§ Mr. MaudeTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assistance he has made available to the British Museum in 1997–98 and 1998–99 to enable it to avoid introducing admission charges in terms of(a) grant and (b) tax treatment; and if such arrangements are to be extended to other museums. [21114]
§ Mr. Chris SmithI am holding in reserve within my Department's budget for 1998–99 £1 million for the British Museum. The purpose of this provision is to help the Trustees of the British Museum to avoid irrevocable decisions on the introduction of admission charges pending the outcome of the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review. Before this reserve can be accessed the British Museum will have to demonstrate their need for special provision, having looked at other sources of income. Payment of any advance grant would be subject to the following conditions
(i) that the Museum prepares an action plan, subject to approval by my Department, for generating more income to supplement its grant-in-aid; for achieving significant efficiency savings; and for improvements to the management of the Museum's finances;(ii) that the Museum succeeds in eliminating the balance of its projected deficit for the financial year 1998–99; and(iii) that the Trustees of the British Museum maintain free entry throughout 1998.I am also holding in reserve £300,000 for 1998–99 for the Tate Gallery to help them to maintain free entry pending the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review. Before this reserve can be accessed the Tate Gallery will have to demonstrate the need for this extra grant, having explored other sources of income.
No special tax measures or tax treatment are being offered to either the British Museum or the Tate Gallery.
In addition, I was able to announce to the House on 8 December the establishment by the Heritage Lottery Fund of an Access Fund, initially of £5 million per year, to enable all museums and galleries to bid for resources to help improve access to their collections in a variety of different ways.