HC Deb 19 December 1969 vol 793 cc435-6W
Mr. Rhodes

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will make a statement on purchase grants for the national museums and galleries after the end of the current financial year.

Miss Jennie Lee

The Government have been considering the level of purchase grants for the national museums and galleries after the end of the current financial year. They believe that the quinquennial system of purchase grants has proved its value. Subject to Parliamentary approval of the estimates they have proposed that for the quinquennium 1970–71 to 1974–75 the total purchase grants shall be £2 million a year. This compares with £1 million in the current financial year and £835,000 a year in the quinquennium 1964–65 to 1968–69. This increase will be accommodated within the programme for public expenditure as a whole as set out in the White Paper "Public Expenditure 1968–69 to 1973–74" (Cmnd. 4234).

The Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries has been asked to advise on the distribution of the £2 million among the national institutions. Its recommendations, which the Government have accepted, are shown in the following table:

£
British Museum 632,000
Victoria and Albert Museum 139,000
Science Museum 8,000
Imperial War Museum 10,000
London Museum 8,000
National Gallery 480,000
National Portrait Gallery 40,000
National Maritime Museum 25,000
Tate Gallery 265,000
Royal Scottish Museum 44,000
National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland 24,000
National Galleries of Scotland (including Scottish National Portrait Gallery and Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art) 152,000
National Library of Scotland 63,000
National Museum of Wales 64,000
National Library of Wales 46,000
2,000,000