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24 Oct 2007 : Column 137WH—continued
I think that my hon. Friend agrees that, given Dudley’s performance, it was appropriate to have a peer review.
As I understand it, Dudley consulted the local community, which expressed the same wishes as most communities: the community wanted modern, properly equipped libraries, good-quality stock and decent opening hours. They wanted better libraries, and I think that we can all accept that a radical review is right.
I am told that Dudley is considering extending its opening hours. If that is the case, we should welcome it. If that is the way in which Dudley chooses to use its resources, it is welcome. I am also told that it is entirely recycling the savings that it makes from any changes back into the library service. I am sure that my hon. Friend can confirm that with the local authority, but if it is the case, it, too, is welcome, because there is a pattern across the country in which, when libraries undergo reviews and there are savings, they tend to be taken back to the centre. Dudley is not doing that, which we should welcome.
Lyn Brown: I thank my right hon. Friend for being so generous in taking interventions. May I ask her to address the issue that my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Lynda Waltho) raised earlier, which was about Dudley council choosing to close libraries in areas of low book and computer ownership? Whatever the excuse for that, it means taking resources from those who are possibly less able to articulate their needs and desires. It is about taking away from those who have no political power.
Margaret Hodge: I could not agree more, and I was just coming to that point. I understand the concerns about the proposed five closures. I understand that those five libraries account for 6 per cent. of library issues and 5 per cent. of visits, but if we want to extend access, it may be that that is where we should provide access. I am not against closures—that is true of any Government—particularly if they lead to an improvement in the service, but we have to be clear about the objectives and whether the strategy meets them. I do not know whether, in this instance, Dudley has as an objective of widening access to its library services, and I do not know whether it has asked itself whether these closures will help or hinder that objective.
There is also an issue about consultation in Dudley with the communities affected. In my view, it is crucial that Dudley should undertake proper consultation with the communities affected and should be clear, in putting forward its revised strategy, that it has clear objectives that we all understand and feel content with.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge has said, the scrutiny committee meets tonight. I will ask for a report from that committee. If the proposition remains that five libraries are intended to close, I will want to be reassured that the needs of the five communities are not overlooked. In that context, I urge my hon. Friend, who has brought this debate to Westminster Hall today, to continue with her good work locally to ensure that her constituents’ interests and needs are well met through a local library service.
Adjourned accordingly at nine minutes past Five o’clock.
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