addition to the museum visitor experience, but can be costly to put on. Charging for these exhibitions is, for many national museums, one way of generating commercial income to supplement their grant-in-Aid and philanthropic revenue. DCMS-sponsored national museums operate at arm's length from government, and decisions about curatorial matters and entrance fees for temporary exhibitions are taken independently by these organisations.