Museums and Galleries (Hansard, 20 April 1988)

§ Mr. Fisher

To ask the Minister for the Arts (1) whether he has figures updated from the 1980 Department of Education and Science review of the Victoria and Albert museum conservation department for(a) the proportion of 16th to 20th century miniatures which now require conservation; (b) how many 16th to 20th century miniatures now require major treatment; (c) how many objects in the prints and drawings departments now require urgent treatment and (d) how many items in the reserve collection of tapestries are now decaying;

(2) what have been the receipts from the sale of Army objects in the collections of (a) the British museum and (b) the Victoria and Albert museums in each of the past 10 years;

(3) whether the Clore gallery at the Tate gallery has a computerised alarm system; and if he will make a statement;

(4) what he estimates would be the cost of introducing computerised alarm systems at (a) the Tate gallery and (b) the Victoria and Albert museums;

(5) whether the collections in (a) the Tate gallery, (b) the British museum and (c) the Victoria and Albert museum are insured; and if he will make a statement;

(6) whether, pursuant to paragraphs 4.17 of the National Audit Office report "The Management of English Museums", he will name the collection of manuscripts in the Victoria and Albert museum's national 469W art library which, according to that report, is in a distressing condition with widespread deterioration of paper and bindings; and what is its estimated value;

(7) whether he will list the off-site storage locations of (a) the British museum and (b) the Victoria and Albert museum and indicate (i) which are devoted solely to storage and (ii) the storage space of each in square metres;

(8) what estimates he has of the cost of installing (a) temperature controls, (b) humidity controls and (c) an air filteration system for the storage of the British museum's prints and drawings department;

(9) how many duplicates of objects are in the collections of (a) the British museum and (b) the Victoria and Albert museum;

(10) how many objects in the collections of (a) the British museum (b) the Victoria and Albert museum have become useless for the purposes of the collection over the past 10 years by reason of (a) damage, (b) deterioration or (c) infestation;

(11) whether, pursuant to paragraphs 2–4 of the National Audit Office report, "The Management of National Museums" he will list the potential acquisitions which have been rejected by (a) the Tate gallery, (b) the British museum and (c) the Victoria and Albert museum in each of the last five years on the grounds of consequential resource costs;

(12) how many objects in the collection of (a) the British museum and (b) the Victoria and Albert museum have been (i) given away, (ii) sold or (iii) transferred to other museums and galleries, over the past 10 years; and whether he will list all such objects whose value is greater than £1,000;

(13) how many professional and qualified staff were employed in conservation at (a) the Tate gallery, (b) the British museum and (c) the Victoria and Albert museum in (i) 1977 and (ii) 1987;

(14) what information is available to his Department, pursuant to paragraph 1.10 of the National Audit Office report, "Management of National Museums", Cm. 394, to make it possible to identify areas where action is most urgently required at (a) the Tate gallery, (b) the British museum and (c) the Victoria and Albert museum;

(15) how many objects are in the collection of (a) the British museum and (b) the Victoria and Albert museum.