Museums attracting more children

The British Museum reopened in December

The number of children visiting museums and art galleries in the UK has risen by 20% since the abolition of entry charges two years ago, the government has announced.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's government scrapped charges for young people to 17 national collections in April 1999 in an attempt to interest them in history and culture.

Figures released by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on Monday showed the number of child visitors to the galleries rose from 4,986,000 in 1998-99 to 6,059,000 in 2000-01.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said she was "delighted" that since April 1999, more than one million additional youngsters have visited "flagship institutions like the Imperial War Museum, and the Maritime and Science Museums".

The Natural History Museum was praised for its lively exhibits

"These figures show that our policy to scrap charges for children to our national cultural institutions was the right one," she said.

Ms Jowell's department is to expand the free access scheme to adults as well from December.

She said it was "essential" that children were inspired by the heritage contained in museums and galleries.

"No child should be excluded from our national institutions because of the price of a ticket," she said.

She praised the Natural History Museum for almost doubling normal visitor numbers for the opening of its Predators exhibition, saying it proved that children could be attracted by lively exhibits.