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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2015 to Question 223124 and the Answer of 14 January 2015 to Question 220293, if he will estimate the total cost to the public purse of providing WiFi in those 2,000 libraries which offer that facility; what funding options he is exploring for providing WiFi in all public libraries; with which organisations he has discussed them contributing resources to such provision; how many libraries have free WiFi provided through the Super Connected Cities budget; and what the total cost is of that provision.

The DCMS has not made any estimate of the total cost to the public purse of providing WiFi in those 2,000 libraries which offer that facility since these have already been resourced by the relevant authorities. Funding options considered included provisions by government, private and public organisations as well as a combination of these. We have discussed our aim to enable the provision of WiFi in public libraries with a wide range of individuals and organisations including in the evidence gathering for the Independent Library Report. Over 200 libraries in England were included in the free WiFi for public buildings announcement in October 2014 though it is not possible to disaggregate the costs for these.