§ Mr. Moonmanasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what were the combined totals for book purchasing by libraries in 1975, 1976, 1977, and up to the latest available date; and what percentage increases there have been in the actual cost of books in these periods.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonThe Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy publishes statistics of local authorities' expenditure on the purchase of books for public libraries in each financial year. Following are the latest available figures:
£ 1974–75* 19,996,451 1975–76 25,434,732 1976–77 27,854,165 * Returns from local authorities following reorganisation were incomplete. The Department of Education and Science does not collect statistics of book prices. Indices published by other bodies, on different bases, show widely differing figures for recent years. The index published by the British National Bibliography shows a rise of about 43 per cent. over the period July 1974 to December 1977; because of a discontinuity in the method of calculation it does not provide comparable figures for each of the years in question.