Culture, Media and Sport CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Brian Russell

To quote Bill Bryson in his “Notes from a Small Island”:

“Most worthwhile things don’t begin to pay for themselves—traffic lights, lay-byes, schools, drains, national parks, museums, universities, old people and the Settle to Carlisle railway line.”

It might be difficult to measure the worth of a museum, but there is no doubt that museums are worthwhile.

Students, from primary school age to university age, flock to Science Museums for inspiration. They come in school parties during term time and with their mums and dads in the holidays. Imagine what is going on in their brains when their faces light up with understanding.

These are the people who are going to grow up to become scientists, mathematicians and engineers. They are the ones who will enter employment, earn salaries and pay income tax. It is they who will set up companies, generate wealth and pay corporation tax.

Go to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester and watch a presentation to school children by volunteers on the “Baby” (the replica SSEM or Small Scale Experimental Machine). The talk often concludes with a volunteer asking the pupils a question along these lines:

“Can you tell us what the computers that come after the ones you have at home will look like … because we cannot tell you?

The people who designed the Baby are long dead.

The people who designed Mainframes are retired; they are here, talking about the Baby.

The people who designed your laptop will soon be retiring too.

The people who will succeed them are still at school.

Please come back in ten years and tell us what computers you have designed.”

June 2013