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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the distribution of grant-in-aid funding; and what plans they have to increase the number of museums which are in receipt of grant-in-aid funding.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport provides grant-in-aid funding to the 15 sponsored museums and galleries in England - with culture being a devolved matter - and the Ministry of Defence for the three armed forces service museums. The 2017 Strategic Review of DCMS-Sponsored Museums examined their functions, effectiveness, efficiency and accountability, and included a commitment to review grant-in-aid allocations at the next Spending Review, taking into consideration whether changes are required to meet current needs and performance.

At this time, the government has no plans to directly fund other museums through grant-in-aid. However, many other museums are subject to public funding and the 2017 Mendoza Review of Museums in England confirmed that, over the last ten years, the museum sector has received more than £800 million annually from at least 16 different public sources. Arts Council England is the main funding body for the wider museums sector and, between 2018 and 2022 will invest more than £146m in grant-in-aid in museums across England.