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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with representatives of public (a) galleries and (b) museums on the provision to customers of telephone numbers to ensure that those customers without access to the internet can find relevant information.

The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport recently met with representatives from museums and museum sector bodies and discussed the accessibility of museums amongst other topics.

Access policies are a matter for the museum in question, as they, including the DCMS sponsored museums, operate independently from the government. However, the government supports the Museum Accreditation Scheme, the UK-wide standard for the sector, via its arms-length body Arts Council England. Requirements for accreditation include that museums have an Access Policy and an Access Plan to maintain (and where possible to improve) the physical, sensory and intellectual access to their collections, information about their collections, and access to the buildings housing their collections. There are currently more than 1700 museums participating in the scheme across the UK.

The DCMS sponsored museums are also required to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty, and are expected to act in such a way as to maximise attendance and broaden audiences.