§ Mr. Fauldsasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, further to his reply to the hon. Member for Warley, East on 3 December, Official Report, c. 193, he will in future treat the moneys allocated to the local museums' purchase fund as analogous to those purchase funds allocated to national museums with discretion given to their trustees in the application of the moneys granted for that purpose with the difference that in the case of the local museums' fund the discretion to make and to vary general rules for the administrative application of moneys forming part of the fund would become the responsibility of the Department concerned.
§ Mr. BrittanNo. The separate purchase grants of the national museums and galleries are for the enhancement of the collections of the individual institutions. In contrast, the local museums purchase fund facilitates the enhancement of the collections of local institutions generally. The rules drawn up by the Office of Arts and Libraries enable assistance to be given to as many museums as possible within the limited resources available for this purpose. Within the rules those administering the fund have total discretion.
I am not aware of any occasion on which the need for Treasury approval of a variation of the normal rules has resulted in a local institution failing to raise the money needed to finance an acquisition.