§ Mr. Chris SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, further to her Department's press release, "Public Libraries in the 1990s," if she will list all the lottery awards made to public libraries to date. [38746]
§ Mr. SproatThere have been five awards made to public libraries to date. The awards are as follows: 719W
Distributing Body Date Recipient Region Amount £ Arts Council of Wales 24 March 1995 The Cardiff Old Library Trust Cardiff 2,000,000 Arts Council of Wales 17 July 1995 Clwyd Library and Information Service Mold 6,000 Scottish Arts Council 1 September 1995 Scottish Poetry Library Edinburgh 506,301 The National Heritage Memorial Fund 19 September 1995 Tameside Central Library Ashton-Under-Lyne 1,400,000 The Arts Council of England 21 September 1995 Bradford Central Lending Library Bradford 58.310 In addition, the Ruskin library at the university of Lancaster has been awarded a grant of £2,314,259 to provide a new home for the world's greatest collection of the works of John Ruskin, the 19th-century social reformer and critic. Though the library is not, in essence, a public lending library, the award will make the collection easily accessible to the general public for the first time.
§ Mr. Chris DaviesTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will list the number of functioning public libraries in England annually since 1979. [41718]
§ Mr. Sproat[holding answer 6 November 1995]: Such information is contained in the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy's "Public Library Statistics", copies of which are held in the House Library. The latest actual information is for 1993–94, but estimates are available for 1994–95.