My Lords, I support my noble friend’s proposal that there should be a requirement for the Secretary of State to make periodic reports to Parliament on the work of the cultural protection fund in supporting the implementation of the Hague convention. I emphasise how much I applaud the Government for creating the cultural protection fund. It is an excellent initiative and greatly to their credit, particularly in this time of austerity. I particularly congratulate the Secretary of State, the right honourable John Whittingdale.
These are difficult times. All the same, we must recognise that a fund amounting to £30 million over four years is not a large amount of money. At Second Reading, the Minister explained that grants from the cultural protection fund would,
“support projects involved in cultural heritage protection; training and capacity building; and advocacy and education, primarily focused in the Middle East and north Africa”.—[Official Report, 6/6/16; col. 584.]
That is a lot of objectives to be funded out of a fairly limited sum of money. Therefore, while praising the Government, I ask them to do everything they can to ensure that the value of the fund is maintained, because these are difficult times in terms of public spending.
How is the British Council developing its expertise in these matters as I understand that this has not been an area of particular responsibility for it in the past and it will need to build up its strength? That leads me to ask what the role of the blue shield will be and whether the Government expect there to be a blue shield unit based in London. As we have noted in the past, this is a remarkable opportunity for Britain to lead internationally in this matter. It is very important in terms of heritage, upholding the Hague convention and our soft power objectives and diplomacy. I would be grateful if the Minister would respond to those questions.