§ 26. Mr. Moateasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is his estimate of the number of authors who would be eligible to register for public lending right.
§ Mr. ChannonAn estimate of 50,000 eligible authors has been used as the basis for planning but no precise figures are available. The number registering may well be substantially fewer.
§ Mr. MoateIf my right hon. Friend is in the business of setting up quangos—which I hope he is not—and if he should ever institute a scheme of public lending right, what would be the likely average payment to each author for every £1 million of taxpayers' money expended?
§ Mr. ChannonI am indeed enthusiastically looking forward to the introduction of public lending right. I know that this is one of the very few issues on which my hon. Friend and I are not in agreement, but the House has decided by a large majority that public lending right should be introduced. I ask my hon. Friend to await the consultative document which will, I hope before too long, be available to the House.
§ Mr. FauldsWill the right hon. Gentleman reiterate that this will be introduced before long, as the Government has been tardy in declaring its intentions on this matter? When will he make a public statement about the introduction of the scheme and exactly how it will be run?
§ Mr. ChannonThe consultative document will be published before very long and the hon. Gentleman will then be able to see. In fact, we are at the stage of appointing the registrar. I hope that he will be appointed very soon. The prime responsibility for actually getting on with the scheme, once Parliament has approved it, will be his. But there will be no undue delay.