Dr. John CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many works of art from the Government art collection are currently on loan to each Government Department or office. [20564]
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyThe figures given relate to the core holding only. All works on loan to the Government art collection from public and private collections, all works owned by other Government Departments which the GAC includes on its computerised database to facilitate their administration and care, all works currently on public display in exhibitions and all reproductions are excluded. So too are all works at GAC headquarters—these include works in temporary storage during Government rebuilding projects, works awaiting conservation, photography or framing, works reserved pending transport and installation, as well as those available for reselection. Excluding works in those categories, the current figures for loans to Government Departments and offices from the Government art collection are as follows:
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Number Agriculture and Food Council 2 British Library 1 Cabinet Office 102 Central Statistical Office 7 Charity Commission 2 Civil Service Commission 1 Commonwealth Secretariat 32 Crown Estate Office 8 Customs and Excise 21 Department for Education and Employment 82 Department of the Environment 91 Department of Health 78 Department of National Heritage 154 Department of Social Security 67 Department of Trade and Industry 97 Department of Transport 47 Export Credits Guarantee Department 3 English Heritage 1 Foreign Office: 284 Locations Abroad 4,722 Foreign Office: UK Locations 463
Number Government Actuary's Department 1 Government Conference Centre: Lancaster House 29 Government Hospitality 9 Her Majesty's Treasury 189 Her Majesty's Treasury: Location Abroad 6 High Court of Justiciary 42 Historic Royal Palaces 66 Home Office 101 Inland Revenue 17 Land Registry 1 Legal Secretariat to the Law Officers 28 Lord Advocate's Department 17 Lord Chancellor's Department 592 Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 41 Ministry of Defence 267 Ministry of Defence: Locations Abroad 118 Monopolies and Mergers Commission 24 Museums and Galleries Commission 10 National Audit Office 16 National Gallery 1 National Heritage Memorial Fund 7 National Investment and Loans Office 1 Northern Ireland Office 116 Office of Fair Trading 4 Office of the National Lottery 5 Office of Population Censuses and Surveys 5 Office of Public Service and Science 12 Office for Standards in Education 7 Office of Telecommunications 5 Office of Water Service 5 Overseas Development Administration 18 Palace of Westminster 6 Patent Office 1 Parliamentary Commissioners 7 Parliamentary Council 28 Prime Minister's Office 164 Privy Council Office 48 Property Holdings: Admiralty House 4 Public Record Office 10 Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre 16 Royal Armouries 4 Royal Fine Arts Commission 3 Register of Friendly Societies 8 Royal Hospital 14 Royal Mint 8 Scottish Courts Administration 4 Special Commissioners of Income Tax 2 Scottish Home and Health Department 5 Scottish Land Court and Lands Tribunal 8 Scottish Office 37 Council on Tribunals 5 Treasury Solicitors' Department 7 Government Whips' Office 28 Welsh Office 79 Total 8,237 302W
Government department Defunct organisations in square brackets Missing 1991–96 Missing 1898–1991 Stolen 1991–96 Stolen 1898–1991 [British Maritime Technology] — 2 — — Cabinet Office 1 5 - — Civil Service Commission — 1 — — Crown Prosecution Service — 1 — — Customs and Excise — 18 — — [Department of Education and Science] — 6 — — [Department for Employment] — 4 — — [Department of Energy] — 4 — 1 Department of the Environment 1 48 — 4 [Department of Health and Social Security] — 18 — — Department of Trade and Industry — 22 — — Department of Transport — — — 2 Export Credits Guarantee Department — 1 — — Foreign Office Abroad: 356 buildings 10 196 1 1
Dr. CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage (1) if she will list by Government Department or office how many works of art on loan from the Government art collection are considered to have been(a) missing and (b) stolen for (i) less than five years and (ii) more than five years; [20562]
(2) if she will list by Government Department or office the number of works of art on loan from the Government art collection that are considered to be (a) missing and (b) stolen. [20563]
§ Mrs. BottomleyThe Government art collection, under different aliases, has existed since 1898 but it was not until after the second world war that a retrospective, and necessarily inaccurate, manual record of accessions was created. The first project to computerise the accession records and the current locations of works began in 1981. Given the distribution of the collection in, at the peak, around 600 different buildings in 300 cities across the world, computerisation was not completed until 1993. Tracing the consecutive history of individual works throughout the century, using inconsistent and incomplete manual records, has not always been possible and the fate of some may never be established. Thus, numerical accounts of works which have been long lost can only be approximate in that they reflect records which cannot be reconciled rather than actual lost works.
It is also seldom possible to state exactly whether works have been misplaced or deliberately stolen. The table listing the number of pictures considered to be missing and stolen over the past 98 years from the named Government Departments and offices reflects the GAC's best effort to decide the individual circumstances which caused a particular work of art to leave a particular room in a particular building in a particular city somewhere in the world. "Missing" is not an absolute status; it means a work is not in the room where it was last installed and recorded by the GAC. Each year "missing" works are found again, often in legitimate Government locations where they had been moved without GAC authority and knowledge. Efforts to trace works continue until and unless it can be established that they no longer exist.
Six of the 27 works listed below as missing since 1991 were lost during the emergency evacuations of British embassies in Belgrade and Baghdad. The 27 works include no paintings, 20 prints, two photographs and five watercolours. Of the 10 works stolen since 1991, five are prints, four are watercolours and one is a painting.
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Government department Defunct organisations in square brackets Missing 1991–96 Missing 1898–1991 Stolen 1991–96 Stolen 1898–1991 Emergency evacuations of Embassies 6 — — — In transit and at contractors abroad — — — 20 Foreign Office UK — 14 3 — Her Majesty's Stationery Office — 5 — — Her Majesty's Treasury — 7 — — Home Office 3 9 — — Inland Revenue — 2 — — Lord Chancellor's Department 2 9 — 9 Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food — 4 1 — Ministry of Defence UK 2 53 1 12 Ministry of Defence abroad 2 6 — 5 Northern Ireland Office — 1 — — Overseas Development Administration — 3 — — [Property Services Agency] — 2 — — Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre — — 4 — Scottish Home and Health Department — 1 — — Department Unknown — 3 — —