§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport at what cost to(a) the Government, (b) libraries and (c) local authorities, connections to the Internet for public libraries have been made. [72083]
358W
§ Mr. Alan Howarth[holding answer 24 February 1999]: The Government have pledged £70 million of National Lottery funding to train public library staff and create digitised material which will support the development of the Public Libraries Network. In addition, £6 million of pump-priming investment in the network infrastructure is being provided over two years (1998–99 and 1999–2000) through the DCMS/Wolfson Challenge Fund. Information on the costs incurred by libraries and local authorities is not held centrally.