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823 Public Libraries and Museums Act 1 DECEMBER 2010 Public Libraries and Museums Act 824
1964 (Amendment)
1964 (Amendment)
[Alison McGovern]
They’re not good enough for the people in your area.
They need a library service that provides public
education”—and for a very good reason. My argument
is that this public education role should be extended to
the wider cultural service. There are lots of people in
local authorities up and down the country who are
fearful of what is to come. My question is what kind of
country do we want to be? Do we want to be the kind of
country where culture is, by and large, for those who
already access it? Or do we want to be the kind of
country where culture is for everybody and where local
authorities fulfil their responsibility in involving people?
I know that there is a real appetite among local
authorities to take on that role. When I put the word
out that I was seeking to ask leave to introduce my Bill,
I asked people to come forward with examples. I would
like to quote Councillor John Warmisham from Salford.
I do not know whether Councillor Warmisham agrees
with my Bill—he might not—but he told me that the
best example of what can be done is that of Salford
Quays:
“First we had the Lowry, which attracted the Imperial War
museum in the north, and this laid the foundation for MediaCity.
This will give us more jobs than when we had the docks in
Salford”.
That, coming from a local councillor, is a powerful
example of the good that culture can do.
There is sometimes a view in the cultural sector that
local authorities do not care about cultural services
because they do not consider them to be as important
as housing or social services, but there are many councillors
out there who really do care. I want this Bill to start a
debate, to highlight those councils that do great work
and to determine whether we need protection in law for
the cultural services provided by local authorities. I
think that we do; and we at least need to have that
discussion.
In Merseyside, we know—probably better than many
other parts of the country—the massive value of culture
to places. Of course, this is about the economy, and I
must mention the impact that City of Culture ’08 had
on Liverpool, Merseyside and the wider north-west. I
know that people will understand the importance of
that, but this is also about the strength of community
that was created at the time. People have pointed out to
me examples of the work that went on to bring culture
not only to Liverpool city centre but to the wider area
of Merseyside. I know from experience in my own
constituency how empowering it was for the young
people and older people in our communities when the
cultural services in the local authorities brought them
together to discuss their history and their heritage. We
need to ask whether that needs some protection in law.
The 1964 Act has been a vital backstop to our library
services at a time when they feel under constant threat
of being de-prioritised, driven down and questioned. I
have every sympathy with local authority leaders, who
are having to make terribly difficult decisions, but the
1964 Act is an important check on what might happen.
It ensures that we will never have to face the situation
that my own grandfather faced when he was growing up
in the inter-war years. He used to go to Liverpool
central library and, I confess, he used to steal books
because it was not possible to borrow library books for
free at that time. The Act is important because it provides
a backstop and enables the Government to question
any local authority that is proposing to decimate its
library services.
We all know the importance to our own constituencies
of the local art gallery, the museum and the local
theatre. We have all seen young people from our schools
gain confidence from coming into the theatre for their
first performance. My reason for introducing the Bill is
simply to ask whether we want to be the kind of
country in which those services are available to everybody.
Do we want the Secretary of State to take responsibility
for those services? Such a task need not be prescriptive
or demanding, and it would not require a large amount
of funding, but it would allow local people to appeal to
the Secretary of State and say, “Please stop. We don’t
want our local cultural services to close.”That is important
for all of us.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,
That Alison McGovern, Tristram Hunt, Stephen Twigg
and David Miliband present the Bill.
Alison McGovern accordingly presented the Bill.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on
Friday 17 June 2011, and to be printed(Bill 118).