Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department undertook to inform the comparability factor for Central Libraries funding in the 2020 Statement of Funding.

The comparability factors are included in the Statement of Funding Policy, which was published alongside the Spending Review 2020.

The majority of funding for ‘The British Library funding’ is UK wide. Given that Central Libraries predominantly comprise ‘The British Library’, the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport concluded that the average territorial extent of Central Libraries was UK wide.

As outlined in the Statement of Funding Policy, where the UK government has responsibility for providing services across the UK, the comparability factor will be 0%.