Public Libraries (Hansard, 19 December 2001)

§ Mr. Bercow
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many public libraries there were in the Buckingham constituency in(a) 1997 and (b) 2001. [23749]

§ Dr. Howells
There are eight public libraries in the Buckingham constituency: Buckingham; Haddenham; Ivinghoe; Long Crendon; Steeple Claydon; Stewkley; Wing; and Winslow. This is the same number as in 1997. The Buckingham mobile library (full-time) and the Aylesbury Urban and Aylesbury Rural mobiles (part-time), also serve the constituency.

§ Mr. Bercow
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the percentage of adults in the Buckingham constituency that are library members. [23748]

§ Dr. Howells
Such statistics are not maintained on a constituency basis, and Buckinghamshire do not currently differentiate between adult and child members. However, Buckinghamshire county council's statistics show that 75 per cent, of the population of the county are library members. This is in excess of the national average.

§ Mr. Bercow
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the libraries based in the Buckingham constituency which have received funding from the DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge indicating(a) the nature of the project, (b) the date of the award and (c) the amount of funding provided in each case. [23747]

§ Dr. Howells
No libraries in the Buckinghamshire constituency have been successful in their applications for match funding from the DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund since the programme began in 1998.
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