To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in which museums and galleries sponsored by her Department free admission has been introduced; what the annual cost of free admission in lost income from charging was in each year since its introduction; how many more visitors have attended these museums and galleries since free admission was introduced; and if she will make a statement. [99839]

Free admission for all to those museums and galleries sponsored by my Department that previously charged was introduced on 1 December 2001 (22 November 2001 for the V&A). In addition, free admission to the National Coal Mining Museum for England was introduced on 8 April 2002, while the Imperial War Museum of the North in Trafford, Manchester opened free on 2 July 2002. In the first 12 months of this policy (1 December 2001 to 30 November 2002), these museums received an additional 5.4 million visitors, an increase of 70 per cent. The cost of free admission to these museums is £28.1 million in 2002–03. Details of the museums involved and of the growth in visitors are given in the following table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of visitors to the national museums and galleries sponsored by her

	1997–98	1998–99	2000–01	2001–02
Number of overseas visitors	n/a	10,700,480	10,869,483	10,439,938	10,029,208
Percentage of total visitors	n/a	45	45	36	33

The fall in the proportion of overseas visitors comes against the background of an increase in the total number of visitors from 24 million in 1997–98 to 30 million in 2002–03. It reflects the substantial increase in visitors from the UK attributable to the introduction of full free access.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total cost to public funds of free admission to Department of Culture, Media and Sport sponsored museums and galleries was in each year from 1999–2000 to 2003–04 (planned); and if she will make a statement. [99841]

The total cost of public funding to facilitate free admission to the former charging museums and galleries sponsored by my Department is set out in the following table. Visitors to these museums and galleries increased by 70 per cent. from 1 December 2001 to 30 November 2002, the first full year of free admission for all.

£million
	1999–20001	2000–012	2001–023	2002–034	2003–045
Total	4.2	8.02	13.8	28.1	29.3
1 Free children from 1 April 1999.
2 Free children; free over 60s from 1 April 2000.
3 Free children and over 60s; free to all from 1 December 2001.
4 Free to all.
5 Free to all.

Figures have been rounded to nearest £0.1 million.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many visits there were to the British Museum in each year since 1996–97; what changes in the charging regime there have been since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [99844]

The British Museum has maintained free admission to its permanent collections since its establishment in the 18th Century. The number of visitors since 1996–97 is as follows.

The proportion of overseas visitors to the national museums and galleries sponsored by my Department since 1998–99 is set out in the following table. Figures for 1997–98 are not available.

Year	Total visitors
1996–97	5,525,000
1997–98	5,185,000
1998–99	4,768,578
1999–2000	4,645,565
2000–01	4,687,920
2001–02	4,810,000
April 2002 to January 2003	3,875,140

I welcome the British Museum's commitment to maintaining free access to its permanent collections.