§ Mr. Michael Brownasked the Prime Minister whether she will consider transferring lead responsibility for policy concerning the legal deposit of books and other printed publications with certain libraries from the Department of Trade and Industry to the Office of Arts and Libraries.
§ The Prime MinisterI have decided to transfer responsibility for legal deposit policy from the Department of Trade and Industry to the Office of Arts and Libraries. The office has general co-ordinating responsibility for library matters and it is anomalous that, for historical reasons which are no longer valid, policy for legal deposit comes within the copyright responsibilities of the Department of Trade and Industry.
6WA provision for this purpose is included in the Transfer of Functions (Arts, Libraries and National Heritage) Order 1986, laid before the House today, to take effect from 29 April 1986.