Reappointments to AIL Panel

The Arts Council, with the support of the Secretary of State for DCMS, has approved the reappointment of Edward Harley OBE for a third term of four years as Chair of the Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) Panel. His third and final term commenced on 21 March 2019.

We have also approved the reappointment of Panel members Jonathan Harris and Barnaby Wright for a third and final term of three years, commencing on 1 August 2019. A list of the members of the AIL Panel can be found here.

Portrait photograph of a man in a dark blue suit looking at the camera — Edward Harley OBE. Photo: Cazenove

The AIL Panel advises ministers on items offered under the Acceptance in Lieu and Cultural Gifts schemes, and where these items, if accepted, should be allocated. For manuscripts, allocation recommendations are made by the Historical Manuscripts Commissioner (HMC) at The National Archives. The Panel also advises ministers on the compliance of approved institutions with Immunity from Seizure regulations and whether objects claimed for exemption from capital taxation, in exchange for being preserved and made available to the public, are pre-eminent.

In recent years the Panel has advised on a number of internationally significant cases – such as Lucian Freud’s collection of 40 works by Frank Auerbach, which was allocated to 20 museums and galleries all over the UK, including The Hepworth Wakefield, National Museum Wales, and Aberdeen Art Gallery.

Oil painting of a hill with a path running through it — The Cornfield by Jacob van Ruisdael © Christie’s

The amount of tax settled on items allocated outside London has increased over the last years: the 2017-18 Annual Report noted that around 85% of the total tax settled was through items allocated to institutions outside the capital, including a Ruisdael landscape painting to Ulster Museum in Belfast, two early Freud portraits to Abbot Hall in Kendall, a collection of Picasso ceramics to Leicester’s New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, and three watercolours, two by Turner and a third by Cozens, to the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester.

Annual report

Cultural Gifts Scheme & Acceptance in Lieu Annual Report 2020/21

We have published the 2020/21 Cultural Gifts Scheme and Acceptance in Lieu annual report which shows that in the last year, 36 cases – spanning a vast range of works of art and other cultural objects worth nearly £54 million – were accepted for the nation under the government’s Cultural Gifts Scheme and Acceptance in Lieu Scheme.