He says that experience shows that cuts tend to happen in the same places: “Public libraries were the worst cut that we analysed and probably the worst cut across entire local authority provided services. Between 2009/10 and 2020/21 spending on libraries fell by about 48 per cent.”
These cuts were disproportionately high compared to cuts of about a third in local authority core spending, according to Stuart. Worryingly, he thinks pol- iticians will probably select the same targets again, saying: “Experience says that when local authorities are under funding pressure they will look to cut services that are either not statutory, or not acute and also have low local political salience. Unfortunately, (despite libraries having some statutory pro- tection) they still tick all three of those boxes, and I suspect local authorities will continue to cut library spending if they do suffer financially in the coming year. An example was the joint letter from leaders of Kent and Hampshire County Councils to the department saying unless we have an increase in the funding or a change in the scope of services provided by local authorities we’re going to go bust. And they specifically pulled out public libraries’ statutory protection in that letter, [asking government] to think about changing the statutory responsi-
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bility for providing things like libraries. So yes, I suspect that things like libraries will probably suffer again.”
Low protection
Can the funding priority of public librar- ies be improved? One way to assess this is to look at the three measures Stuart suggests for gauging funding priorities. The least effective funding protection – one that public librarians are already keenly aware of – is the legal protec- tion under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act. Stuart says: “Within neighbourhood services there are things like homelessness and concessionary bus passes for seniors, services which local authorities have a legal duty to provide. Yes, they also have a statutory duty to supply a library service too, but it is very vague and could be interpreted as anything you want. It means that when councils are forced to spend on statutory services, libraries have less rigorous duty. So that’s one factor.”
Low salience
“The other is the political salience. If you look at the areas that were relatively protected during the 2010s, they were road maintenance, waste collections, planning applications. They were all cut, but cut far less because they were all politically
salient. They are areas that councillors get complaints about in their emails. Com- plaints about potholes, bin collections and planning applications that have taken nine weeks, not the promised eight weeks. High political salience diverts attention to those areas and they receive more funding than areas like libraries, museums, community centres.”
Stuart does point out that this lack of salience may not reflect the views of the community, only the views of those who communicate with their councillors. He suggests that the voices of library users aren’t heard.
“It is sad because libraries provide very important services that are massively appreciated and also benefit some of the worst off in local authorities. These are people whose voices aren’t necessarily the ones who get into the local paper and who aren’t likely to kick up a big fuss with their local councillor. That has unfortunate ramifications for spending positions.”
Acute pressure
His other measure for funding priority is the extent to which services see rises in demand during a crisis. Many of these services – like health and homelessness – are already covered by higher statutory protection. Even with this legal protec- tion some acute services will struggle: “There is also a massive workforce crisis
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