Examination of Witnesses (Questions 80-86)
MR ANDY
MARTIN, MS
JACQUI BANERJEE,
MS STEPHANIE
CARNACHAN AND
DR ELIZABETH
HALLAM SMITH
13 JUNE 2006
Q80 Mr Robathan: In a museum?
Mr Martin: Any museum or visitor
attraction.
Chairman: I think we will come back to
the general discussion. I think the most relevant museum for us
to be visiting is the Churchill Museum and the War Cabinet.
Lord Craig of Radley: They do
not have much catering.
Q81 Chairman: They have very little
catering and they have a range of children in. They have very
clever techniques so you are standing in front of a television
screen and Churchill's voice comes out. You do not have to press
anything. I can see exactly that sort of technique being used
very dramatically for creating some of the great debates of the
past which would be very attractive visually. That is pitching
it at the audience. The only other point I would make, as Kevan
Jones said who knows about museums, is that most of the visitors
to the visitor centre I think will be over 45. That is what the
research actually shows, apart from anything else. It is supported
by my own experience in the museum world I am involved in. There
is a high number of people who want to come to this sort of event
and are very happy to come to it. There will be children as well
wanting to come to it and MPs and Peers wanting to take groups
through, but the bedrock, I suspect, will be the people you see
getting off the coaches at Black Rod's Gate every day.
Mr Martin: Based on the research
we have done on the information we gave people at the time, that
is clear, but it depends which audience you pitch it at. It comes
down to what you want the visitor centre to be.
Mr Jones: I do not disagree with
the Lord Chairman in his analysis, but that is not the way to
do it because if we have a basic content (and I agree with Margaret,
we have got to decide what is going in) and then have targeted
themes on, for example, young people or even American tourists,
for example, coming to Britain, that is a better way than trying
to cater for everybody. Most museums I know of—and I have
Beamish Open Air Museum in my constituency—okay, there is
an offer but then within that they have various days when certain
school children come of certain ages. That is perhaps the best
way of doing it rather than throwing everything in. Can I just
ask a question about refreshing the offer because things can become
very stale very quickly. How important is it once one has got
the content to ensure that it is updated with things that happen
but also the things they need to see?
Q82 Chairman: I do not think any
of those three have addressed that particular problem. It is more
the issue that Dr Smith Hallam has to take into account as she
is the head of the working group that does that. There is something
in what you are saying, I think, certainly in the Cartoon Museum
we have to do a new exhibition every three months to bring people
back again. They have got to do that. Of course, Parliament gets
a steady flow coming in anyway because we are Parliament, but
I think you need a regeneration of interesting things from time
to time.
Dr Hallam Smith: I think it is
very important to keep the content refreshed, as we were hearing
from colleagues earlier, to sustain people's interest in visiting
the building and also to keep the technology and interactives
up-to-date. I think it would be possible to have galleries where
expert content is produced.
Q83 Mr Robathan: According to the
research, earlier you said you only interviewed 12 teachers; was
that the total?
Ms Carnachan: That was the total
of the qualitative research. Obviously on the quantitative side
of things there were a lot more than that.
Ms Banerjee: We did 300 interviews.
Q84 Mr Robathan: Can you just explain
the qualitative sample?
Ms Carnachan: There were 12 interviews
with teachers and they were 45 minutes to an hour, so much more
in-depth conversations talking about their experiences of Parliament,
those who had been already, and what they would like to see from
a visitor centre, what is important to them when they are taking
children on school visits, so going into much more detail about
their expectations.
Ms Banerjee: It is not an unusual
sample for qualitative research. It sounds quite small but it
is after a different type of in-depth information.
Q85 Mr Robathan: The second thing
I had was for MORI. You said that people had the sense that they
are in the way. Any Member of Parliament who has tried to walk
through Central Lobby on a Monday or Tuesday morning might agree,
as I did today. The meat of any visit here, never mind the information
centre, must be a visit to the Palace itself and the Chamber.
That is what people wish to see. I suggest both Chambers actually.
If we were to double the number of people here, did you investigate
at all whether they would find that rather overcrowded?
Mr Martin: We did not at this
point in time, to be honest. There has been comment already but,
no, we did not.
Q86 Mr Doran: Just one very quick
point on the question of numbers because it is quite important
to all the planning. I think we get about 700,000 plus visitors
at the moment and your prediction is 1.3 million. The visitors
we get at the moment are virtually without any marketing whatsoever.
Have any of you built into your figures what marketing will be
done? I think the plan is to have a marketing budget.
Mr Martin: We have not. It is
simply a case of making information available to them and saying
"If this was open would you go?" It is as simple as
that.
Ms Banerjee: Research questionnaires
can act as a market tool as well because we are engaging with
somebody and describing a service to them. That, in effect, is
a piece of information that you are giving to respondents when
they are answering questions, not just asking somebody who is
blind to the idea of a visitor centre at all.
Chairman: We now occasionally have exhibitions
in the Westminster Hall and that regenerates to some extent interest
which could be linked somehow into the visitor centre. Lord Brooke
has asked for a short discussion just amongst the Members of the
Committee, so unless anybody wants to ask any more questions or
raise any more points, thank you very much indeed. We are very
grateful to you.
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