§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many authors have received their maximum entitlement from the Public Lending Right. [94457]
§ Mr. Alan HowarthIn the last financial year, 1998–99, 100 authors received the maximum entitlement of £6,000 from the Public Lending Right.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what assessment he has made of the operation of the Public Lending Right. [94455]
(2) what plans he has to increase funding of the Public Lending Right. [94456]
§ Mr. Alan HowarthMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I are currently considering a range of proposals, following a review of the scheme by the Public Lending Right's Advisory Committee. We will be consulting on our response to the review very shortly. The Department greatly values the Public Lending Right scheme and last year found extra funding to maintain the rate per loan. We have also provided increases in funding for the next three years and are currently consulting on an increase in the rate per loan from £2.07 to £2.18. However, we have no plans at present to raise further the allocation to the Public Lending Right. Any bid for increased funding would need to be considered alongside the Department's other programmes.