Monday 20th
April, 3.30pm, Grimond Room, Portcullis House
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will examine the financial
resilience of publicly funded museums and galleries on Monday,
20th April at 3.30pm.
The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) sponsors and
directly funds 15 museums and galleries in England. In 2024-2025,
DCMS gave £484m to institutions, including the Natural History
Museum, the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery Group. This
funding helps to ensure the public has free access to
exhibitions, and that collections are properly stored and
maintained.
The pandemic has had a lasting impact on the museum and galleries
sector – since then, visitor numbers have fallen, running costs
have increased and there has been a real-terms decrease in the
funding from DCMS. Museums and galleries have become more reliant
on self-generated sources of income, leaving them vulnerable to
wider economic factors.
MPs will use this session to examine the current financial
situation of the museums and galleries funded by DCMS. Questions
may focus on the sector's ability to address financial challenges
and how DCMS could encourage stronger collaboration between
institutions.
The Committee could also explore what circumstances a museum or
gallery would be allowed to ‘fail' financially, how the sector
will be supported to address the increasing threat from
cyber-attacks and how DCMS allocates funds, and monitors and
assesses performance.
Witnesses from 3.30pm:
- Susannah Storey, Permanent Secretary, Department for Culture,
Media & Sport
- Polly Payne, Director General for Society, Media and Culture,
Department for Culture, Media & Sport
- Andrew Pattison, Chief Operating Officer, Department for
Culture, Media & Sport
- Hannah Malik, Director for Culture, Department for Culture,
Media & Sport
