Public Libraries
Culture Media and Sport
Dan Jarvis (Barnsley Central, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what recent steps her Department has taken specifically targeted at building links between schools and public libraries.
Edward Vaizey (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Culture, Communications and Creative Industries), Business, Innovation and Skills; Wantage, Conservative)
Building on work already undertaken by some authorities, the Department is working with the Department for Education and Arts Council England to develop a pilot scheme to provide automatic library membership for primary school pupils, to encourage them to use their local public library. During the 2012-13 academic year, we will pilot different approaches to test the most effective ways of making these links between schools and public libraries.