This is another government bill, brought forward very early on in the session, that was not mentioned in the Queen's Speech. It is designed to fulfill the conclusions of the government's Comprehensive Spending Review, that benefits would be gained in terms of efficiency and effectiveness from a series of structural changes in the way the government provides funding and support to culture, media and sport.

The structural changes include:

- the establishment of a single body, the Arts Council, to bring together support for arts and crafts (where previously a separate body, the Crafts Council, now a second tier body under the Arts Council, had co-existed);

- the formal merger of the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England (commonly known as English Heritage) and the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England into a single national body for the built heritage;

- the creation of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment to promote architecture on a wider basis than the Royal Fine Art Commission, which it replaces;

- the establishment of the Film Council to prepare and implement a strategy to improve access to, and education about, the moving image, and for the development of a sustainable UK film industry;

- the creation of Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries as a new national strategic body for museums, libraries and archives to replace the Museums and Galleries Commission and the Library and Information Commission;

- the transformation of the English Tourist Board into a more strategic national body for tourism in England; and

- the reconstitution of the Football Licensing Authority as the Sports Ground Safety Authority.

House of Lords

Introduction (first reading): December 14 2000

Second reading: January 18 2001

This bill was abandoned at the end of the 2000-2001 Parliament