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Anniversaries

Volume 489: debated on Wednesday 11 March 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what criteria are used by his Department in its decision to mark the anniversary of an occasion; and which anniversaries his Department plans to mark in each of the next three years. (262573)

No one Department within Whitehall deals with anniversary events as such. Decisions on commemorating significant occasions or events are taken by Ministers and then the most appropriate Department will take forward the arrangements.

DCMS is responsible within Government for co-ordinating the annual Remembrance Day ceremony at the Cenotaph.

Anniversaries for which celebrations are planned by DCMS sponsored bodies include the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, organised by English Heritage, and the 500th anniversary of Henry Vlll’s accession to the throne, organised by Historic Royal Palaces. Both these anniversaries occur in 2009 and plans by the Department, or its sponsored bodies, for the celebration of other major anniversaries will be announced nearer the time.