Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether the Government obtained advice on the security implications for the Palace of Westminster before deciding to locate the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens.
We are fully aware of the security implications associated with the environs of the Palace of Westminster and are in regular contact with representatives of Parliamentary Security, the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), the Metropolitan Police Service and other assets within the World Heritage site. By considering the security needs at the earliest stage of design we aim to integrate them into the design of the memorial and external landscaping as unobtrusively as possible. CPNI and our security consultants have advised us on the necessary considerations for security at the Memorial and are advising us on the physical and operational security measures required to mitigate the specific risks of a memorial and learning centre in the proposed location of Victoria Tower Gardens.