§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Minister for the Arts how many works of art from(a) the National gallery, and (b) other publicly owned galleries have been sold in the last year.
§ Mr. LuceThe National gallery is at present barred by its governing legislation from selling pictures from its collection. The other national art galleries for which my Department is directly responsible—the Tate gallery, the National Portrait gallery and the Wallace collection—are also prevented by statute or otherwise from selling any of the works of art in their collections.
The position for local authority museums and galleries varies according to their constitution. Information on sales from their collections is not held centrally.