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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many museums have closed since 7 May 2015.

Neither DCMS nor Arts Council England holds information on museums closures. However, there are just under 1800 accredited museums.

Thanks to an excellent Spending Review settlement in November 2015, the Government is honouring its manifesto commitment to keep entry to the permanent collections of our national museums free.

Through the Arts Council England, DCMS is increasing funding for 21 Major Partner Museums from £20.3m to £22.6 million. In addition to this, regional museums can bid for funds from ACE's £10 million per year Resilience Fund. They can also bid for lottery funding from the HLF. We are also investing millions of pounds to boost local and regional museums, for example, £5 million towards a new South Asia Gallery at Manchester Museum and £2.5 million to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.