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Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Bill

My Lords, I will seek an answer and return to that, along with the noble Lord’s other searching Committee-like questions, in a second. The conclusion was that removing the statutory restrictions that stop museums deaccessioning works of art lost during the Nazi era would be beneficial to all. It was also felt that legislation should include a sunset clause. I think that point was raised earlier by the noble Lord. In 2008, the Government planned to include clauses in the Heritage Protection Bill to allow national museums to return works of art lost during the Nazi era but it was not possible for the Bill to be included in the congested legislative programme. The Government were therefore understandably keen to support this Private Member’s Bill which, I am glad to say, following a number of amendments made in the other place, now closely resembles the policy proposals we had intended to take forward in 2008. The Bill will give the 17 national museums in England and Scotland named in the Bill a power to transfer an object in their collection, where it is found to have been lost between 1933 and 1945 by an advisory panel designated by the Secretary of State. In answer to the question of the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, that will be the Spoliation Advisory Panel. This is also the case where the Secretary of State, with the consent of Scottish Ministers—in answer to the noble Lord, Lord Maclennan, devolved Scottish Ministers—has approved the advisory panel’s recommendation in respect of a Scottish museum. The intention is to designate the Spoliation Advisory Panel, whose authority and advice is widely acknowledged and respected in this field. Thus, the power to return an object would apply only to those cases where two conditions were satisfied. First, the advisory panel must uphold the claim and recommend the return of the object and, secondly, Ministers must approve that recommendation. The power in the Bill will not override the conditions attaching to objects held in trust. The requirement that the Secretary of State must approve the panel’s recommendation reflects current practice and provides a safeguard in the unlikely event of an irrational recommendation by the panel. The Bill includes a sunset clause, which will ensure that the power in the Bill ceases to have effect 10 years from the date of Royal Assent. The noble Lord, Lord Maclennan, asked whether the duration of the sunset clause was appropriate. I will clarify that in an answer to him, but my understanding is that there was a significant degree of due diligence before that term was specified in the Bill. It was judged that that period would balance the interests of providing access to restitution with some planning certainty for the institutions. As I recall, it also reflected the majority of the views expressed in the consultation. The Bill consists of four clauses. The bodies to which the Bill applies are listed in Clause 1. The power to return victims’ property is set out in Clause 2. This clause sets out the two conditions that need to be met to trigger the power for the trustees of one of the institutions named in the Bill to transfer an object from its collections. Clause 3 defines the advisory panel for the purposes of the Act, as has been discussed. The panel is to be designated by the Secretary of State and he or she may designate only a panel whose functions consist of considering claims in respect of objects relating to events during the Nazi era—1933 to 1945. Clause 4 deals with the Short Title, extent, commencement and the sunset clause. We have had discussions with the devolved Administrations on the Bill. There is no need for these powers to apply to institutions in Wales or Northern Ireland, because the principal museums there are not subject to the same sort of statutory restrictions on the return of an object to a claimant. On the other hand, Scottish national museums are subject to the same sort of statutory restrictions and are included in the Bill, following the passing of a legislative consent motion in the Scottish Parliament. I shall conclude by providing the House with some reassurances and by clarifying two or three specific points that have been raised in the debate. On a point raised by the noble Lord, Lord Janner, I should make it absolutely clear that the principle and practice of consent applies here. This is a power of permission, not compulsion. Museum trustees will continue to take the final decision on whether to return an object that has been recommended for return by the panel. This is in keeping with the long-established arm’s-length principle, which recognises that trustees are responsible for the items vested in their care, and that it is not for Governments to tell the trustees what to do with them. The power in the Bill has been narrowly defined, and linking it to a recommendation by the designated advisory panel will ensure that museums can transfer only items lost during the Nazi era. Those issues were raised by the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, and the noble Baroness, Lady Warnock. The Government consider that, as in the case of human remains on which we legislated in 2005, it is right to allow museums to remove items from the national collections where there are overwhelming moral grounds to do so. The Holocaust era was unique in that it represented a systematic campaign of evil by the Nazis to eliminate whole races of people and their cultures. The widespread and systematic deprivation of property in the Nazi era and the problems faced by individuals seeking to recover their property has also been widely recognised in international declarations as requiring particular measures to remedy these terrible wrongs. The Government are committed to maintaining our national collections and support the role of museum trustees as the guardians of these collections. The Government will resist other measures that would break up and disperse our national collections. The Terezin declaration of 30 June 2009, to which I referred at the beginning of my comments, encourages countries to invest more into carrying out provenance research on items in national collections. UK museums have a very good record on carrying out provenance research into the objects in their collections, and it is commonly recognised that the years 1933 to 1945 require special attention where there are gaps in the provenance during those years. The Government have issued guidance on collecting and borrowing art, which also includes advice on these specific issues. Museums publish information about works in their collections where there are gaps in provenance during that period on a searchable spoliation database located on the cultural property website, www.culturalproperty advice.gov.uk. In response to a specific question, the power in the Bill will not be retrospective. If, after the legislation comes into force, a further claim is made for an item that the Spoliation Advisory Panel has already considered, such as the Beneventan Missal, it will be up to the trustees of the institution concerned to decide whether once again to refer the claim to the panel. I hope that that provides clarity. There was a whole range of taxation questions, not least on how capital gains tax applies to an institution, what obligation there is on the individual, what the inheritance tax threshold obligations are, and the potentially invidious situation raised by the noble Earl, Lord Attlee, of individuals being forced into sale in order to deal with the beneficial consequences of restitution. There is a series of detailed answers to those questions but, in the interests of time, I shall not go through each of them. Our judgment is that it does not make sense to put them in the Bill, as the noble Lord, Lord Maclennan, asked, but I will provide both noble Lords with a detailed exposition of the responses that I have had from HRMC and the Treasury on both those questions, because they are clearly important. In summary, the Bill is a simple, four-clause measure designed, as a number of noble Lords have highlighted, to correct an anomaly in the way that national museums are able to deal with requests for the return of items in their collections that were lost during the Nazi era, and it seeks simply to place all museums on a level footing. I commend it to the House.