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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to commission a review of the importance of access to public libraries in all parts of England, including consideration of the relationship between library access and (1) income, and (2) social class.

Libraries play an important role in giving everyone opportunities to improve their life chances and achieve their full potential. They serve a diverse range of people from all backgrounds and provide access to a variety of services. The regularly published Taking Part Survey provides details of the proportion of adults who have used a public library service at least once in the previous 12 months. This includes details of use by upper and lower socio-economic groups, as well as by index of multiple deprivation. The figures for 2018/19 indicate that 36.7% of respondents from the upper socio-economic group and 27.9% of respondents from the lower socio-economic group reported visiting a library in the last 12 months. We have no plans to conduct a review.