| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
10.36 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Alan Howarth): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Mr. Wyatt) on securing this debate. His commitment to reading, to books and to the part that books can play in the life of our society is well known in the House. I also thank my hon. Friend the Member for Ilford, North (Ms Perham), who spoke from her background of professional knowledge. I welcome very much holding a debate in the House on the extremely important subject of libraries.
The Government attach great importance to libraries. They are valued institutions in their own right, and they contribute to the Government's objectives in many ways.
They underpin education by providing essential support for children, students and lifelong learners. They enhance public access to the world's store of knowledge and information. They combat social exclusion by helping to bridge the gap between those who can afford access to information and those who cannot. Increasingly, they have a role to play in the modernisation and delivery of public services.
Above all, our libraries are highly respected and cherished by the public, who use them a great deal. I can think of few other public services to which nearly 60 per cent. of the population subscribe. More than 423 million book issues are made each year in England--nearly nine for every man, woman and child. It is that bond with individual users and communities that represents the sector's major strength, and long may it remain.
Libraries fulfil many roles in delivering economic and social benefits to communities. They are broadly based organisations, delivering a multi-faceted range of services to their members.
The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 requires local authorities in England to provide comprehensive and efficient library services and makes it the duty of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to ensure that they do so.
Mr. Bob Russell (Colchester):
Will the Minister give way?
Mr. Howarth:
I hope that the hon. Gentleman will allow me to carry on.
My Department takes that duty very seriously, but the key players in the delivery of public library services, as the legislation makes clear, are the local authorities that are responsible for running them. Decisions about the delivery of the library service on the ground, including decisions about opening hours, are for local authorities to make, rather than for the Government. However, I urge authorities to have proper regard to their statutory responsibilities.
The Government's role is to provide a positive policy framework, within which the service can operate and thrive at the local level. Through the use of annual library plans, we will encourage library authorities to focus attention on various areas of their services, such as current Government initiatives, to ensure that our policy is understood and acted on nationally. We are also, of course, looking to raise standards across the board through the establishment of a new museums, libraries and archives council, and improved arrangements for library service co-ordination and representation at a regional level.
My hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey referred to libraries in schools. He will appreciate that they are not my direct responsibility, but I take a close interest in education matters and I can assure him that I work closely with my colleagues at the Department for Education and Employment. The ministerial teams of that Department and mine are developing a shared agenda, as my hon. Friend would wish us to do. My Department played a role in ensuring that school library services were properly taken account of in the DFEE's "Fair funding" proposals.
Libraries have a major role to play in delivering educational objectives, particularly for life-long learning. They provide ready and free access to the nation's
storehouse of knowledge and information, and theyallow people of all ages the opportunity to maximise their educational opportunities. Libraries are particularly effective in providing access to learning for those who may be less comfortable in a more traditional or formal learning setting.
Mr. Russell:
Will the Minister give way?
Mr. Howarth:
I hope that the hon. Gentleman will forgive me for not doing so, but I have too little time.
Libraries allow learners to set the pace and direction of their own learning. I have referred before to our public libraries as street-corner universities. To ensure that they play a central role in delivering educational services, the Government announced in April 1998 the target of connecting all public libraries to the national grid for learning by 2002 via the public library information technology network.
The development of that IT network is a key Government priority. The new opportunities fund, which was mentioned by my hon. Friend, is providing £20 million for information and communicating technology training of library staff, and £50 million for creating digitised content. Our document, "New Links for the Lottery", published on 27 November 1998 proposes further funding to the network via a new opportunities fund stream to support lifelong learning. We are considering responses to our consultation on those proposals.
My hon. Friend suggested that school libraries were left out of our plans for the network. I assure him that that is not the case. The public libraries network will, as he said, link to the national grid for learning by 2002, producing a network that will link schools--whose libraries will be central--with public libraries and other learning institutions. School librarians will be trained to support the use of the network as part of the new opportunities fund's provision for training teachers and library staff.
My hon. Friend suggested that the British library should be the centre of the network. The British library is a centre of excellence, which provides a specialised service to scholars and information seekers from around the world. That is a vital service, but it is a different service from that envisaged for the public library network. The British library will have a role to play in making available its special collections and national treasures. However, it would not be right to charge it with overseeing the provision of the network.
The Government accept that strategic leadership will be needed to ensure that the libraries sector achieves its full potential for involvement in the learning society, and to direct the creation of the public library network. That is why our recent departmental review proposed the creation of a new body--the museums, libraries and archives council--to provide strategic leadership for the whole sector. Meanwhile, we are strengthening the role of the Library and Information Commission, allowing the British library to focus better on activities more central to its role as the national library. The commission has, as my hon. Friend will know, been instrumental in suggesting how the public library network should be designed and implemented, and it will continue to play the central strategic role that my hon. Friend envisaged for the British library.
My hon. Friend mentioned the British library's digital library project. The British library is continuing to develop plans to achieve a digital capability, and I agree that that will be important in future. The private finance initiative is not the only possible route for that. The British library is exploring alternative solutions since negotiations for a public-private finance project did not produce an acceptable solution.
My hon. Friend mentioned the importance of the legal deposit libraries. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on 17 December our plans for the way forward on legal deposits in the light of our consideration of the report of the independent working group chaired by Sir Anthony Kenny. A copy of that report has been placed in the Library.
Because of concerns about the absence from our national published archive of non-print publications, which are continuing to increase in number and importance, my right hon. Friend has commissioned a detailed voluntary code of practice for the deposit of electronic publications. However, we have accepted the report's conclusion that a statutory system will be needed in the longer term. As my right hon. Friend announced, we intend to move towards legislation on the basis of a minimum burden on publishers once some necessary additional work on definitions and regulatory impact has been carried out.
My hon. Friend mentioned the lack of a legal deposit library in Northern Ireland and asked about a digital version. My right hon. Friend concluded in January 1998, as a result of responses to the 1997 consultation on legal deposit, that there was almost no support for a new deposit library in Northern Ireland. Therefore, he specifically asked Sir Anthony Kenny's working group to examine the scope for improved access in Northern Ireland to deposited material through IT networking. The report's conclusion was that, if an acceptable method of networking deposited electronic material could be agreed, an access point should be located in Northern Ireland. My right hon. Friend has therefore asked Sir Anthony Kenny to examine the scope for the voluntary code to include a basis for the secure networking of CD-ROMs between the deposit libraries in a way that will satisfy copyright holders.
Important first steps towards the library network and an enhanced role for libraries in providing learning opportunities are already being taken. Libraries are extending the educational services that they offer and developing their appeal to those whose educational opportunities may otherwise be limited. Some 200 library learning centres have already been developed, offering services such as information on training and educational opportunities, including careers guidance; provision of basic skills training; courses aimed at women returners; NVQ training for those wanting to enhance skills; and business skills training aimed at small businesses.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |