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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to ensure local authorities are adequately funded to support public libraries.

The government is committed to getting local government back on its feet. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase in councils' Core Spending Power on 2024-25.

Public libraries are funded by local authorities as part of this broader settlement. Each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within available resources.