§ LORD STRABOLGIMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government when construction of the new British Library building, opposite the British Museum will start, and how long this will take to complete.
§ LORD MOWBRAY AND STOURTONMy Lords, although good progress has been made in planning the British Library on the Bloomsbury site, the design has not yet been finished. It is not, there-fore, possible to estimate when work will start or how long it will take.
§ LORD STRABOLGIMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that Answer. Arising out of it, may I ask him whether the new British Library building is to be one of those libraries to suffer financial cuts as announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on Monday?
§ LORD MOWBRAY AND STOURTONMy Lords, I do not have any specific information on that point. My right honourable friend announced last May that the building would be put back one year from when it would otherwise have started, and as we have not finished the design I do not think it is likely to be affected by the current cuts.
§ LORD WYNNE-JONESMy Lords, is it true that Her Majesty's Government are proposing to move it to Maplin?
§ LORD MOWBRAY AND STOURTONMy Lords, I have not heard that piece of information before.