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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many local libraries closed in Lancashire in (a) 2012, (b) 2013, (c) 2014 and (d) 2015.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service that takes account of local needs within available resources. Government has the power to ensure public libraries comply with the law, and where individual authorities have failed to meet this duty we will - and have - intervened. While the Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not commission specific information relating to the closure of public libraries, the Department monitors closely proposed changes to library service provision throughout England. Desk research undertaken by the Department indicates that no local static libraries closed in the Lancashire Library Authority in 2012 - 2015.

This Government is helping libraries innovate, to ensure they serve the needs of local communities - particularly through the expansion of their digital offer. In the latest spending round we secured extra funding for our Libraries Task Force, set up in 2015, to promote the role of digital and share best practice between councils, and we have funded the rollout of free Wi-Fi so that it will be available in 99% of public libraries in England. E-book loans have rocketed more than four-fold from nearly 445,000 in 2011/12 to over 2.3 million in 2014/15.