HC Deb 08 January 2001 vol 360 c364W
Mr. Breed

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the extra funding required by local authorities to enable them to provide online services in libraries. [143284]

Mr. Alan Howarth

The £100 million funding from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) will enable all public libraries in the UK to offer online services by 2002 and a further £20 million has been provided for ICT training for librarians. We have made no estimate of the cost of sustaining these services though each library authority will have to do so as part of their bid to the NOF and to demonstrate that they can meet it.