HC Deb 11 February 1955 vol 536 cc259-60W
Mr. Kerr

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether he can yet state the terms of the new Treasury Minute relating to the Administration of the Tate Gallery.

1955 Mr. H. Brooke

Under the provisions of the National Gallery and Tate Gallery Act, 1954, the Tate Gallery will become an independent institution on 14th February, 1955. The following is the text of a Treasury Minute dated 5th February, 1955, relating to the administration of the Gallery:

Treasury Minute dated 5th February,

1. The First Lord calls the attention of the Board to the provisions of the National Gallery and Tate Gallery Act, 1954, whereby the Tate Gallery will be established as an independent institution. It will constitute the national collections of British painting, of modern foreign painting, and of modern sculpture.

2. The Act comes into operation on the appointed day from which date Their Lordships' Minutes of 3rd August, 1916, and 24th March, 1917, will no longer be operative.

Constitution of Board of Trustees

3. The First Lord is of the opinion that the Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery, in whom will now vest the Tate Gallery collections and Trust funds, should consist of not more than 10 members, including four practising artists, with representation of the National Gallery Trustees on the Tate Gallery Board and of the Tate Gallery Trustees on the National Gallery Board; and that their term of office should be seven years, any retiring trustee being ineligible for immediate reappointment.

4. The First Lord proposes that the following trustees who are serving on the appointed day should continue in office until the expiration of their respective terms:

  • Sir Colin Anderson (30th May, 1959).
  • Edward Bawden, Esq., C.B.E. (23rd May, 1958).
  • Professor William Coldstream, C.B.E. (31st March, 1955).
  • The Hon. John Fremantle, M.A., D.L. (20th May, 1960).
  • Professor Lawrence Gowing, C.B.E. (25th July, 1960).
  • Henry Moore, Esq., Litt.D. (26th July, 1956).
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  • John Piper, Esq. (17th November, 1961).
  • Philip Dennis Proctor, Esq., C.B. (2nd May, 1959).
  • Professor Lionel Robbins, C.B. (22nd July, 1959).
  • Sir Osbert Sitwell, Bart. (23rd May, 1958).

Administration and Finance

5. The trustees will be responsible for the administration of the Gallery, including its Trust funds and Grant-in-Aid, and for decisions on all matters of policy concerning the Gallery, including those relating to:

  1. (a) Acquisitions;
  2. (b) Loans to the Gallery;
  3. (c) Loans from the Gallery;
  4. (d) Exhibitions;
  5. (e) Publications and reproductions.

6. On the appointed day, the Director of the Tate Gallery will succeed the Director of the National Gallery as Accounting Officer for the Vote of the Tate Gallery; and he will then be responsible to the Trustees of the Tate Gallery in financial matters as well as for the day-to-day administration of the Gallery.

Loans

7. The First Lord understands that, in exercising their powers of loan under the National Gallery and Tate Gallery Act, 1954, the Trustees of the Tate Gallery will set a definite term to loans of works of art from the Gallery and that, save in exceptional circumstances, loans will not be made for periods exceeding five years.

My Lords approve and direct that copies of this Minute be sent to the Trustees of the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery.