Money collected by the UK government from banks fined for wrongdoing is to be redistributed in-part to the education sector, with Cambridgeshire’s Imperial War Museum to benefit by around £8m (US$12.5m, €10m) following a plea from a local member of parliament.
Chancellor George Osborne offered the money to the museum following a plea from Cambridge South MP Andrew Lansley.
The museum identified £2m (US$3.1m, €2.5m) that it was able to make in cuts, but the museum needs to save a further £2m more by closing its primary school education service.
Several banking institutions had been fined millions of pounds after being found to have manipulated inter-bank interest rates (Libor).
As a result the Imperial War Museum will now receive £8m between 2015 and 2019 to help support the institution’s education service.
"Some 50,000 pupils visit Duxford on school trips every year," said Lansley in an open letter to the chancellor. In reply, Osborne said: "I think the continuation of a project such as this undoubtedly fits the bill. The focus on the Great War and other forthcoming commemorations make activities like this doubly important."
