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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support he is providing to (a) Newcastle’s Discovery Centre and (b) other regional museums to help ensure that they are able to survive the covid-19 lockdown.

Museums are supported by over £200 million in emergency packages from DCMS arm’s-length bodies. As part of Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, Newcastle Discovery Centre is eligible to bid for the £90 million emergency fund provided by ACE for the national portfolio. National Portfolio Organisations have also been able to benefit from drawing down quarterly funding in advance.

As well as the culture and heritage-specific support, many regional museums are eligible for the UK’s world-class package of support, including through the Job Retention Scheme and the availability of grants of up to £25,000 to leisure businesses, including museums operating from smaller premises, through the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund. The Government continues to monitor the impact of these and other measures.

My department is in constant contact with sector bodies and museums directly, including the Director of Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums as a representative of the National Museum Directors’ Council and English Civic Museums Network, to assess impacts and understand the need for support for the sector in response to COVID-19.