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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help support libraries.

Each local authority is responsible for assessing the needs of their local communities and designing a library service to meet those needs within their available resources.

DCMS supports library services by providing guidance on any proposed changes to their statutory library service and shares best practice from other library services who have undertaken similar changes. DCMS also works across government departments to promote public libraries’ contributions to a range of important agendas and encourage a “libraries first” approach to delivery of government projects and policies.

Core funding for libraries is through the Local Government Finance Settlement. In 2026-27 the government will make available £78 billion in Core Spending Power for local authorities in England in 2026-27, a 6.1% increase compared to 2025-26.

In January 2026 the DCMS Secretary of State announced continued investment in the Libraries Improvement Fund, meaning £27.5 million over the period 2025-30. This will enable library services across England to invest in a range of projects to upgrade buildings and technology to meet changing user needs. Nottinghamshire County Council has previously received £399,086 from this fund to support projects in a number of their libraries.