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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