MSPs have been told "significant resources" are needed to fulfill a commitment to establish a museum of slavery in Scotland amid concerns the country is being outpaced by England and Wales in work in the area.

The demand follows a report, published in 2022 by the Empire, Slavery and Scotland's Museums (ESSM) project, sponsored by the Scottish Government and managed by Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS).

That work came in the wake of a debate in Holyrood about how Scotland should address its colonial legacy which was sparked by the death of George Floyd in the United States and the influence of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Ministers accepted the recommendations of the group - chaired by Professor Sir Geoff Palmer of Edinburgh's Heriot Watt University - in January this year including the first to establish a “dedicated space” to “tell the story of Scotland’s role in imperial trade, colonial conquest and historic slavery" and that a new organisation should be created to lead the work.

Professor Sir Geoff Palmer (Image: PA) The project estimated that the new organisation to set up up the new museum would cost £5m over an initial four years to set up and would then require ongoing support.

However, ministers said they couldn't afford £5m describing the cost as "currently unachievable" and instead committed just £200,000 to “begin work addressing the recommendations" which included £100,000 for a steering group to advance the recommendations.

The Scottish Government said it would “use the resources we do have available to transparently build an effective, resilient organisation which contains the necessary skills to identify and acquire additional funding streams to allow this crucial work to progress and develop over coming years.”

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It also asked the steering group to “work with Museums Galleries Scotland who will facilitate a collaborative piece of work examining how [the new] organisation can be formed and begin its work".

Now the matter is to come up before MSPs with Holyrood's culture committee holding a short inquiry to "consider the progress made in relation to the Empire, Slavery and Scotland’s Museums project."

MSPs on the committee want to hear views on the Scottish Government's response, get an update on what the museums sector is doing to take on the recommendations and hear about what is being done to set up the new organisation to spearhead work in the area.

Lucy Casot, chief executive, Museums Galleries Scotland along with Zandra Yeaman, and Elena Trimarchi, members of the Empire, Slavery and Scotland’s Museums will be among those giving evidence to MSPs tomorrow.

In a joint submission to the committee MGS and ESSM told the committee progress "has not been as fast as hoped for" and that the work will "require significant resources."

The organisations warned MSPs: "Progress has not been as fast as hoped for, largely because the group all have busy day jobs.

"However, the recent recruitment for a co-ordinator will give the group the capacity to drive things forward at speed from now on."

On funding, they added: "The work to deliver the ESSM recommendations will require long term commitment. It will also require significant resources to enable the scale of change required for Scotland’s museums to truly serve all of Scotland’s people. The ESSM Steering Group recommended that an initial £5m was required to take forward Recommendation 1".

The submission went on to note "how Scotland’s activity on this subject compares to other countries".

It stated: "This year, the Welsh Government published an action plan to become an anti-racist nation by 2030. Recognising the potential for museums to contribute to achieving this goal, they have committed £5m in multi-year grant funding for 2022-2025 to support this, including

funding for arm’s length bodies and local, regional, and grassroots organisations."

It continued: "In England, a major capital investment will see the development of the world’s first museum dedicated to transatlantic slavery, alongside the redevelopment of the Liverpool Maritime Museum at a total cost of £58m."

In his introduction to the 2022 report Professor Sir Geoff Palmer highlighted findings from a consultation which found many Black and ethnic minority people believed museums contributed towards racism.

"For many Black and minority ethnic people, not only are museums part of the cultural landscape of racism, but that, in their current state, they are contributing to the problem," he said.

"This has eroded the relationship between Black and minority ethnic communities in Scotland and our museums and galleries, leading to a lack of trust."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government fully accepted the recommendations of the independent steering group set up to consider Scotland’s role in empire, colonialism and historic slavery and how our history is interpreted in our cultural spaces.

“We provided £200,000 in 2023-24 to continue this work and to begin addressing those recommendations. While progress is still underway, it remains vital that this work is experience-led and aims to address historic injustice.

“We welcome the increasing awareness and public recognition of the difficult aspects of our country’s history, as well as the wider appreciation of those who opposed slavery and campaigned against it.”