§ Mr. Moneyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, in the light of the recommendations of the Nineteenth Report of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, Cmnd. No. 5194, she will exclude British historical portraits to which the criteria of the Reviewing Committee's terms of reference apply, from the classes of material to which a figure of monetary value of £4,000 applies.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasNo. An analysis of applications for export licences when the limit was £2,000 showed that expert advisers found hardly any cases to refer to the reviewing committee under the present limits of value. Moreover, portraits of this range of values are normally within the range of the purchasing power of both national and local institutions. As announced on 30th January, it is proposed to increase the Victoria and Albert Museum and Royal Scottish Museum funds to assist local purchases in the next financial year.
§ Mr. Moneyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, in the light of the recommendations of the 25W Nineteenth Report of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, Cmnd. No. 5194, she will recommend that the fund administered by the Victoria and Albert Museum for assistance to local collections should be substantially increased.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasI refer my hon. Friend to my right hon. Friend's answer of 30th January to the Member for Bristol, West (Mr. Robert Cooke).—[Vol. 849, c.358.]
§ Mr. Moneyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, in the light of the recommendations of the Nineteenth Report of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, Cmnd. No. 5194, she will appoint an independent committee to inquire into the whole problem of the protection of modern documents.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasNo. The subject has been exhaustively examined by the de Beer Committee and later by a working party of officials whose report was the subject of a Green Paper issued by the last Government. My noble Friend has extended the export control to documents more than 70 years old, established a fund of £30,000 for the purchase of documents by local collections, and added photographs to the list of controlled items.
§ Mr. Moneyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, in the light of the recommendations of the Nineteenth Report of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, Cmnd. No. 5194, she will recommend that, in view of the risk that outstanding works of art may be lost to the United Kingdom, particularly at a time when the resources of the National Gallery and the major artistic trust funds have been depleted in saving Titan's "Death of Actæon" for the nation, that consideration should be given to further financial support for the export control.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasMy noble Friend is satisfied with the present arrangements, which have been recently improved. These include regular purchase grants to the national institutions totalling £2 million a year; special grants for exceptional purchases if the merits of the case justify; assistance to local collections;26W substantial financial benefits for owners who retain outstanding works of art, or who sell them by private treaty to national, university or local authority collections, or offer them to the Inland Revenue in lieu of estate duty; and exemption from estate duty of bequests to national, university and local authority collections.
My hon. Friend the Minister of State, Treasury, announced in this House on 20th June, 1972 an extension of the field in which owners of works of art are entitled to the financial benefits mentioned. The exemption from estate duty of bequests to public collections was announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1972 Budget; and as my noble Friend announced on 30th January, 1973, grants to assist local purchase will, subject to Parliamentary approval, be substantially increased in April.
§ Mr. Moneyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, in the light of the recommendations of the Nineteenth Report of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, Cmnd. No. 5194, she will approve that a simple statement of the provisions in the various Finance Acts which may assist United Kingdom owners to retain works of art, or encourage them to dispose of works of art to public collections or to the Treasury rather than sell them abroad, may be prepared and made widely available.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasA statement is under preparation and will be issued by the Treasury as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Moneyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will appoint a standing committee to review the control of works of art falling within the terms of the Waverley criteria by semi-public bodies, such as universities, colleges, schools and charitable foundations.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasNo. The Waverley criteria relate not to the sale, but to the export of works of art. They are not involved unless the owner applies for an export licence. My noble Friend sees no grounds for seeking to regulate the sale as such of works of art by the bodies referred to many of which are private and not public.
27W
§ Mr. Moneyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will make a statement with regard to the progress of the preparation and the listing of exceptional art masterpieces announced for consideration by the Under-Secretary of State on 22nd July 1971, in the OFFICIAL REPORT, volume 821, column 1842, for the purpose of their retention in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasThe position is as I stated in the debate on Museums (Purchase Grants) on 31st January.—[Vol. 849, c. 1523.]