I should like to add my congratulations to my hon. Friend Mr. Dismore on successfully introducing the Bill to the House. No one could question his dedication to this issue. His sleepover technique is well known in Parliament, and it has resulted in his gaining prominent positions for his Bills. He has considerable expertise in taking forward this type of Bill, and I know that it will be well managed in his hands.

The Government fully support the general intentions behind the Bill, but we will wish to table amendments in Committee to refine the text. I think that that desire is shared by Opposition spokespeople as well. So many years after the end of the holocaust, it is high time that we fulfilled our commitment to change the law in this area. As long ago as 2005, the Government announced that they intended to do just that, and my hon. Friend has given us a good potted history of the events since then. He rightly said that we had long sought a legislative opportunity to take this forward. We had intended to include relevant clauses in the heritage protection Bill but, sadly, it failed to make it into the 2008-09 legislative programme. Thanks to my hon. Friend, however, we now have a solution.

In 2000, the United Kingdom made its own important response, partly in recognition of the internationally agreed 1998 Washington declaration, by establishing the Spoliation Advisory Panel. My hon. Friend took us through what the panel has managed to do. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sir David Hirst, the panel's chairman, and its other distinguished members for the first-class advice that they have provided to us over the years and for all the hard work they have done.

Even though the number of cases that the panel has dealt with is very small, the Government believe that the moral arguments are sufficiently strong to justify the changes that we are seeking to bring about by working with my hon. Friend on this Bill. There are inconsistencies in how claims made to the panel may be resolved. The Bill gives us an opportunity to do something about them.

University museums and those run by local authorities can return items when the panel has upheld a claim and Ministers have accepted the panel's recommendation. However, in the case of the English national museums listed in the Bill, primary legislation prevents the trustees from removing an item from the permanent collection in this way. Claimants have been offered ex gratia payments instead. The aim of the Bill is to enable the trustees to return an item when the panel upholds the claim and recommends a return.

In 2000, the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport in its seventh report stated:

"We consider that the case for special treatment...of alleged wrongful taking during the period 1933 to 1945 has been convincingly established."

Later on, it said:

"Where a claim has been upheld and restitution is seen as appropriate by all parties, it is essential that legislative barriers to such restitution be removed."

In 2006, my Department issued a consultation paper entitled "Restitution of Objects Spoliated in the Nazi-Era". The document considered the main question of whether the statutory restrictions on national museums should be removed and associated issues. The conclusion was that removing the statutory restrictions that stop museums from de-accessioning works of art lost during the Nazi era would be beneficial to all. They also felt that the legislation should include a sunset clause to provide clarity and certainty for everyone involved. I understand that my hon. Friend would like to see that extended to 10 years. Hugh Robertson made several very relevant points about the length of the sunset clause, which we would like to discuss in Committee.

The Government agree with the Select Committee that the case for special treatment of alleged wrongful taking during the period 1933 to 1945 has been more than convincingly established. The aim of the Bill is to enable specified national museums to remove items from their collections and to return them to claimants when the return is recommended by an advisory body established by the Secretary of State and when the Secretary of State accepts that body's recommendation. Such an advisory body already exists in the shape of the Spoliation Advisory Panel. We would intend to specify the museums within the Bill, as we did in the Human Tissue Act 2004, which was drafted to allow nine named national museums to be able to return human remains in their collections in cases where they decided that it would appropriate to do so.

The power to de-accession objects would apply only to those cases in which the Spoliation Advisory Panel upheld the claim and recommended the return of the object, and in which the Secretary of State had accepted that recommendation. I repeat that because it defines the narrow measure that we are trying to introduce. I should also make it absolutely clear that museum trustees will continue to take the final decision; like the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid-Kent, I defend the arm's-length principle in this case. The measure is in keeping with that principle and recognises that trustees are responsible for the items vested in their care; it is not for the Government of the day to tell trustees what to do with them.

The Government have had discussions with the devolved Administrations on the Bill as it stands—and, as it stands, it applies to England and Wales. There is no need for the powers to apply in respect of any named institutions in Wales or Northern Ireland because the principal museums there can already de-accession works from their collections. The Government are in touch with the Scottish Executive about whether they want to be included in the Bill; if they do, we will take the issue forward in Committee. In Committee, we will also touch on the tax issues raised by the hon. Members for Faversham and Mid-Kent and for Rochdale (Paul Rowen). There will need to be discussions with Her Majesty's Treasury and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs about these matters.

To summarise, I should say that the Government's position is that the current arrangement whereby claims are referred to the Spoliation Advisory Panel works well. It is widely accepted by museums and claimants as a useful mechanism for resolving claims. The Government do not see any value in interfering with a system that is working so well. However, we believe that it is fundamentally wrong that the law should prevent museum trustees from returning cultural property when they, and the Secretary of State, accept the advice of the Spoliation Advisory Panel. The situation could be remedied simply—by amending the Government statutes of our national museums. My hon. Friend's Bill provides a long-sought-after opportunity to do that. The Government therefore wish to support the Bill, subject to drafting changes in Committee. It is with enormous pleasure that I commend it to the House.