Orders of the Day — Public Libraries and Museums [Money]

– in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 5 February 1964.

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[Queen's Recommendation signified]

Considered in Committee under Standing Order No. 88 (Money Committees).

[Sir ROBERT GRIMSTON in the Chair]

Motion made, and Question proposed,

That, for the purposes of any Act of the present Session to place the public library service provided by local authorities in England and Wales under the superintendence of the Minister of Education and to make new provision for regulating and improving that service and as to the provision and maintenance of museums and art galleries by such authorities, it is expedient to authorise the payment out of moneys provided by Parliament of—

  1. (a) grants made under the Act to any body which makes available to authorities constituted library authorities by the Act any facilities likely to assist them in the discharge of their duties;
  2. (b) administrative expenses incurred by the Minister of Education for the purposes of the Act;
  3. (c) any increase attributable to the Act in the sums payable out of moneys so provided by way of Rate-deficiency Grant or Exchequer Equalisation Grant under the enactments relating to local government in England and Wales or in Scotland.—[Mr. Chataway.]

9.59 p.m.

Photo of Mr Cyril Bence Mr Cyril Bence , Dunbartonshire East

I wish to raise a question concerning paragraph (c) of the Money Resolution, which states that any increase attributable to the Act in the sums payable out of moneys so provided by way of Rate-deficiency Grant or Exchequer Equalisation Grant under the enactments relating to local government in England and Wales or in Scotland. Recently, I have had a case of a local authority refusing employment to a librarian in the Scottish library service because that person served in the library service in Liverpool and in Middlesex. As, however, he had left that service for twelve months, the local authority in Scotland would not employ him because it received no grant. Because of the transfer of this person from one authority to another, there was the problem of superannuation. It appears that there was a superannuation liability by the English authorities in Middlesex and in Liverpool—

It being Ten o'clock, The CHAIRMAN left the Chair to report Progress and ask leave to sit again.

Committee report Progress.