§ 23. Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress she has made towards ensuring free entry to national museums and galleries. [10043]
§ Tessa JowellOur policy is to encourage all museums to offer the widest possible access to their collections. We have enabled those museums and galleries funded by my Department which already offer free admission to continue to offer it. We have scrapped entry charges for children and people over 60 at the main museums and galleries sponsored by my Department that currently charge and have made available from 1 December 2001 additional resources to allow them to introduce free admission for all from that date.
The restoration of free access will enable the greatest collections we have, built up by public funds over generations, to be available to everyone, no matter what their income or background.