Hansard

In my role as Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, I want to offer some final thoughts on the provisions of the Burrell Collection (Lending and Borrowing) (Scotland) Bill and the impact that it will have on the Burrell collection.

As members will be aware, the Burrell collection is one of the most prominent and varied collections in Scotland. It is, without doubt, a collection of international significance in terms of the history of art and antiquities. The 9,000-strong collection was assembled by Sir William Burrell as he travelled widely around the world. As we have heard, in 1944 he gifted his remarkable collection to the city of Glasgow, along with the funds to erect a new building within which to house his treasures. Now, nearly 70 years after his bequest, the bill aims to secure the long-term sustainability of that building and to look at new ways of promoting his collections to a wider audience, thereby allowing more people to learn about and enjoy them than ever before.

The bill has been considered by the committee and by Parliament in the preliminary stage debate. Throughout much of the bill’s consideration, it has been clear to me that the main concerns have been the very sensitive issue of overturning some of the express wishes of Sir William Burrell; what will happen to the items that he so carefully collected—some of which are fragile and delicate, and many of which are priceless and irreplaceable; and the increased risk of harm to those items if they are allowed to be loaned internationally to other institutions.

The committee did a thorough job of considering those sensitive issues as part of its analysis of the evidence. As well as weighing up the risks and opportunities that the bill offers, the members of the committee looked back at Sir William Burrell’s lifetime and asked themselves what he might have done were he faced with the same questions today, in a world in which science and technology are markedly different to what he knew.

The committee’s analysis led it to conclude that Burrell was a lender who wanted to share his collection with the people, not just in Glasgow and Scotland, but further afield through loans within Great Britain. The preliminary debate did not find any fault with the committee’s acceptance of the bill’s proposals, and we are now at the final stage of the bill’s passage.

This Government believes that cultural participation can be increased by maximising the number and range of people who see collections. Encouraging visits and the enjoyment of museums is a key aim of “Going Further: The National Strategy for Scotland’s Museums and Galleries”; allowing lending from the Burrell collection is consistent with that aim. Lending from the collection and borrowing by the collection could be done only in agreement with the Burrell trustees on a case-by-case basis. A tour and lending of individual items would bring the collection to the attention of an international audience and would enable people from all over the world to see and appreciate it, thus raising its profile and putting Glasgow—and Scotland—on an international stage.

This year of homecoming, when the eyes of the world are on Scotland for the Commonwealth games and the Ryder cup, is an opportunity for all Scotland’s cultural institutions to build on their already impressive international image. The proposed ability of the Burrell collection to lend and tour is a great example of that. The bill will enable the collection to promote Scotland and will enable awareness of the collection to be raised while the building is refurbished to display more of the 9,000 works of art that it holds.

The committee’s report and the preliminary debate considered the risks to care and preservation that are posed by the prospect of international transportation of art works. The bill committee’s meticulous report balanced those criticisms against the benefits that could be achieved by increasing access to the collection and raising the funds to support restoration of the building. It is worth noting that the evidence suggests that damage occurs during packing and unpacking of items—something that would happen whether an item was being transported across Glasgow or to the other side of the world, or being stored away while a building was refurbished.

As I have said previously, we can see from the massive success of the Scottish national portrait gallery, the national museum of Scotland and, in Glasgow, the Kelvingrove museum refurbishment and the new Riverside transport museum, what can be achieved by investing in cultural institutions and bringing our museums up to date for the 21st century: it results in soaring visitor numbers and increased customer satisfaction. Given its significance, it seems only logical that the Burrell collection should be next.

The Scottish Government thanks Parliament for its consideration of the bill and supports the bill’s being passed. With that, I bring my remarks to a close, and record again my thanks to the bill committee. Private bill committees are a frequently unsung role and responsibility of Parliament, but private bills are as much a part of parliamentary democracy as bills that are introduced by committees or, indeed, by the Government. I thank the committee members for the diligence and duty that they demonstrated under the stewardship of Joan McAlpine.