§ Lord Morris of Manchesterasked Her Majesty's Government:
What consideration has been given to the financial difficulties of the Hallé Orchestra and to the case for Government action to help secure its future. [HL458]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyGovernment funding for the arts, and to orchestras such as the Hallé, is channelled through the Arts Council of England. The Council will provide £1,251,000 to the Hallé in 1998–99. Ministers have been kept informed of recent developments affecting the Hallé Orchestra, and are
Institution 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 (up to January) Natural History Museum — 34,928 43,012 54,099 45,873 Victoria & Albert Museum1 — — 36,368 43,972 32,775 Wallace Collection 362 548 2,146 5,484 7,645 1The figures for Victoria & Albert Museum also include attendances on Wednesday evenings when the Museum is open to the public 6.30-9.00 pm. These figures cannot be separated from other attendances "out-of-hours".
§ Lord Freybergasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why the Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Wallace Collection and the National Museums on Merseyside include "out-of-hours" visits in their annual statements on attendances, given that this distorts the per capita subsidy to those museums. [HL525]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyThe Natural History Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Wallace Collection and the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside include "out-of-hours" visits in their annual statements because such visits usually include access to the collections. The number of "out-of-hours" visits, however, is very small compared to the total number of visits to these institutions.
Consideration will be given to standardising the methods of counting visitor numbers at all the department's directly funded museums and galleries as part of our continuing access review.