For information - this press release on the Culture and Recreation Bill
has some items of direct interest to libraries, e.g.
- legislation to set up Culture Online - "presenting and promoting
the very best of Britain's culture, heritage and science to the
whole world...
"Culture Online will be a living, evolving and interactive Website
using the latest advances in digital technology to make the best from
our cultural institutions available to the greatest number. As well
as providing an archive of cultural and scientific material, it will
also - uniquely - combine this with innovative links to living
experts and practitioners who will help put material into context."
- legislation to abolish the Library Advisory Council for England;
- legislation to enable the British Library to establish subsidiary or
trading companies.
Stuart Brewer
-----------------------------Forwarded Press Release---------------
DCMS 323/2000
15 December 2000
THE CULTURE AND RECREATION BILL
First steps to create Culture Online - the best of British culture
and heritage available to the world online for the first time
Legislation to set up a major new presence on the Internet - Culture
Online - presenting and promoting the very best of Britain's culture,
heritage and science to the whole world, was published today.
The Culture and Recreation Bill will also implement proposals arising
from the Department's Comprehensive Spending Review. It will simplify
and clarify the way in which the Department's quangos operate, and
reduce their number. It also contains measures to help improve safety
at sports grounds.
Culture Online will be a living, evolving and interactive Website
using the latest advances in digital technology to make the best from
our cultural institutions available to the greatest number. As well
as providing an archive of cultural and scientific material, it will
also - uniquely - combine this with innovative links to living
experts and practitioners who will help put material into context.
Specifically focused on enriching the school curriculum and
increasing access to currently under-utilised assets such as the
expertise of artists, it will also showcase the best new talent
within the arts. Culture Online will be able to use the assets and
knowledge of public institutions, the creativity of artists, and the
expertise of media industries.
The Bill is in six parts, containing 52 clauses and seven Schedules.
Safety at Sports Grounds
The Bill reconstitutes the Football Licensing Authority as the Sports
Ground Safety Authority so that it can share its expertise with
sports other than football. The Bill also abolishes the FLA's current
licensing regime as the Government believes this is no longer
necessary. The FLA's duty to review local authorities' discharge of
their safety certification functions in relation to Premier and
Football League grounds will remain.
Parks Regulations
The Bill will allow the designation of regulations made under the
Royal Parks Regulation (Amendment) Act as 1926 as "fixed penalty
regulations" and the establishment of a fixed penalty regime which
will apply when an offence is committed in relation to one of these
regulations. An officer will be able to offer a person who has just
committed such an offence the opportunity to discharge liability to
conviction by payment of a fixed penalty. Payment of a fixed penalty
will not be mandatory and the person may choose to proceed to court.
English Heritage
The Bill formalises the merger of English Heritage and the Royal
Commission on Historic Monuments in England (RCHME). It provides
English Heritage with powers to undertake functions relating to
underwater archaeology and also expands the powers of English
Heritage to so that it can carry out trading activities overseas.
Other provisions
The Bill also:
- provides the Secretary of State with a statutory basis for making
grants to the Arts Council of England (which has been funded until
now under the annual Appropriation Acts);
- allows the Film Council, the Commission for Architecture and the
Built Environment and Resource to become statutory bodies and
provides the Secretary of State with a statutory basis for making
grants to them;
- enables the Secretary of State to appoint a person to undertake, or
to assist him with, the task of certifying a film as a British film
for purposes relating to taxation;
- abolishes the Library Advisory Council for England;
- enables the Secretary of State to make an order, following
consultation with the governing bodies concerned, to amend
legislation in relation to appointments to the governing bodies of
various national museums and galleries;
- enables the British Library to establish subsidiary or trading
companies;
- ends the Secretary of State's obligation to use parts of Osborne
House and grounds for the benefit of members of the Armed Forces and
the Civil Service;
- removes the requirement for the Secretary of State to give written
consent for the erection of a public statue in a public place in
Greater London;
- changes the name of the English Tourist Board to the English
Tourism Council (ETC) and varies, or gives power to vary, the
membership of the ETC and other national tourist boards; and
- enables the staff and former staff of various non-departmental
public bodies to be transferred to the Principal Civil Service
Pension Scheme.
-----------------------------
Pat Wressell Associates
36 Highbury
Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 3EA
Tel: +44 (0) 191 281 3502
Fax: +44 (0) 191 212 0146
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