Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their current estimate of the cost of building the planned Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Learning Centre, co-located with the Holocaust Memorial, will ensure that the lessons of the Holocaust are told with honesty and clarity; it will also address subsequent genocides. Information about the Learning Centre themes was presented at the planning inquiry and is available on the Westminster City Council website: cd_8.9_proof_of_evidence_of_stephen_greenberg_1.pdf (westminster.gov.uk)
The scope and content of the Learning Centre exhibition will be developed by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation, drawing on a wide range of external advice and expertise.
The current forecast cost (£138.8 million, excluding contingency) for completion of the proposed Holocaust Memorial is set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 28 June 2023 (UIN HLWS875). An independent charity, The Holocaust Memorial Charitable Trust, Chaired by Sir Gerald Ronson CBE, will lead the effort to secure pledges towards the fundraising campaign.
Extensive consultation on the proposals has been carried out over many years, with contributions from a wide range of individuals and communities across the country.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the oral evidence hearing of the Holocaust Memorial Bill Committee on the afternoon of 24 January 2024, whether he has had discussions with his Department's Counsel on the press release issued by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation and the Cabinet Office entitled Adjaye Associates and Ron Arad Architects win UK Holocaust Memorial International Design Competition; for what reason his Counsel contradicted the assertion that Sir David Adjaye was the lead designer of the architecture for that memorial; and if will take steps to draw that press release to the Committee's attention.
Answered by Simon Hoare
Counsel for the Secretary of State correctly drew the Select Committee’s attention to the role of the late Asa Bruno in designing the Holocaust Memorial. Mr Bruno’s evidence to the planning inquiry summarised the position as follows:
“I am co-founder and Director of Ron Arad Architects Ltd, the architectural practice acting as Memorial Architect for the project, and I am leading the role of Memorial Architect on behalf of the practice.”
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will (a) publish a list of the freedom of information requests relating to the proposed Holocaust Memorial and associated learning centre that (i) his Department has not yet responded to and (ii) are waiting for adjudication by the Information Commissioner and (b) order his Department to release all the information requested.
Answered by Simon Hoare
No Freedom of Information requests relating to the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre are awaiting a response from the Department. A letter from the Information Commissioner about the Department’s handling of a previous request was received on 18 January 2024 and will receive a response shortly.
A great deal of information about the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre has been published as part of the planning application. When Freedom of Information requests have sought information which falls within statutory exemptions, careful consideration is given and the appropriate public interest tests are applied. Some material requested by Doran Gerhold in December 2018 was withheld on this basis: the Information Commissioner and the First Tier Tribunal have each, twice, upheld the Department’s approach.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will publish the redacted Holocaust Memorial material subject to the freedom of information request by Dorian Gerhold in December 2018.
Answered by Simon Hoare
No Freedom of Information requests relating to the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre are awaiting a response from the Department. A letter from the Information Commissioner about the Department’s handling of a previous request was received on 18 January 2024 and will receive a response shortly.
A great deal of information about the Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre has been published as part of the planning application. When Freedom of Information requests have sought information which falls within statutory exemptions, careful consideration is given and the appropriate public interest tests are applied. Some material requested by Doran Gerhold in December 2018 was withheld on this basis: the Information Commissioner and the First Tier Tribunal have each, twice, upheld the Department’s approach.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department last met the architect named as leading the design team for the new national landmark next to the Houses of Parliament in the press notice issued by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation and the Cabinet Office published on 24 October 2017.
Answered by Simon Hoare
There have been no officials meetings with ministers from this department. Officials last met on 21 February 2023.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials in his Department last met the architect named as leading the design team for the new national landmark next to the Houses of Parliament in the press notice issued by the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation and the Cabinet Office published on 24 October 2017.
Answered by Simon Hoare
There have been no officials meetings with ministers from this department. Officials last met on 21 February 2023.
Asked by: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will erect temporary scaffolding in Victoria Tower Gardens to demonstrate the proposed size of the Holocaust Memorial.
Answered by Simon Hoare
Detailed images showing the proposed Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens were considered at the planning inquiry in 2020 and are available on the Westminster City Council website: Inquiry documents | Westminster City Council.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what response they made to the request by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee that the plan to build a Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens on the Westminster World Heritage site be abandoned; and what discussions they had with the World Heritage Committee at its meeting in 2023 about that matter.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Shadow Minister (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government noted that the independent planning inspector concluded, following an extensive public inquiry in 2020, that “…the proposed UKHMLC would not result in compromise to the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage Site because it does not harm it or its setting, thus conserving it”. DCMS, acting as State Party to the World Heritage Convention, will continue to keep UNESCO updated.
Asked by: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government for what reasons the planned construction of a Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Victoria Tower Gardens has not resulted in the gardens and the Buxton Memorial being placed on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register; and whether they will request that they be so placed.
Answered by Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay - Shadow Minister (Culture, Media and Sport)
Heritage assets may be added to Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register for a variety of reasons, such as poor condition, disuse, and, in some cases, the quantifiable risks of development. Historic England has not made an assessment of the potential risks to Victoria Tower Gardens since the Holocaust Memorial Bill is still under consideration. It will continue to monitor the situation and keep its position under regular review.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the speech by the then Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, on Holocaust Memorial Day, 23 January 2017, whether they still recognise the atrocities in Darfur in 2003 as a genocide
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
It is not for the Government to recognise the atrocities in Darfur as a genocide. The UK's longstanding position is that determining whether a situation amounts to genocide is an issue for competent national and international courts after consideration of all of the available evidence, rather than a decision by governments or non-judicial parties.