Question reference: S6W-22063
- Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 6 October 2023 Registered interest
-
Current status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 3 November 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to introduce a similar scheme in Scotland to the Museum Estate and Development Fund (MEND) delivered by Arts Council England, which is an open-access capital fund for non-national accredited museums and local authorities to apply for funding to undertake vital infrastructure and urgent maintenance that are beyond the scope of day-to-day maintenance budgets.
Answer
The Scottish Government allocated an additional £500k in capital funding to Museums Galleries Scotland in both 2021-22 and 2022-23.This was in recognition of the important contribution museums make to our communities, and was directed towards crucial repair and maintenance work, to reduce museum running costs and increase resilience.
Government officials will continue to engage with and discuss the sector’s capital needs with Museums Galleries Scotland. The creation of an ongoing open access capital fund will be considered as part of future capital budget processes.
The capital outlook is extremely challenging as the UK Government did not inflation-proof their Capital Budget which has resulted in a projected 6.7% real terms fall in our capital funding over the medium term between 2023-24 and 2027-28.