§ 11. Mr. St. John-Stevasasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will make a statement of Government policy on the proposed public lending right.
§ Mrs. ThatcherMy noble Friend the Paymaster-General will be giving consideration to this proposal and will make a statement in due course.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasI am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that reply. As the Government are concerned about the new poor, and as authors are a considerable portion of that new class, will she give urgent consideration to allowing authors to get a fair return on books which are borrowed from a public library?
§ Mrs. ThatcherI will communicate what my right hon. Friend has said to my noble Friend, and I am sure that he will make a statement as soon as he can.