§ 2.54 p.m.
§ Lord StrabolgiMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will give details of the legal ownership of the important paintings housed at Kenwood in the care of the Greater London Council.
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, the paintings are held in trust by custodian trustees, in this case the Greater London Council, under a trust deed confirmed by Act of Parliament, the Iveagh Bequest (Kenwood) Act 1929. Any proposal to sell the pictures held under trusteeship arrangements would involve considerable legal complications.
§ Lord StrabolgiMy Lords, I thank the noble Earl for that reply. May I ask the Government to confirm that the important paintings housed at Kenwood, such as the Gainsborough, the Vermeer and the Rembrandt could not be sold without an Act of Parliament?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, I would not like to go quite so far as that, but the noble Lord is right that there are complications and that it is an Act of Parliament which is in question.
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that it might help to clarify the matter if I were to read to him what I hold in my hand—
§ Several Noble Lords: No!
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyThen I will paraphrase it. It would be better if I were allowed to quote, because what I want to do—
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, is the noble Earl aware that what I should like to do, if I may, is to quote to him a statement made in County Hall—
§ Several noble Lords: Order, order!
§ The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Baroness Young)My Lords, I think it would be very helpful to the House if the noble Lord would put his remarks in the interrogative form.
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, I stand corrected. I should like to ask the noble Earl whether he is aware that in another place—in fact, the County Hall—the chairman of the arts and recreation committee, Mr. Tony Banks, said that he was fully aware that Kenwood was not in his own legal possession and that the GLC 562 had no intention whatsoever of disposing of any property there.
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord. I myself had got that same quotation down as an answer.