§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what attempts her Department has made to find a purchaser who will keep in the United Kingdom the bible on which King George III swore his coronation oath in 1761; and if she will make a statement. [39023]
§ Mr. SproatA licence to export the George III coronation bible was applied for in March this year. The granting of the licence was objected to by my Department's expert adviser and the case was referred in the normal way to the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art.
My Department accepted the committee's recommendation that a decision on the export licence application should be deferred for three months to give an opportunity for a purchaser to come forward to offer to buy the bible at or above the fair market price of £350,000. A news release announcing this decision was widely circulated on 19 June 1995.
At the end of the three-month period no offer to purchase had been made, nor were my officials aware of any other interest in purchasing the bible. The export licence was therefore issued and the bible exported in September of this year.
A report on this case is contained in the 1994–95 report of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art which was presented to Parliament on Tuesday 24 October, copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House.