Department for Culture, Media and Sport written question – answered at on 30 June 2025.
Gareth Snell
Labour/Co-operative, Stoke-on-Trent Central
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of closures of (a) libraries and (b) other cultural spaces on the availability of early years services.
Chris Bryant
The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service.
Public libraries significantly contribute to early childhood development by offering a variety of events like storytimes, rhymetimes, and craft sessions. These activities, along with access to a diverse collection of reading materials for all ages, are crucial for enhancing speech, development, and social skills in young children.
Where local authorities are proposing changes to their statutory library service, including closures, DCMS expects the local authority to be able to demonstrate that proposals are supported by an assessment of local needs, together with a rigorous analysis and assessment of the potential impact of their proposals and a demonstration of the steps to be taken to mitigate the impact.
The Secretary of State has a statutory power to intervene by way of local inquiry if she considers that a local authority is not providing a comprehensive and efficient library service. She takes this role very seriously and should a complaint be received, Ministers will challenge the local council and carefully consider evidence before deciding if a local inquiry is needed.
Arts and culture should reach all children and young people and connect with them in a unique way - and this government is committed to ensuring that the Arts can continue to provide opportunities for children up and down the country. Seventy-nine percent of Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisations, which includes theatres, museums and galleries, work with children and young people.
The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme provides access to joined up early years support and family services, with over 500 hubs now open across the country. Local authorities should consider existing infrastructure and local need when deciding where to locate services. Libraries and community spaces can, and often do, form part of family hub networks.
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
