Matthew Offord – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to identify the best ways to tackle cultural heritage destruction overseas.

Mr Edward Vaizey

This Government is committed to the protection of cultural heritage from destruction overseas. That is why we secured £30m of Overseas Development Assistance from 2016 to 2020 for our newly-established Cultural Protection Fund – to create opportunities for economic development through building capacity to foster, safeguard and promote cultural heritage.

The British Museum’s Iraqi Heritage Emergency Management Programme (announced on the 28th October at the Cultural Protection Summit) is the Fund’s first programme. A period of consultation is now underway with expert stakeholders working in the arts, heritage, museums and development sectors, to help determine its exact scope and identify best practice.