§ Mr. BowisTo ask the Minister for the Arts if he will give the latest estimates of the cost to national and local libraries of value-added tax on books at the current standard rate.
§ Mr. LuceThe British Library and local authority libraries in England are the only libraries for which I have responsibility. If books were subject to value added tax at the current standard rate, the approximate annual cost to the British Library based on current expenditure would be £550,000. There would be no cost to public libraries because, under present arrangements, local authorities are able to reclaim value added tax incurred in respect of their library activities.