§ 7. Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham)If he will make a statement on funding for museums. [41993]
§ The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith)Funding for the national museums and galleries was protected for the current year. Additional funding has been made available to five museums and galleries to enable free admission to be maintained.
8 The Heritage Lottery Fund's £7 million access fund will support initiatives to widen access to museums and galleries throughout the UK. I will make a further announcement in the summer, when the departmental spending review is concluded.
§ Mr. BercowI thank the Secretary of State for that answer. The right hon. Gentleman pledged to provide free universal access to the national collections at an estimated cost of £40 million, yet he has succeeded in finding only £2 million, plus a further £7 million which he has raided from the lottery. Does not this latest betrayal prove that what needs to be preserved as a museum piece is Labour's list of broken promises?
§ Mr. SmithThe hon. Gentleman conveniently forgets that no such promise or pledge was ever given. Indeed, I am surprised that he is not more enthusiastic about the fact that we have managed to preserve the important principle of free admission to the national gallery, the Tate gallery, the national portrait gallery, the British museum and the Wallace collection.
That contrasts savagely with the actions of Buckinghamshire county council which, despite an increase in its standard spending assessment for education for the current year, is putting two museums under threat. As I recollect, Buckinghamshire has been under continuous Tory control since 1889.
§ Ms Beverley Hughes (Stretford and Urmston)I thank my right hon. Friend for the support that he has given so far to efforts to secure funding for the proposed imperial war museum of the north. However, is he aware that, although the project has already secured funding of £19 million from Europe and the private sector, the Heritage Lottery Fund is still refusing to consider the application? Is my right hon. Friend satisfied with the way in which the heritage lottery fund has responded to this application and, more generally, with the way in which it is allocating funds as between London and other parts of the country?
§ Mr. SmithI know that this is a matter of great importance to my hon. Friend, who has discussed it in some detail with me. Both she and I have also discussed the matter with the Heritage Lottery Fund. I would urge her to continue such discussions in the hope of eventually obtaining a satisfactory outcome.
§ Mr. Peter Viggers (Gosport)One way of assisting museums is to ensure that, when artefacts are made available by Government Departments such as the Ministry of Defence, appropriate museums are given advance notice and an opportunity to buy those artefacts at a reasonable price. Will the Secretary of State support a campaign to ensure that that is done?
§ Mr. SmithI certainly view that as being entirely sensible. I think that it happens in the vast majority of cases anyway, but if the hon. Gentleman has a particular case in mind, I should be delighted to take it up personally.