Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the report from the Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission, published in January 2015, which identified three prospective sites for the intended Holocaust Memorial, for what reasons, and by what means, was a different site in Victoria Tower Gardens chosen.

The Holocaust Commission's report was clear that the three potential sites it identified were “not the only possible sites”. As the cross-party body advising Government on taking forward the recommendations of the Holocaust Commission, the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation was tasked with finding the most appropriate location for a national memorial to the Holocaust and an accompanying education centre. The Government agrees with the Foundation’s recommendation that Victoria Tower Gardens, next to Parliament, is considered the most appropriate of the almost 50 sites examined, including those identified by the Commission in Lambeth and at Millbank. The option of locating at Potters Field referred to in the Holocaust Commission report no longer exists.