§ 21. Dr. Strossasked the Minister of Education how many local authorities make use of the provisions of the Education Act, 1944, to give financial assistance to art galleries and museums, whether rate-aided or administered by trustees, in England and Wales.
§ Mr. Geoffrey LloydLocal education authorities do not need my approval for expenditure of this kind, and I cannot therefore provide information on this point.
§ Dr. StrossIs it not a fact, nevertheless, that the Minister and previous Ministers have accepted responsibility, because in the past they have supplied percentage grants towards this cost where local authorities have given grants? In view of the fact that we are now faced with a block grant, and this service is essentially educational as well as being part of our cultural heritage, will the right hon. Gentleman say whether he is prepared to assist in future particularly by speaking to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and pointing out how important it is that the provision shall now be made, especially in the provinces, for all museums and galleries?
§ Mr. LloydThe hon. Member is under some misapprehension about the nature of the assistance that local education authorities give to the museums. It is in the nature of a payment in return for the services that the museums can give to schools and further education activities.
§ Mr. M. StewartIs it not a fact that a local authority which had not had an arrangement like that with its museums and which now began to make one would find under present legislation that the cost would fall entirely on the rates? Is that likely to make an authority more or less inclined to enter into arrangements of this kind?
§ Mr. LloydIt is a matter of deciding where a local authority can best obtain the assistance it needs for the particular purposes concerned. It may have been providing it, for example, in the schools themselves or it may find it more economical to get it from the museums, in which case it would do so.