What is the All Party Writers Group?
The All Party Writers Group (APWG) was established in November 2007.
All-party groups allow MPs and Lords from all sides of the political spectrum to keep both Government and Opposition parties informed on specific policy issues, taking on board opinions from both within and outside Parliament.
The APWG’s aims are:
- To represent the interests of all writers;
- To safeguard their intellectual property rights; and
- To ensure they receive a fair level of recognition and reward for their contribution to the economy and society as a whole.
Among the issues it has tackled since it was established, the APWG has:
Reviewed Government proposals for new copyright exceptions, notably those relating to private copying;
- Examined the issue of illegal downloading via peer-to-peer file sharing networks;
- Lodged an Early Day Motion in protest at government funding cuts to Public Lending Right (PLR);
- Provided journalists with an opportunity to raise concerns over contractual terms and practices with the secretary of state for culture;
- Instigated a Ministerial review of the PLR scheme to encompass digital users.
Current Work
‘Digital PLR’
To mark the 30th anniversary of the Public Lending Right Act (1979) the Group has been working with the PLR office and writers bodies such as the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society to secure Government support for a review of the current PLR scheme to ensure that it recognizes the changing nature of library services in the digital age. In April the Group presented a paper to the Libraries Minister Barbara Follett outlining a suggested programme of reforms.
In June Barbara Follett lent her support to such a review.
“In these difficult economic times I am proud that the Government continues to support Britain's authors through the Public Lending Right. But as the All Party Group rightly suggests, we do need to have another look at how best to do this in the future, especially given the rapid pace of technological change. I look forward to working with the All Party Writers Group to advance this.”
The Digital Britain report published by the DCMS and BIS later that month confirmed a commitment to this reform process,
“PLR is a small public body that oversees the Public Lending Right which makes compensatory payments to EU authors (including writers, translators, editors and illustrators) for the free loan of their books through UK public libraries. It’s a popular scheme and an interesting relationship between public and private sectors, linking public libraries and rights holders.
The key issue is the scope of their primary legislation (1979), which talks only of “books” and excludes by omission other formats of publication such as audio books and e-books, which are becoming increasingly relevant to public libraries. The Government have received formal proposals from the APPG on Writers to make such changes to the PLR Act. The Government is sympathetic to these representations and will consider an early legislative opportunity to make this modest but useful intervention ‘digital-ready’.”
The DCMS has subsequently initiated a consultation process aimed at identifying the most appropriate means of implementing the suggested amendments to the current scheme.
In October the Group will meet with Margaret Hodge to discuss the next steps in this process.
Year of Writing
The National year of Reading in 2008 was a great success, bringing together Government Departments, funding bodies and literacy agencies to encourage the nation to read more. The APWG is working with Jonathan Douglas from the National Literacy Trust to secure Government support for a Year of Writing.