Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Important Historical Documents

Thursday 1 July 2021 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • UK's export control system allows Ministers to delay export licences for national treasures to give UK buyers time to acquire them.
  • Between 2008 and 2018, 62 items were saved for the nation through this export control system.
  • A public consortium is working to acquire the Honresfield library, which contains unique letters from literary figures like the Bronts, Jane Austen, and Robert Burns.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Barry Sheerman Lab
Culture, Media & Sport
Context

Documents of historical importance are at risk of being exported from the UK. The questioner seeks to ensure these documents remain in the country.

Question

What steps he is taking to ensure that documents of historical importance are retained in the UK?

Answer from Caroline Dinenage

The UK's export control system provides a safety net to protect our national treasures from being sold abroad, whereby Ministers can delay the issuing of an export licence to allow an opportunity for a UK buyer to acquire it. Between 2008 and 2018, 62 items were saved for the nation in this way.

Answered
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Q2 Barry Sheerman Lab
Context

A unique collection of letters from literary figures such as the Brontës, Jane Austen, and Robert Burns has been discovered. There is a need to raise £15 million to keep this collection in the UK.

Question

May I declare an interest as chair of the John Clare Trust, a charitable trust, and one of my daughters is a poet? May I draw the Minister's attention to the fact that we have discovered in recent weeks a beautiful treasure trove of letters from the Brontës, Jane Austen and Robert Burns? It is unique. If we cannot act now and raise £15 million to keep it in this country, it will be broken up and sold at auction in New York. Will the Minister and the Government help us? Could the National Trust, which has huge reserves, help us to keep it in Britain? Most of the literary houses have had a year of no income and are struggling to help and raise this money. We desperately need this collection kept in our country. Will she help and help soon?

Answer from Caroline Dinenage

The Government are delighted that a public consortium led by the Friends of the National Libraries has come together to seek to acquire the Honresfield library. We hope that the fundraising campaign is successful and is able to realise its plans to allocate parts of the collection to libraries around the UK, for the benefit of the public. We will, of course, keep a very close eye on this and I know that the Secretary of State is planning to meet the group shortly.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask about raising £15 million was not directly addressed.

How: We Will Keep A Very Close Eye On This, The Secretary Of State Is Planning To Meet The Group

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