HL Deb 03 April 1979 vol 399 cc1890-2WA
Lord COTTESLOE

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the statement by the Minister for the Arts on 22nd March (col. 1296), referring to the provisions for acceptance of items of the national heritage in lieu of tax, that "there is no question of abandoning these provisions", means that the Government have now decided not to proceed with the proposal in the White Paper Cmnd. 7428 to abandon these provisions.

The MINISTER of STATE, DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION and SCIENCE (Lord Donaldson of Kingsbridge)

The White PaperA National Heritage Fund, Cmnd. 7428, contains the proposal that the acceptance in lieu provision be replaced by an expanded system of private treaty sales. The White Paper also contains the Government's undertaking that any advantages to the various parties involved in the acceptance in lieu provisions will be retained. The owner of the property or object in question will be no worse off financially as a result of settling his tax debt by a private treaty role. Arrangements will be introduced to ensure that owners are put in touch with prospective recipient institutions and, where no contribution towards the cost is now made by recipient institutions, that position will be preserved.

Consultations are now in progress on the best procedure for giving practical effect to the Government's proposals. A procedure has been suggested to the Government under which owners would offer property or objects to the Trustees of the proposed National Heritage Fund; the Trustees would settle with the owner as the Treasury do under the present procedure, so that the owner could use the proceeds to settle his tax debt; and the Trustees would hold the property or objects until they allocated it (on the basis of whatever advice they chose to take) to a suitable institution for permanent retention.

The Government are considering this suggestion and consulting further about it, but a decision must await the outcome of these consultations. So far there has been nothing in the discussions, or the written representations received, to suggest that the undertakings given in the White Paper, that neither owners nor acquiring institutions will be worse off, cannot be honoured.