Member

I was glad that the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, mentioned the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964. It was one of the few legislative legacies of the Conservative Government of Alec Douglas-Home, who was in power for less than a year, but it is hugely important in protecting these parts of our cultural infrastructure. The noble Earl—another enlightened Earl like the late Lord Home—is right that, if it were not for that Act, I do not think we would have seen the protection of public libraries that we have had over the past half a century. It is important, as we set out the areas of strategic competence, that we hold in mind these areas that are so important socially and economically and that we give the encouragement to future generations of local leaders to see the strategic importance that they hold.