§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many functioning public libraries there were, broken down by local authority, in England in each year since 1997. [42238]
§ Dr. HowellsThis information is not readily available. However, we can extract and then represent the required data from the 149 English Library Authorities from existing reference sources. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as this has been done, placing copies of my letter in the Libraries of both Houses.