§ Lord Mowbray and Stourtonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What improvements have been made to access to the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Scottish Office (The Earl of Lindsay)I am anxious that the people of Scotland should have the fullest possible opportunity to see and appreciate the country's heritage of art and design in appropriate surroundings. At present only one-fifth of the Scottish paintings held by the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) are on permanent public view. It is right that action should be taken to improve the position.
To this end, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland is inviting the NGS Trustees to consider the establishment of a new national loans scheme whereby coherent groups of good quality works of art from the National Galleries are made available for exhibition at suitable local museums and galleries and other appropriate locations throughout Scotland. This initiative would also encourage local museums and galleries to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Heritage Lottery Fund to upgrade their facilities to a standard appropriate to housing works of national importance.
As a further step, the Board of Trustees of the NGS has put to me revised outline proposals to establish a new National Gallery of Scottish Art and Design in Glasgow. These proposals reflect the advice of the National Heritage Memorial Fund that it could not support a project of the scale described in the NGS's original application for Lottery funding towards the capital costs of acquiring and fitting out the former Post Office building in George Square. The new proposals, which take account of that advice, are smaller in scale and more focused on the objective of making available to the public good quality works of Scottish art which are not currently on permanent display.
The trustees are aware that the capital costs of the revised project would need to be met from non-government sources and I would require half of the running costs for at least the first four years to be met from private sources. The provision of the balance from public funds would be a matter for consideration in future public expenditure rounds. The project would also have to meet normal requirements of public sector investment appraisal.
On the basis of these assurances about the funding of the capital and running costs of a Glasgow gallery, we are prepared for further detailed work to go ahead on this proposal, in parallel with the development of the 34WA new national loans scheme initiative, with the objective of maximising access to the national collections.