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Public Libraries

Asked by Preet Kaur GillLabour (Co-op)Department for Culture, Media and SportTabled Answered 17 March 2025UIN 36739

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many public libraries across England and Wales were open in the most recent 10 years for which data is available.

Answered by Chris Bryant

DCMS has policy responsibility for public libraries in England only.

The following table shows the number of open static libraries in England in the most recent 10 years for which data is available. The data is taken from the Arts Council England Basic Dataset for Libraries 2023 which consolidated and validated previous datasets.

1/7/2016

31/12/2019

31/12/2021

31/12/2022

31/12/2023

Number of open static libraries included in the dataset

3,010

2,938

2,914

2,894

2,8771

Number of open static libraries within the statutory provision

2,727

2,585

2,550

2,576

2,5781

1. Figures do not include 10 static libraries for which the operating model is unknown

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