§ Mr. Cashasked the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State answering in respect of the Arts if he will estimate the total expenditure of local authorities in England on library services in 1978–79 and 1982–83, respectively; and how much of the total was spent on book purchase in each year.
§ Mr. WaldegraveInformation about public library expenditure is collected annually by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), and published in its "Public Library Statistics" series, which is available in the Library of the House. The statistics show that total expenditure by library authorities was £194,644,058 in 1978–79 and £317,375,466 in 1982–83. Expenditure on book purchases was £35,094,573 in 1978–79 and £49,248,812 in 1982–83.