Libraries and the Comprehensive Spending Review

A BRIEFING

The Government has recently published its Comprehensive Spending Review, Modern Public Services for Britain: Investing in Reform (Cm 4011). Most Government Departments have also published press releases or policy documents relating to their part of the Review. The Review is important as it establishes the parameters of public expenditure for the next three years. This Briefing quickly explores the implications for library and information services in all sectors. It is only an initial assessment as The Library Association is still studying the detail and consulting our members on a number of the proposals.

It is tempting to concentrate only on the DCMS paper marked "Libraries". However this would be wrong as there are libraries in all sectors - health, industry and commerce, schools, further and higher education and Government itself. Even where DCMS has clear policy control (The British Library and public libraries in England), the work of other departments often has a vital impact on these services.

Education and Employment

Amongst areas of growth where libraries need to make their case:

• Sure Start Programme (£540 million over three years) - Development of integrated and preventive provision of range of services targeted on pre-school children and their families in 250 local "Sure Start" areas. Strong possibilities for Children's Services in public libraries
• Doubling of capital investment in schools - Possibilities of improvements to libraries in schools
• Numeracy Strategy - role of school libraries, school library services and public libraries - similar to National Literacy Strategy
• Extra 500,000 students in FE colleges and HE institutions - additional demands on library services as a result
• University for Industry - Libraries in all sectors have potential role in this and should take advantage of potential funding opportunities from UfI

Health

Areas of growth with potential for libraries include:

• Improving quality and effectiveness - Role of NHS library services, and other health sector library and information services, in "evidence based health", helping to ensure the most effective utilisation of resources
• Improving Health Promotion - Role of healthcare libraries, voluntary sector libraries, and public libraries in health promotion
• Providing better primary care - Better information services for GPs in deprived areas
• Investing in NHS Staff - Libraries supporting continuing professional development of NHS staff

Environment, Transport and the Regions

Public libraries are funded through the Revenue Support Grant administered by DETR. It is disappointing that the Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) for Environmental, Protective and Cultural Services (which covers public libraries) is the expenditure block with least increase - it only just exceeds projected inflation. If local authorities follow this indicative level then public libraries will continue to face financial pressures, and make further cuts to opening hours and bookfunds.

There may be opportunities for public libraries (and other types of library and information service) in the New Deal for Communities initiative and the refocused Single Regeneration Budget.

Trade and Industry

• Making UK science fit for the millennium - over £1.1 billion pounds to be spent on science and technology research, the research infrastructure and transferability of research into business opportunity. This includes £405 million extra for the Research Councils, and an extra £300 million to the Higher Education Fund (England) for research purposes. University and other research libraries will want to see this increased research activity reflected in their budgets: other library services (eg commercial and industrial libraries) will have an interest in the science and technology transfer aspects.
• Business Links - The proposal to make Business Links the single point of contact for a new portfolio of support services for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) opens up the opportunity of libraries increasing the number of partnerships with Business Links to provide business information services.

Culture, Media and Sport

DCMS is the sponsoring department for both The British Library and the Library and Information Commission. Under the terms of the Public Libraries and Museums Act (1964) the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has a statutory duty to "superintend" and "promote" the public library service in England: most central government funding for public libraries is, however, disbursed by DETR as part of the Revenue Support Grant to local authorities. DCMS is regarded as taking the "lead" on library matters within government.

Proposed Structural Reforms

DCMS is seeking to rationalise and integrate the national and regional bodies it sponsors or works with:

• Library and Information Commission (LIC) - Initially proposes to transfer library research functions to the LIC from the British Library (BL) (the BL funded research awards currently amount to £1.6 million per year). In the mid-term it envisages incorporating the Advisory Council on Libraries (which advises the Secretary of State on his responsibilities under the Public Libraries & Museums Act) within the LIC and eventually merging the Library and Information Commission with the Museums and Galleries Commission to form a Museums and Libraries Commission. There is a strong logic from a DCMS perspective in these proposals, but they are likely to be contentious within the library and information community - how will health libraries or information services in commercial and industrial libraries react to a body they will suspect is centred on cultural and heritage matters? We are consulting widely on this proposal at the moment.
• A new Regional Structure - DCMS wish to create a strong regional structure bringing together all the areas in their national portfolio. They feel this is important because of the new regional emphasis of Government policy with the Regional Development Agencies, and because they wish to delegate certain executive functions (eg allocation of Lottery grants) to the regional level. Again the logic is strong from a DCMS standpoint, but how will non-cultural library and information services in the business world be catered for? The Library Association shares DCMS concern that there should be a strong library regional structure able to take advantage of the opportunities provided by Regional Development Agencies. We are consulting on this proposal.
• The British Library - DCMS proposes "to consult on possible changes to the legal status of the British Library in order to give it greater financial freedom". We await further details on this, but Royal Charter status or charitable company limited by guarantee are suggested. A more immediate concern is to ensure that the British Library receives enough extra in its Grant-in-Aid to prevent the possibility of admission charges (£100 million is being allocated to the Museums and Galleries sector to achieve free admission - it is important the British Library is treated in a similar fashion).

Other Important Proposals

• Bookfunds - To "explore" possibility of Lottery funding (Heritage Lottery Fund) as one-off exercise to renew supply of books and other materials in public libraries "following a substantial period of neglect". This is an unexpected but welcome proposal
• IT Infrastructure - Possibility of New Opportunities Fund being used to "allow institutions involved in the development of lifelong learning to invest in IT infrastructure". Again unexpected but welcome. It would help roll-out of the Public Library Network, but wording suggests funding would not be restricted to public libraries.
• Library and Information Commission - To consider "providing the LIC with the resource necessary for it to lead and coordinate the development of the public libraries IT network". A welcome proposal, in that it is a step towards establishing the Networking Agency the LIC itself recommended to oversee the roll-out of the Public Library Network.
• LIC Cross-Sectoral Working Group on Cooperation between Libraries and the Educational Sector - A welcome initiative to explore library cooperation between sectors. However we feel it could be extended to cover cross-institutional themes (eg public libraries as gateways to the learning opportunities in FE Colleges and Higher Education institutions) as well as simply library cooperation. It should also be used as a model for similar exercises with business (with DTI) and health (Department of Health).
• Watchdog to improve standards and efficiency and promote quality - The proposed Watchdog appears to be limited to monitoring the performance of DCMS sponsored bodies (eg the British Library) and secondary bodies the sponsored organisations themselves might fund. This is welcome in so far as it goes. However we have long argued that the inspectorate role of DCMS in relation to public library authorities needs bolstering to ensure minimum standards are met by all public services and that best practice is promoted. The powers already exist under the Public Libraries and Museums Act, but have not been effectively used in recent times. Elsewhere the Government has beefed up inspectorate roles in relation to Local Education Authorities, Social Services and Housing.

Conclusion

This brief resume of the Comprehensive Spending Review indicates how wide-ranging the roles and responsibilities of library and information services are across the sectors. There is scarcely a government programme which won't have a major impact on some aspect of library and information provision. The resume does not even cover the Territorial Departments - they cover much the same agenda, but have programmes tailored to the needs of their countries.

The difficulty the library sector has, is in making its voice heard in those Government Departments that do not perceive themselves as having library responsibilities. This can mean that the contribution of libraries to Government objectives goes unrecognised and that funding for libraries is inadequate. We accept that the profession has the main responsibility in making that voice heard, and The Library Association has had some recent successes in raising the profile of libraries in Government Departments other than DCMS. Our hope for the All-party Parliamentary Group is that they make this task easier.

The Library Association
July 1998

Notes

1. Details of the White Paper are:

Modern Public Services for Britain: Investing in Reform: Comprehensive Spending Review: New Public Spending Plans 1999-2002. The Stationery Office, 1998. (Cm 4011) (ISBN: 0-10-140112-4) £18

2. The DCMS consultation paper details are:

The Comprehensive Spending Review: A New Investment in Culture. DCMS, 1998. (Obtainable from: DCMS Public Enquiry Unit, 2- 4 Cockspur Street, London SW1P 5DH. Tel: 0171 211 6200 Fax: 0171 211 6032)

The consultation paper is also available on the DCMS webpage. The URL is: http://www.culture.gov.uk/CSRALL.HTM

The consultation paper has a number of sections which can be ordered singly or collectively. These are: Covering letter from Chris Smith; DCMS and the Regions; Museums and Galleries; Libraries; The Arts; Sport; The Built Heritage; Architecture; Tourism; A New Watchdog; and Film

The Library Association