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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many public libraries do not have free wifi; by what date he plans that all public libraries will have access to free wifi; and what the cost to his Department will be of providing all remaining libraries with free wifi.

Current desktop research indicates that up to 800 public libraries do not currently have Wi-Fi. On 18 March it was announced, as part of the Budget 2015, that £7.4m is being made available to help all public libraries to install WiFi. This programme will be run via Arts Council England who aim to launch the scheme in July.