Public Libraries
Culture Media and Sport
Andrew Rosindell (Romford, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to increase library usage.
Edward Vaizey (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Culture, Communications and Creative Industries), Business, Innovation and Skills; Wantage, Conservative)
The Department has supported initiatives to assist local authorities in ensuring that libraries remain engaging, relevant and exciting in the 21st century. These include the Arts Council England's ‘Libraries Development Initiative’.
We do not seek to impose or encourage a ‘one size fits all’ approach to attracting library users or specific targets on the numbers of visits to libraries; though overall levels of library visits have remained reasonably stable in the last year. Local authorities are best placed to assess the needs and wishes of local communities, and should be free to put in place the initiatives which are most relevant to local residents.