§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans his Department has for the future of the Braille Grant; and if he will make a statement. [62231]
§ Mr. Alan Howarth[holding answer 3 December 1998]: My Department's consultation paper "The Comprehensive Spending Review: A New Approach to Investment in Culture", proposed that the grant currently paid to the Royal National Institute for the Blind in support of its embossed literature service should be re-allocated to the Library and Information Commission to enable blind and visually impaired people to benefit more extensively from public library services than they do at present. This would help create a fresh impetus to the provision of library services to blind and visually impaired people and provide the opportunity for local 15W authorities to embed these services into the mainstream library service. We will be announcing the results of the consultation exercise later this month.