NATIONAL GALLERY'S VISITOR SERVICES AND SECURITY

That this House commends the knowledge, experience and dedication of the visitor and security services staff at the National Gallery; is concerned that the National Gallery is privatising up to 400 of its staff; does not support the decision to use a private company to manage services that include ticketing, security and information; notes in the past when front-line services have been privatised, experienced staff have left and that new staff have not had the knowledge nor training to provide the same standard of experience; believes that visitor and security services should remain in-house to ensure that world-famous art can be viewed and enjoyed by the public in an educational environment; and calls on the Government to ensure that funding is in place so valuable skills and knowledge of the current staff are not lost.