Source · Select Committees · Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Paragraph: 88
International tourism to the UK had halved by April 2020 and has continued to decline.
Conclusion
International tourism to the UK had halved by April 2020 and has continued to decline. Visitor attractions, including museums and galleries, are being hit hard as a result. Not only are these organisations facing an end to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in October, they have also largely depleted their financial reserves and are looking at the prospect of only being able to open at a reduced capacity with social distancing measures in place. Losing these important spaces, and the valuable collections they hold, would be a significant loss to our cultural identity. To secure collections at risk from museum insolvencies, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport should introduce a temporary change to legislation to ensure that if an accredited museum becomes insolvent as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, the institution’s collections cannot be liquidated for financial assets for the first 12 months.
Paragraph Reference:
88
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Government understands the risk that insolvency poses to museums and their collections and we are looking at legislative, and non-legislative, options to prevent the dispersal, and therefore potential loss, of these collections. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, officials and ministers have been in even more regular contact with museums and sector organisations to understand the impact of the pandemic and the measures the Government has taken to fight it, and to understand what support museums and heritage organisations need and how best to get it to them. 14 Impact of Covid-19 on DCMS sectors: Government Response