National Book Committee

EDM number 342 in 1993-94, proposed by Alan Meale on 13/01/1994.

That this House notes the results of the recent survey Public Libraries and their Book Funds conducted by the National Book Committee, which established the fact that levels of expenditure on public library books in Britain remains generally very low and that there are huge disparities in levels of spending in different parts of the nation; congratulates those library services which have managed to make reasonable progress in funding their services; commiserates with those who either found this impossible or have had to make cut backs; is specially concerned for the future of the schools' library service which, although vital to the support of education in Britain, is according to this report currently in considerable jeopardy; and calls upon Her Majesty's Government to set aside more finances for library services and to take action to ensure that the proposed National Commission on Libraries holds an early investigation into the disparities in expenditure on library books throughout the United Kingdom.

This motion has been signed by a total of 67 MPs, 2 of these signatures have been withdrawn.