§ Mr. Allan StewartI beg to move amendment No. 5, in page 3, line 19, at end insert—
'(5) Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland shall be entitled to free access to the library of the National Museums at such times as the Board may reasonably determine.'.This is another point that was raised in Committee by my hon. Friend the Member for Fife, North-East (Mr. Henderson), who expressed concern about the need to recognise the special contribution that the Society of Antiquaries had made to the growth of the National Museum of Antiquities.
I agree that this historic relationship, to which hon. Members referred in Committee, should continue to be recognised by conferring on fellows of the society the right to make use of the library which it formed and which is at present housed in the Queen street building. That is one of the specifics that the society and its supporters have sought. My hon. Friend will recall that I advised him in Committee that his amendment was slightly defective. However, the Government's amendment meets his point and I hope that it will have the support of the House.
§ Mr. CraigenI acknowledge that we are indebted to the hon. Member for Fife, North-East (Mr. Henderson). 151 Since Committee, I have received a number of letters from members of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and several of my hon. Friends, including my hon. Friends the Members for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (Mr. Foulkes), for Clackmannan (Mr. O'Neill) and for Glasgow, Garscadden (Mr. Dewar) have sent me letters that they have received, as if I did not have enough of my own. It is apparent that there was a lack of consultation with the society before the preparation of the Bill.
I received a letter from Mr. P. R. Ritchie, a fellow and past vice-president of the society. I replied to the effect that I would have thought that the Scottish Education Department would have adequately consulted the society before the Bill was published. Only this morning I received a reply from Mr. Ritchie, in which he states:
The first intimation from the Scottish Education Department was contained in a letter only a week or so before the Bill was announced. The letter was confined to a notification that the Society would lose its representation on the new Board of Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland. Other provisions of the Bill were not known to the Society's officers until its publication on 9th November.The letter concludes:The way in which the present situation has come about gives me no grounds for optimism concerning future facilities.The Minister might at least acknowledge that there has been a singular lack of consultation with the society before the preparation of the Bill, which has undoubtedly generated many concerns.
§ Mr. Allan StewartThe society was among the bodies which were consulted in 1982 on the paper which the Department circulated on whether there should be one trustee board or two to administer the national museums. The society's views were taken into account with others that we received before the Government reached their decisions on the issue.
Subsequently, the society was informed in the autumn of 1984 of the proposed contents of the Bill as they related to the constitution of the new trustee board for the national museums, the special point of interest to the society. Following correspondence with my officials, I wrote to the society's secretary to give a detailed explanation of our reasons for wanting a board constituted on the lines which have been drafted. In addition, the board of the National Museum of Antiquities (Scotland), on which the society has a number of representatives, was consulted in advance of the Bill's publication on the general substance of the Bill as it relates to the national museums.
It is true that the society is not in agreement with the proposals in one respect which the House will be considering shortly under another group of amendments. However, I assure the House that throughout the consideration which lies behind the Bill, and in preparing the Bill, care was taken to consult the society.
§ Amendment agreed to.