A report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has warned that Britain’s museums and galleries are vulnerable to theft and cyber-attacks, with the government failing to implement concrete changes after recent security breaches. The PAC highlighted the theft of thousands of artefacts from the British Museum and a ransomware attack on the British Library as evidence of serious weaknesses across the sector.
The committee said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) had facilitated discussions about recent incidents but could not identify specific actions taken to improve security. MPs called for stronger oversight of physical and digital security, including wider use of digital record-keeping to prevent items disappearing unnoticed.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of the PAC, said museums were “a treasured part of the fabric of our nation” but were being “let down by a lack of leadership” from government. He noted that while museums generated £563m in self-generated income in 2024-25, a 53% real-terms increase from 2021-22, visitor numbers had not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
The report also raised concerns about governance, with 15% of trustee positions vacant across 15 government-sponsored museums and galleries as of October 2025. The average appointment took 219 days, more than double the government’s 90-day target. MPs urged DCMS to ensure boards had the skills to oversee increasingly complex organisations.
Vernon Rapley, a museum security consultant and former Met police art crime specialist, said museums were vulnerable due to their high-value items and public profile. “The British Museum thefts highlighted the insider threat, while cyber-attacks can cause long-term damage to collection management systems,” he said.
