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

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Greenhalgh on 28 April (HL7853), what steps they took before July 2019 to (1) ascertain, and (2) secure, the ownership of Victoria Tower Gardens for the proposed UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre; and what assessment they made of the statutory provisions that existed relating to the use of the land.

Victoria Tower Gardens is Crown land. The feasibility of the site was discussed with key stakeholders, including DCMS, Westminster City Council, and The Royal Parks, and no technical obstacles were raised that would prevent the Memorial and Learning Centre being built in Victoria Tower Gardens.