§ 2.43 p.m.
§ Lord VaizeyMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government how many authors have now registered to receive payment under the Public Lending Right Act.
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, on 9th May—that is, yesterday-34,980 books by 3,733 authors had been entered in the Public Lending Right Register. There are applications being processed for a further 1,300 authors.
§ Lord VaizeyMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for that helpful reply. Although authors are grateful to Parliament for the scheme, is he aware that the extreme complexity of the arrangements which have been made for registration are such that the number of authors actually to have registered is disappointingly small?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, my right honourable friend the Minister for the Arts has recently made some amendments to the scheme, in particular to improve the position of children's authors, and those changes will also simplify the scheme's administration. I do not believe it would be appropriate to make major amendments to the scheme before we have seen it in operation for a year.
§ Viscount EcclesMy Lords, do not the figures given by the Minister mean that the cost of administering this scheme will be much more than the wretched amounts which a few authors receive?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, of course I appreciate what my noble friend is saying. I would ask him to wait and see what the first distributions will be, and on that we can judge whether or not we shall have to increase the amount.
§ Lord VaizeyMy Lords, can my noble friend possibly say what the cost of administration is as a proportion of the total amount to be expended—because he must be aware that many of us believe that the complexities of this administration are entirely designed to benefit those who administer the scheme and not those who are intended to benefit from it?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, I think that we must wait until the first year of the scheme is completed before we can make our judgments. I very much hope that what my noble friend is saying will not, in fact, be proved accurate.
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, perhaps I may come to the Minister's aid. Is it not the case that the cost of the scheme will gradually reduce and that this development will be of great advantage to authors in future?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, indeed, that is so. Again, until we have seen the first year's operation we cannot honestly say whether it will be a good distribution or whether we shall have to put more into the fund.
Lord MorrisMy Lords, have Her Majesty's Government calculated the potential number of beneficiaries of this scheme and what proportion of that total figure do the 5,000 authors who my noble friend mentioned in his Answer represent?
§ The Earl of AvonMy Lords, as my noble friend will be aware, in point of fact the total amount available is £2 million. So if he wishes to divide the 5,000 into that he can do so. But we still have to take the number of books and editions into account.
Lord MorrisMy Lords, that was not the question that I asked my noble friend. I asked: how many potential beneficiaries are there under the scheme and what proportion of that total number will the 5,000 authors who my noble friend mentioned in his Answer represent?