My Lords, I thank noble Lords for their interesting comments and searching questions about the library service. I want to respond to the outstanding points raised today—not necessarily in turn but I hope to cover them all.
The noble Baroness, Lady Bakewell, asked about responsibility and where the buck stops. It is quite clear that the Secretary of State at the DCMS has responsibility. It is his or her duty to superintend and promote the public library service. There is no reduction in accountability here, so that is the person to whom we should all look. Oversight is critical, but, as the noble Lord, Lord Collins, said, oversight was never the role of the ACL.
Threading all the way through this—it does not form part of my speech but it has formed part of the debate—is the perceived crisis within library services resulting from cuts in funding from local authorities. I think all of us have seen library services being cut in our own local authority areas, but in some areas they are mushrooming into something far more exciting than was ever there before. The noble Baroness gave us an example of that: a community facility or activity centre where volunteering is key, where information is held in not only book form—which perhaps most of us would recognise from when we were younger—but in all sorts of digital formats with digital access being available.
The task and finish group will do just that and look at the whole issue and come up with recommendations for the Secretary of State. I fully anticipate that they would involve not only ministries—for example, the Department for Education, DCMS, BIS, Communities and Local Government and, I am sure, more that I
have not thought of—but Arts Council England and a whole host of other bodies. An independent report will come out of this.
My noble friend Lord Dundee asked whether we had looked at what was happening in the EU. Certainly, I anticipate that the task and finish group will consider what library services look like all over the world, not just in the EU but in other states. I imagine that will be part of its remit.
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Any points that I have not addressed today, I am quite happy to cover in a letter to noble Lords. I reiterate that the Government consider that the abolition of the ACL serves the purpose of improving the exercise of public functions, in particular having a regard to efficiency, effectiveness, economy and securing appropriate accountability to Ministers. The function of advising the Secretary of State does not require a statutory body. With advice and guidance from stakeholders, DCMS officials are well placed to perform the function of providing advice to the Secretary of State, including the use of his statutory powers. As such, the ACL is no longer a relevant structure and is an unnecessary duplication of knowledge and sector expertise.
I referred previously to the task and finish group. The proposed functions of this group are far wider than the sole advisory function of the ACL and, importantly, it will be focused on delivery. Unlike the ACL, the membership of the group will be flexible and dynamic so that it can adapt to suit the specific tasks involved. It is also a joint group, reporting to Ministers and the LGA. The group will be open and transparent, and will publish its action plan and regular progress reports. As I said, the Government are of the view that the establishment of the task and finish group, and its range and functions, further negate the requirement for the ACL. The duties of the Secretary of State towards libraries will remain unchanged by the abolition. I commend the order to the Committee.