[holding answer 27 April 2009]: The Government Art Collection comprises some 13,700 works of art. Its main purpose is to promote Britain by the acquisition and display of works of art (mostly by British artists) in the representational areas of major British Government buildings in the UK and abroad, where they are seen by thousands of visitors every year. At any one time some 70 per cent. of the collection is out on display, and the figures given here change on a daily basis.
The latest figures available are:
(a) 2,043 Government Art Collection (GAC) works of art in departmental offices.
(b) 560 in ministerial residences (including the whole of 10 and 11 Downing Street).
(c) 187 in offices of non-departmental public bodies and similar.
(d) 69 on loan to public galleries (including loans to temporary exhibitions).
(e) 5,404 in embassies overseas.
(f) 4,535 currently at the GAC's premises and available for selection and display; 470 of these were earmarked for specific locations (i.e. selected and awaiting installation). Of the rest, three were in commercial storage and 23 were being conserved and/or reframed.
(g) 912 displayed elsewhere (i.e. to organisations which do not fall into the categories a-f, such as in London: Lancaster House, Marlborough House and the Somerset House Trust; and abroad: the Offices of the Council of Europe in Paris and the European Commission Offices in Brussels).