MUSEUMS LIBRARIES ARCHIVES NORTH EAST

Motion Text

That this House notes that the Government's policy of free entry to museums has seen 30 million extra museum visits in England since 2001; congratulates Museums Libraries Archives North East and North East Regional Museums Hub for the Renaissance in the Regions Programme; further notes that the programme is worth £4 million per annum to North East museums; welcomes the impressive 19 per cent. rise in overall visits to North East Hub museums; further notes that this figure exceeds the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's target by 17 per cent.; further welcomes the massive 40 per cent. rise in education visits to the Hub museums; is delighted that the percentage increase in visitors is mirrored in the numbers of visitors from lower socio-economic groups; recognises that the Renaissance North East programme has seen outreach activity increase by 7,000 per cent.; and calls on the Government to assure the museum-going public in the North East that this programme, which has contributed to the cultural and economic renewal of the region, will continue to receive the full funding it needs.