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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the closure of libraries in Northamptonshire on literacy, social mobility, and poverty prevention programmes.

The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964 places a duty on the Secretary of State to superintend, and promote the improvement of, the public library service provided by local authorities in England. In accordance with this duty and in light of representations to the Department about the agreed changes to the library service in Northamptonshire, the Secretary of State wrote to the Acting Council Leader on 19 March 2018 to confirm the Department is treating representations as a formal complaint.

We understand that none of the Council’s libraries have yet closed. However, the Council has revised opening hours at the libraries, with the intention that they are open for at least three days per week.