§ Mr. Whitakerasked the Minister of Public Building and Works whether he will list the public buildings where at present there are works of art from the Tate and other national collections; what is the longest period for which they have been lent; and whether he will plan a public exhibition of all these works of art.
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§ Mr. LoughlinThe buildings in question are the Houses of Parliament, Lancaster House, Marlborough House, the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the Tower of London, 10 and 11 Downing Street, 2, Carlton Gardens, British Embassies at Washington, Paris, Athens, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Vienna and Yaounde (Cameroons); and buildings occupied by the Board of Inland Revenue, Board of Trade Advisory Committee, Cabinet Office, Charity Commission, Civil Service Department, Department of Education and Science, Department of Employment and Productivity, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Home Office, Lord Chancellor's Departments, the Ministries of Defence, Housing and Local Government, Overseas Development, Public Building and Works, Transport, the National Board for Prices and Incomes, National Economic Development Council, National Savings Committee, Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, Privy Council Office and the Treasury.
While some works of art are on indefinite loan others are lent for specific periods. For Tate Gallery pictures the period of loan is limited to five years. In all cases my Department would expect to return any work of art which the Gallery required for public display.
I do not think that these works of art are in general of sufficient importance to justify the cost and dislocation of assembling them for public exhibition. It is in any case my practice to give anyone expressing a particular interest the opportunity to view the work of art in the building in which it is displayed.