Museums and Galleries Act 1992
Museums and Galleries Act1992
1992 CHAPTER 44
An Act to establish Boards of Trustees of the National Gallery, the Tate Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery and the Wallace Collection; to transfer property to them and confer functions on them; to make new provision as to transfers to and between the collections of certain museums, galleries and libraries; to make provision for and in connection with the vesting of land in the governing bodies of such institutions; to make provision for the financing of such institutions and of the Museums and Galleries Commission; to make further provision with respect to the giving of indemnities against the loss of, or damage to, objects on loan to certain institutions; to change the name of, and to make further provision with respect to, the British Museum (Natural History); and to amend certain enactments relating to museums, galleries and libraries; and for purposes connected therewith.
[16th March 1992]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
The new Boards of Trustees
1 Establishment, constitution, functions and property etc. of new Boards of Trustees.
(1) There shall be bodies corporate known as—
(a) the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery (in this Act referred to as ‘the National Gallery Board’);
(b) the Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery (in this Act referred to as ‘the Tate Gallery Board’);
(c) the Board of Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery (in this Act referred to as ‘the National Portrait Gallery Board’); and
(d) the Board of Trustees of the Wallace Collection (in this Act referred to as ‘the Wallace Collection Board’);
and any reference in this Act to a ‘new Board’ is a reference to any of those bodies corporate.
(2) The Schedules to this Act specified in paragraphs (a) to (d) below shall have effect with respect to the constitution and functions of the new Boards so specified, that is to say—
(a) Schedule 1, with respect to the National Gallery Board;
(b) Schedule 2, with respect to the Tate Gallery Board;
(c) Schedule 3, with respect to the National Portrait Gallery Board; and
(d) Schedule 4, with respect to the Wallace Collection Board;
and references to ‘the Board’ in any of those Schedules are references to that one of the new Boards with respect to which that Schedule has effect.
(3) On the vesting day for a new Board there shall, by virtue of this subsection, be transferred to and vested in the new Board—
(a) all the property and rights which immediately before that day are held by any of the new Board's predecessor Trustees in their capacity as such; and
(b) any liabilities or obligations to which, immediately before that day, any of those Trustees are subject in that capacity.
(4) References in subsection (3) above to property, rights, liabilities and obligations are references to any property, rights, liabilities or obligations whether or not capable of being transferred or assigned.
(5) On and after the vesting day for a new Board—
(a) any agreement (whether in writing or not) which subsists immediately before that day and to which the transferors are a party shall have effect as if the new Board had been the party to it; and
(b) any reference to the transferors in such an agreement or in any other agreement, instrument or document (other than an enactment) in being immediately before that day shall, as respects anything falling to be done on or after that day, be construed as a reference to the new Board.
(6) Without prejudice to the generality of subsections (3) to (5) above, any legal proceedings or applications to any authority pending immediately before the vesting day for a new Board by or against the transferors shall be continued by or against the new Board to the exclusion of the transferors.
(7) The substitution effected by subsections (3) to (5) above of a new Board for the transferors as employer under contracts of employment subsisting immediately before the vesting day for that new Board shall be treated for the purposes of the application of paragraph 17(3) of Schedule 13 to the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978 (continuity of employment on statutory substitution of employers) as the substitution of one body corporate for another body corporate.
(8) If, immediately before the vesting day for the National Gallery Board, any person is custodian trustee of property held on trust for the National Gallery, then—
(a) in the application of subsections (3), (5) and (6) above in the case of that new Board, any reference in those subsections to the new Board's predecessor Trustees or to the transferors includes a reference to the custodian trustee in his capacity as such; and
(b) immediately after the transfer effected under subsection (3) above by virtue of this subsection, the custodian trusteeship shall terminate.
(9) The National Gallery Board shall pay to any person whose custodian trusteeship terminates by virtue of subsection (8) above an amount equal to, and in lieu of, any sums to which that person would have become entitled in connection with the termination of the custodian trusteeship, had the termination been effected otherwise than by this Act.
(10) In this section—
‘the predecessor Trustees’ means—
(a) in relation to the National Gallery Board, the National Gallery Trustees;
(b) in relation to the Tate Gallery Board, the Tate Gallery Trustees;
(c) in relation to the National Portrait Gallery Board, the National Portrait Gallery Trustees; and
(d) in relation to the Wallace Collection Board, the Trustees of the Wallace Collection;
‘the transferors’, in relation to a new Board, means the new Board's predecessor Trustees and includes a reference to any of those Trustees in their capacity as such;
‘the vesting day’, in relation to a new Board, means the day appointed under section 11(4) below for the coming into force of subsections (3) to (6) above in relation to that new Board.
2 The general functions of the new Boards.
(1) So far as practicable and subject to the provisions of this Act, the National Gallery Board shall maintain a collection of works of art, principally consisting of pictures, of established merit or significance, and of documents relating to those works, and shall—
(a) care for, preserve and add to the works of art and the documents in their collection;
(b) secure that the works of art are exhibited to the public;
(c) secure that the works of art and the documents are available to persons seeking to inspect them in connection with study or research; and
(d) generally promote the public's enjoyment and understanding of painting and other fine art both by means of the Board's collection and by such other means as they consider appropriate.
(2) So far as practicable and subject to the provisions of this Act, the Tate Gallery Board shall maintain a collection of British works of art and of documents relating to those works, and a collection of Twentieth Century and contemporary works of art and of documents relating to those works, and shall—
(a) care for, preserve and add to the works of art and the documents in their collections;
(b) secure that the works of art are exhibited to the public;
(c) secure that the works of art and the documents are available to persons seeking to inspect them in connection with study or research; and
(d) generally promote the public's enjoyment and understanding of British art, and of Twentieth Century and contemporary art, both by means of the Board's collections and by such other means as they consider appropriate;
and any reference in this Act to a new Board's collection shall, in its application to the Tate Gallery Board, be taken as a reference to either or both of that Board's collections.
(3) So far as practicable and subject to the provisions of this Act, the National Portrait Gallery Board shall maintain a collection of portraits of the most eminent persons in British history, of other works of art relevant to portraiture and of documents relating to those portraits and other works of art, and shall—
(a) care for, preserve and add to the portraits and other works of art and the documents in their collection;
(b) secure that the portraits are exhibited to the public;
(c) secure that the portraits and other works of art and the documents are available to persons seeking to inspect them in connection with study or research; and
(d) generally promote the public's enjoyment and understanding of portraiture of British persons and British history through portraiture both by means of the Board's collection and by such other means as they consider appropriate.
(4) So far as practicable and subject to the provisions of this Act, the Wallace Collection Board shall maintain the collection of objects known as the Wallace Collection and shall—
(a) care for and preserve the objects in their collection;
(b) secure that the objects are exhibited to the public;
(c) secure that the objects are available to persons seeking to inspect them in connection with study or research; and
(d) generally promote the public's enjoyment and understanding of fine and applied art both by means of the Board's collection and by such other means as they consider appropriate.
(5) Subject to the provisions of this Act, a new Board may, for the purposes of whichever of subsections (1) to (4) above confers functions upon them—
(a) provide education, instruction and advice and carry out research;
(b) enter into contracts and other agreements (including agreements for...
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