Department for Culture, Media and Sport 2-4 Cockspur Street Tel 02072116299 Ed Vaizey MP London SW1Y SDH. Fae 02072116249 Minister For Culture, Communications and Creative Industries ‘wwn-culture gov.uk CMS 160888/DC. department for culture, media ‘and sport host government department 3 December 2010 Dear Councillor SPENDING DECISIONS AND LIBRARY SERVICES. The financial deficit presents very difficult challenges for all public bodies and | recognise the pressures you are under. The reduction in local government resource over the next spending period presents a real challenge. Ihave written to you recently about the value of library services. They are places which can be used by anyone without judgement. They help people to learn new skills, read, access information, get online or find entertainment. | want to emphasise the importance | place on compliance with the statutory duty to provide a ‘comprehensive & efficient’ library service under the Public Libraries & Museums Act 1964. As you know, the Secretary of State last exercised his statutory power to intervene in April 2009, by commencing a local inquiry into Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council's compliance with its duties, The inquiry determined that the ‘comprehensive and efficient’ service that local authorities are required to provide is a balance between meeting local needs within available resources in a way which is appropriate to the needs of the local community No two authorities are the same and there is no single way of making an assessment of the needs of a community. It may be helpful however, if | set out the key considerations that every local authority should have in mind, as set out in the Charteris review on the Wirral closures. These are: Improving the quality of life for allDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport a statement of what the service is trying to achieve; a description of local needs, including the general and specific needs of adults and children who live, work and study in the area; * a detailed description of how the service will be delivered and how the plans will fully take into account the demography of the area and the different needs of adults and children in different areas (both in general and specific terms); + the resources available for the service, including an annual budget. | hope that local authorities will develop a creative and bold approach to decision making around the public library service. Along with the Local Government Group, | launched the Future Libraries Programme in the summer to provide local authorities with support in delivering the service more efficiently. Among the ideas being explored are transferring control of some library services to communities to run, merging services provided by two different authorities into one cross-boundary library service and locating library services in retail stores. There are 161 library authorities in England. With fewer than 40 of them taking part in the programme it is important that the findings from the 10 initial pilot projects are shared widely so that all authorities can learn from the experiences of those authorities that are participating. This process is just starting and | hope you will be inspired by some of the work that is progressing You can find out more at http:/www.mla.gov.ukiwhat/programmesithe future _libraries_programme Ba Vr ED VAIZEY Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries