Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if will take steps to ascertain what criteria were used by management at the Imperial War Museum when appointing ZE Global as the holders of its security contract; and if he will make an assessment of ZE Global's effectiveness in that role.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
DCMS-sponsored museums operate independently, at arm’s length from government. The Imperial War Museum’s review of its security operations is an operational matter. As such, Ministers and officials have not assessed or discussed it.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with management at (a) the Imperial War Museum and (b) ZE Global on job security following the transfer of staff from Bidfest Noonan to ZE Global which is due to take place on 1 April 2021.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
DCMS-sponsored museums operate independently, at arm’s length from government. The Imperial War Museum’s review of its security operations is an operational matter. As such, Ministers and officials have not assessed or discussed it.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has made an assessment of the findings of the Imperial War Museum's security review report; and whether he plans to take steps to implement the recommendations of that report.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
DCMS-sponsored museums operate independently, at arm’s length from government. The Imperial War Museum’s review of its security operations is an operational matter. As such, Ministers and officials have not assessed or discussed it.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with management at the Imperial War Museum on its (a) recently completed security review and (b) decision to appoint ZE Global as its security provider; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
DCMS-sponsored museums operate independently, at arm’s length from government. The Imperial War Museum’s review of its security operations is an operational matter. As such, Ministers and officials have not assessed or discussed it.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the document entitled, National memorial and learning centre search for a central London site, published by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation in September 2015, how the proposal for a site at (a) Victoria Tower Gardens, (b) the Imperial War Museum and (c) Harmsworth Park met the criteria to (i) draw in and to inspire the largest possible number of visitors, (ii) provide 5-10,000 square metres of built space, (iii) allocate maximum funds to educational purposes, (iv) provide cost effectiveness, (v) allow buses, coaches, pedestrians and cyclists to be able to reach the site safely with full disability access, (vi) allow for a physical campus to engage and inspire a vast number of visitors, (vii) provide facilities for lectures and seminars and to run educational courses and workshops, (viii) allow for the provision of space for Holocaust organisations to locate their offices so as to fulfil the stated responsibility to bring together a network of the UK's existing Holocaust education in the UK, (ix) provide rooms for at least 500 people and (x) provide infrastructure to fulfil all security considerations.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The document, National Memorial and Learning Centre: Search for a Central London Site, was published by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation as part of extensive efforts to identify a suitable location for the Memorial and Learning Centre, which also included a thorough search of Central London by property experts CBRE. A map included in the published document indicates the area of Central London which was the focus of the site search. More than 50 locations were considered; detailed information supporting the assessment of each site is commercially confidential.
The Foundation identified Victoria Tower Gardens as the most fitting site in terms of its historical, emotional and political significance and its ability to offer the greatest potential impact and visibility for the project.
The Government accepted the Foundation’s advice and announced in January 2016 that Victoria Tower Gardens was the chosen location. An international design competition was launched in September 2016, seeking proposals for a Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens.