Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many public libraries there were in England in each year since 2010.

This information is not collected by the Department. Arts Council England collects data from local authorities and publishes a basic dataset of information on public libraries in England. The libraries basic dataset 2021 shows the number of static libraries in England (statutory and non-statutory) as at 1 April 2010, 1 July 2016, 31 December 2019 and 31 December 2021. It can be found at: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/search?query=basic+dataset&sort_by=titles

The libraries basic dataset 2022 will be published by Arts Council England later this year.

Annual library data are also collected by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) from local authorities across Great Britain and include the number of libraries (statutory and non-statutory). Access to these annual library data is available through subscription to CIPFA. The House of Commons Library subscribes to the CIPFA ‘stats+ public libraries statistics dashboard’ which includes figures for library service points.