Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on what dates the Government decided that the (a) Holocaust Memorial and (b) Holocaust Learning Centre would be located in Victoria Tower Gardens.

The decision to locate the new National Holocaust Memorial in Victoria Tower Gardens was made in January 2016 and announced by Prime Minister David Cameron at Prime Minister’s Questions on Holocaust Memorial Day 27 January 2016.

The Government announced its intention to locate the Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens, fulfilling the recommendation of the Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission for the Memorial and Learning Centre to be co-located. Prime Minister Theresa May announced at Prime Minister’s Questions on 14 September 2016 the launch of an international design competition which invited design teams from around the world to explore design concepts for a co-located Memorial and education centre in the Gardens. The design teams were asked to produce their designs in two parts. The first part fulfilling the minimum commitment of a National Memorial and the second part being the below ground Learning Centre component, which will be taken forward subject to technical, financial, planning or other constraints.