Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what financial support her Department provides to museums and galleries in Lincolnshire.

Earlier this year, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced a £1.5 billion funding package for culture over this Parliament, £160 million of which is earmarked for local museums around the country. This includes further rounds of the Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND), which has previously funded essential infrastructure projects in Lincolnshire: in 2024, Spalding Gentlemen's Society received £1.8 million from MEND, and Boston Guildhall was awarded £401,000 in 2026.

Arts Council England (ACE) is investing over £450 million of public money into its National Portfolio programme this financial year, providing core funding to c.974 organisations across the country. Several Lincolnshire organisations are part of the National Portfolio, including Lincoln Museum and Usher Gallery in Lincoln, 20:21 Visual Arts Gallery in Scunthorpe and the Ropewalk in Barton-upon-Humber, as well as Grimsby Fishing Heritage Centre, North Lincolnshire Museum and Normanby Hall (as part of Humber Museums Partnership). Other Lincolnshire museums to receive funding from ACE include Chain Bridge Forge museum (£57,000 National Lottery Project Grant in 2024), Louth Museum (£1,261 National Lottery Project Grant in 2025), and The Village Church Farm Museum (£14,085 from the DCMS Museum Renewal Fund in 2025).

Boston, East Lindsey, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, and West Lindsey are all Culture Priority Places. These are local authority areas in England in which we will focus public investment and engagement to ensure the benefits of arts and culture can be felt where need is greatest.