British Library Board (Power to Borrow) Bill (First sitting)

Ian Paisley Excerpts

Committee stage & Committee Debate: House of Commons
Wednesday 30th September 2020 Public Bill Committees

[Tracy Brabin]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Certainly, when I sit in the reading rooms of the British Library, I see international students from all over the world. The library is part of the soft power that draws the cleverest people from across the world to London, and will hopefully draw them to Leeds.

I want the library to keep growing and expanding its outreach work. In many communities, libraries have been lost or cut, so it is important that exhibitions and galleries are not confined to King’s Cross. The library should always be seeking opportunities to get out to new areas. Indeed, it recently produced pop-up displays in over 20 partner libraries across the UK, through its Living Knowledge Network. That is the sort of innovation that I encourage; let us hope that we see more of it.

It is easy to look excitedly at the possibilities for the future and ignore the elephant in the room. Covid has impacted all walks of life, and the British Library has not been exempt. It was closed for four months, and even now, after reopening, footfall is significantly suppressed due to social distancing requirements. Of course, this has a major financial impact, and with visitor numbers a fraction of what they were, the library is likely to continue to face financial hardship for a period to come. I know that the library has drawn down on DCMS support already, and that all of us present are keen to see the library thrive again in future. I applaud it for prioritising access to reading rooms for medical research, and for using some of its space for a testing centre.

Earlier I touched on digitisation. The library has worked hard during covid to expand its online offering. The current exhibition of Hebrew manuscripts is available online, and its next exhibition, “Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women’s Rights”, has an exciting digital offer, too, including online discussions, a podcast series, and online resources for researchers.

The Bill brings the British Library in line with DCMS-sponsored museums and galleries, as well as the British Film Institute, the Churches Conservation Trust, Historic England and more, by allowing it to borrow money as its peers already do. However, we need to support the library, and many other organisations, not only in borrowing money in future, but in the here and now, during the covid crisis, and we need to reach out across our communities. The British Library has made great strides in that direction already, and we support it and its power to borrow money.

[Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Robertson. I want to speak in support of the Bill. It is absolutely essential that we support libraries, library services, and one of the finest libraries in the United Kingdom. It is a testament to what libraries should represent.

It was once said that

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies”,

and that we should never trust a person who does not bring a book to a room. It is important that we recognise the importance of people’s access to reading material. It gives them interaction, escapism, opportunity, and powerful learning. The British Library, of course, does so much more. It has an outreach programme, and I agree 100% with what the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for Batley and Spen, said about libraries reaching people who are hard to reach.

The threat to library services has increased because of covid. If the British Library is able to borrow money, and extend its digital platform, so that people can access it through a new and increased digital awareness, that too will be a benefit, but that of course costs money, and we cannot have everyone coming to Government with their hand out, saying, “We need more money.” The Bill creates an opportunity and flexibility that allows the library to use its skills to gain resources to expand its services. I hope that that will be possible, and that this House will support the Bill completely. I look forward to seeing it enacted.

[The Minister for Digital and Culture (Caroline Dinenage)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden on introducing the Bill, and I thank him. As he says, it is small but perfectly formed, and that is why it has the strong support of the Government. As the hon. Member for Batley and Spen says, just before Second Reading—it seems a really long time ago—my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed a suite of Government funding: up to £95 million for the British Library’s plans for Boston Spa, £13 million to expand the brilliant network of business and intellectual property centres, and £25 million to help find a site in Leeds for British Library North. After all that good news and positivity, the British Library went into lockdown, and, like so many other cultural institutions up and down our country, lost visitors and valuable commercial opportunities overnight.

The financial impact of covid-19 will of course last a very long time. The British Library, along with many other DCMS-sponsored bodies, will be working out how to manage that in the weeks and months ahead. It will need to be more flexible than ever before, which is why we need to give the British Library the same option to borrow money as its peer museums and galleries. The Bill will remove the legislative barrier that prevents the British Library from having the freedom that its fellow national museums and galleries enjoy.

We are granting the British Library the power to borrow money, but of course that does not mean that it has to, or that it will. There is no guarantee that any application to borrow will be successful, but it is important that it has the option to apply.