bodies which determine their own policies regarding their support of the Arts in each area (Scotland does not have regional Arts associations). Local authorities provide and maintain local libraries and museums, and match funds provided by the centrally-funded area museum councils for conservation and displays.
42.
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Numerous major new developments have been and are being carried out, financed by a wide variety of public and private sources. The Science Museum is founding a Museum of Photography at Bradford, with a generous provision of premises and money from the City Council. The Clore Foundation is to pay for the building of a new Turner Museum at the Tate Gallery, and major improvements are being implemented at the British Museum half the money being provided from private sources the National Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. A commercial firm is adapting a building and intends to sponsor an exhibition of industrial design at the Victoria and Albert Museum. The announcement by the Environment Secretary after his visit to Liverpool, providing an extension of the Tate Gallery, is a contribution to the resurgence of the City's dock area.
43. The Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries is being strengthened to give more support to provincial museums; the scope of the Commission has been enlarged and more money has been channelled in to enable them to do so. They will in future take direct responsibility for financing the area museum councils, which provide help with conservation and other services to local museums and for which increased funds have been provided by the Government.
44.
The Government has continually reviewed the special tax and other arrangements for conserving objects and works of art within the national heritage (see also para. 34 above). Rules for the acceptance of such objects in lieu of capital taxes have been extended to cover the interests of local museums and galleries outside London. The National Heritage Act also provides further powers to ensure that pictures and objects can be kept in the historic houses associated with them.
45. The Government is now studying a report of the Select Committee on Education and the Arts, in the context of the recommendations it made in this general area.
46. Britain is served by a network of public libraries administered by local public library authorities. These libraries have a total stock of some 132.5 million books. About one third of the population are library members. There are some 5,700 public library service points in Britain. Some areas are served by 700 mobile libraries, and domiciliary services cater for those unable to visit a library. The library service is free.
47.
The Government has made a major reappraisal of policy for the future of the library service. The Minister for the Arts has also accepted responsibility for general policy and action on information services, reflecting the Government's awareness of the different role of the library service in the 1980s. The Library Advisory Council was strengthened and renamed to provide greater emphasis on information services.
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