§ Mr. FauldsTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will publish the attendance figures for the financial year ended 31 March reported by the national museums and galleries for which she is responsible, broken down into the individual institutions, but including their outstations, with figures in each case of the percentage increase or decrease on the attendance figures for the preceding year. [25517]
§ Mr. Sproat[holding answer 22 April 1996]: The British Museum, national gallery, national portrait gallery, Wallace collection, Tate gallery, though it charges for admission to St. Ives, national museums, and Galleries on 171W Merseyside, though it charges for admission to two of its seven sites, and Victoria and Albert Museum do not charge for admissions, and therefore the number of visits is only an estimate, or counted by other means.
Number of visits in 1994–95 (million) Forecast number of visits in 1995–96 (million) Provisional percentage increase/decrease over the previous year British Museum 6.24 6.14 -1.6 Imperial War Museum 1.27 1.31 +3.1 National Gallery 4.36 4.46 +2.3 National Maritime Museum 0.62 0.58 -6.5 National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside 1.34 1.23 -8.2 National Portrait Gallery 0.93 0.82 -11.8 Natural History Museum 1.64 1.46 -11.0 National Museum of Science and Industry 2.51 2.70 +7.6 Tate Gallery 2.75 2.86 +4.0 Victoria and Albert Museum 1.57 1.49 -5.1 Wallace Collection 0.15 0.16 +6.7 Total 23.38 23.21 -0.73 It is not possible to identify separately the number of visits to the royal armouries in the Tower of London. However, a new royal armouries artillery museum opened in 1995—from April to October only—at Fort Nelson near Portsmouth, to which there were an estimated 23,000 visits. Additionally, a new royal armouries museum was opened in Leeds on 30 March 1996 and data on the number of visits to this site will be available next year.