Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to tackle the practice of museums marginally editing non-copyrighted media in order to charge people to use that media.

Museums operate independently from the Government, and are responsible for managing their own commercial activities, which can include maintaining databases of images and other media. It is for museums to determine appropriate terms and conditions, in accordance with their internal policies.

Depending on their operating models, different museums will adopt differing approaches to monetising their spaces and collections to reinvest in their public programmes, expanding their reach and impact.