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Written question asked by Lord Freyberg (Crossbench) on Tuesday, 14 April 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 28 April 2026. It was answered by Baroness Twycross (Labour) on Tuesday, 28 April 2026 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.


Museums and Galleries: Finance

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of public funding allocated to national museums in England in each financial year from 2014–15 to 2024–25 was directed to (1) capital expenditure, and (2) day-to-day operating costs; and whether they have made an assessment of the adequacy of capital investment in maintaining and developing museum buildings, collections infrastructure and digital capacity.

Answer

The national museums and galleries are operationally independent and therefore decisions about allocating budgets are made by individual museums.

The Government has significantly increased its investment in national museum and gallery estates since 2014/15. This includes the recent commitment to invest £600 million over the course of this Parliament to tackle urgent maintenance backlogs and essential estate works at national museums and galleries, the British Library and British Film Institute.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL16340
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Finance Museums and galleries
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk