Written question asked by Douglas Alexander (Labour) on Monday, 31 October 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 2 November 2011. It was answered by Lord Hague of Richmond (Conservative) on Monday, 7 November 2011 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Departmental Libraries

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department spent on its library in each year since 1995; and how many books were issued from the library in each such year.

Answer: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) ceased hard copy library and information services on 31 March 2008 with the exception of a small legal library which remains for reference and research use by its legal advisers. The Department did not maintain a central record of the library's expenditure and it would incur disproportionate cost to establish such historical data. It did not keep historical data about book issues. A new electronic library was introduced in 2010 to provide information services via the desktop throughout the global network, including access to electronic books.

Secondary information