Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) rural and (b) urban public libraries have closed in (i) Wiltshire and (ii) England in each year since 2000.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Department does not commission information relating to the closure of rural and urban libraries. Data relating to public libraries is collected and published annually by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. My Rt Hon Friend will note that the number of library service points in the Wilshire Library Authority has increased from 34 in 2000, to 36 in 2015. Meanwhile, in Labour-run Wales, the number of library service points in the same period dropped from 321 to 274.
31 March | Total service points open ten hours or more per week, including mobile libraries, in England | Total service points open ten hours or more per week, including mobile libraries, in Wiltshire Library Authority |
2000 | 3,501 | 34 |
2001 | 3,497 | 34 |
2002 | 3,504 | 34 |
2003 | 3,510 | 35 |
2004 | 3,524 | 35 |
2005 | 3,474 | 35 |
2006 | 3,500 | 36 |
2007 | 3,494 | 36 |
2008 | 3,469 | 37 |
2009 | 3,451 | 37 |
2010 | 3,428 | 37 |
2011 | 3,393 | 37 |
2012 | 3,243 | 37 |
2013 | 3,181 | 36 |
2014 | 3,142 | 36 |
2015 | 3,076 | 36 |
Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on which dates (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have met with BT to discuss separating Openreach from its parent company.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
This is a matter for the independent telecoms regulator, Ofcom, who is currently reviewing the markets for digital communications in the UK and is due to report at the end of this month. Government has no role in this process.
Asked by: Andrew Murrison (Conservative - South West Wiltshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he plans to take to improve broadband and mobile phone coverage in rural areas.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
UK superfast coverage is now almost 90 per cent of premises and we have made it available to 3.5 million homes and businesses and that will rise to over 5 million by the end of 2017.As the Prime Minister announced in November, the Government also intends to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation.