Fifteen national museums and galleries, including the British Museum and the Science Museum, are sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), with free access afforded to their permanent collections as a result. These institutions received £480m from DCMS in 2024-25, amounting to almost 25% of the Department’s total spend, and have successfully increased their own income to supplement this, with £380m in self-generated income in 2023-24.
Post-pandemic, visitor numbers remain lower - 42.1m in 2024-25, compared to 49.7m in 2018-19, as other costs have risen. This has had a significant impact on institutions’ finances, with falling reserves being used in some cases to fund deficits. DCMS announced a 5% increase in grant-in-aid in February 2025. The Public Accounts Committee’s 2021 report into the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund found that what was the biggest ever single investment in the arts and culture sector would require skilled oversight and management for years to come. It also raised concerns about government’s ability to manage the significant and ongoing loan book commitments created by the Fund.
In 2026, the National Audit Office (NAO) publishes its report examining whether adequate arrangements are in place to secure the financial resilience of museums and galleries. Proceeding from the NAO’s findings, the PAC will take evidence from senior DCMS officials on topics including how institutions are coping with their financial challenges, and how DCMS is supporting them to do so.
If you have evidence on these issues, please submit here by 23:59 on Monday 30 March 2026.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. The Committee decides what information to publish and how. You can request anonymity or confidentiality when you send evidence, but it is for the Committee to say whether it will agree.It may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this.
Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues.