My new ministerial role has meant that I have recently had more opportunities to represent the Government in debates and in the House of Commons. On Wednesday, 7th March 2018 I represented the Government in a Westminster Hall debate on ‘Local Museums’.
It is a great privilege to be the Minister responsible for our world-leading museums sector; museums in this country are hugely popular with more than 50% of the nation’s adult population having visited a museum in 2016 – a point I happily made during the debate. I am therefore pleased that with me as Minister, free entry to nationally sponsored museums remains Government policy.
Museums play a pivotal role in showcasing the history and culture of the local area – as Northampton Museum does for us – and I am happy to support them.
Local authorities still spend more than £200 million annually on culture and museums, and central Government is also ensuring that local museums can thrive with new initiatives such as tax relief for exhibitions. £800 million of funding has been provided by the Government to help museums protect their collections and to ensure that they are accessible to as many people as possible.
I relished the opportunity to champion museums and the role that they can play for local communities in this debate as Arts Minister in Westminster Hall.
You can watch my speech by clicking on the following link: http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/ad7dd29b-af2f-4720-bd68-faeb2855c58a?in=15:44:00&out=15:58:15.
Also in the last week I gave a speech in Birmingham to about a thousand Chairs and Chief Executives of organisations receiving government grants supported by Arts Council England.