§ Mr. ConnartyTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what estimate she has made of the costs of ensuring that internet access in public libraries is broadband enabled; and if she will make a statement; [61805]
(2) what targets she has set for the roll out of broadband services in public libraries; and if she will make a statement. [61806]
§ Dr. Howells£100 million of lottery funding has been invested in ICT technical infrastructure and equipment to create a network of ICT learning centres in more than 4,000 public libraries across the UK. The programme is on target to connect all public libraries to the internet, wherever practical, by the end of 2002, and based on the 277W information we have received from local authorities we estimate that around 90 per cent. of these libraries will have broadband connections of 2 Mb or more. It is not possible to disaggregate the cost of providing broadband access to libraries, since it is the policy of many local authorities to procure broadband connectivity across the range of local services.