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Arts Council England has said it is considering selling some of its public collection so it can acquire other works.

This would herald a new move for the council, which has not sold any of its thousands of works before.

Dame Liz Forgan, the council's chair, told a group of MPs in the Culture Select Committee it "was not out of the question" and was" being considered."

Up to a third of its collection is loaned out at any one time.

The government's Spending Review announced last year it was cutting Arts Council England's budget by almost 30%.

The council's chief executive, Alan Davey, said they would like to increase the amount of work loaned out at any given time to 50%.

He added that not many people knew that they could borrow from the council's collection.

The collection includes works by the likes of Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, Henry Moore and Bridget Riley.

'Fair and decent'

Bacon's Head VI work is currently being loaned to the Leeds Art Gallery, while Hockney's California Seascape is at Quad in Derby.

The Arts Council collection was founded in 1946 and is the largest national loan collection of modern and contemporary British art in the world.

It distributes money to hundreds of arts venues, theatre groups and galleries.

When the cuts were announced, its spokesman said they would have "a significant impact on the cultural life of the country".

But on Tuesday, Dame Liz said the cuts were "fair and decent but tough for the arts."

Arts Council England is now also set to take on the Museum, Libraries and Archive (MLA).