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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of public libraries with a catchment area of more than 40,000 resident population were open at least 45 hours per week in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13 and (d) 2013-14.

The detail requested is not held centrally by this Department. However the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) collect, annually, from the individual library authorities comprehensive information relating to library service provision in the United Kingdom, which includes data relating to the questions raised. Copies of CIPFA statistics are available in the House Library.