§ Mr. Fauldsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will make a statement on the subject of her review of the first year's operation of the new indemnity system covering loans from national collections to local museums announced by her on 12th July 1977; and whether she will specify therein the number of loans effected, differentiating between (a) long-term loans and (b) loans to temporary exhibitions, the number of recipient institutions, indicating whether these have received either: (i) long-term loans, or (ii) loans to temporary exhibitions, or (iii) both categories indicated in (a) and (b), the total indemnity valuation of the items concerned, differentiating between (a) and (b) above and the sums paid since 12th July 1977 in respect of loss of, or damage sustained by, items loaned under this indemnity system, differentiating between (a) and (b) as above.
§ Mr. OakesThe review of the scheme has not yet been completed. The number of loans effected in the first year of the scheme was as follows:
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- (a) 24 (incorporating 189 items) on longterm loan.
- (b) 2 (incorporating 42 items) for temporary exhibition.
The number of recipient institutions was as follows:
- (i) 21 received long-term loans.
- (ii) 1 received loans for temporary exhibition.
- (iii) None received both types of loan.
The total indemnity valuation of the items concerned was £2,094,370 (£2,004,270, long-term loans plus £290,100, temporary exhibition). No payments have been made under the scheme for loss or damage.
§ Mr. Fauldsasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) whether she will specify (a) the number of long-term loans from national collections to local museums which are not covered by the indemnity facilities announced by her on 12th July 1977, (b) the number of recipient institutions concerned, and (c) if exclusion from such facilities is based on the ground that the loans in question were effected before 12th July 1977, or on other grounds;
(2) whether she will extend the principle of the provision of indemnity facilities covering loans from national collections to security-approved local museums established by her announcement of 12th July 1977 to long-term loans which had been effected prior to that date.
§ Mr. OakesWhen the indemnity scheme was announced by my right hon. Friend it was the intention that initially each proposed loan should be considered on its merits; the operation of the scheme would be reviewed after a year and the scheme modified, if necessary, in the light of experience. The review has been started and the number of loans made outside the scheme is a point on which details are being sought. So far no loan has been excluded from the scheme on the grounds that it was effected before the scheme came into operation.