HL Deb 01 December 1959 vol 219 c1078WA
LORD MANCROFT

asked Her Majesty's Government:

  1. 1. If they will state the approximate number of pictures in the national collections (excluding prints and small drawings) which are not readily on view to the lay visitor;
  2. 2. How many pictures from the national collections have, during the last accountable year, been on loan or display away from their permanent home.

THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (THE EARL OF DUNDEE)

1. There are about 1,775 pictures for which 24 or 48 hours' notice is requested of the visitor. This includes 673 in the reference section of the National Gallery to which access is difficult at present, owing to building reconstruction, but which it is hoped to make readily available early in 1961.

2. About 2,000 during the financial year 1958–59.

House adjourned at nineteen minutes past five o'clock.