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Cyprus
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what contacts he has had with officers of the (a) Greek Cypriot defence forces and (b) Turkish Cypriot defence forces since 1 January. [7655]
RAF Scampton
Mr. Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received about the future use of RAF Scampton; when arrangements will be made for it to be placed on the market; and if he will make a statement. [7265]
Mr. Soames: There have been 17 inquiries concerning alternative non-defence uses for this station all of which have been taken into account in the preparation of a planning brief for the site in conjunction with the local authority. Subject to the adoption of this brief, which will be considered by the local planning authority in early 1997, it is intended to commence marketing the site during the summer of 1997.
Stone of Destiny
Mr. Home Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what costs were incurred by his Department in respect of events associated with the return of the Stone of Destiny to Scotland. [7714]
Mr. Soames: The return of the Stone of Destiny to Scotland was an accepted task under state ceremonial and routine public duties, the costs of which were absorbed within existing budgets. Additional costs relating to the ceremony on 30 November will be met by the Scottish Office.
MV Cap Afrique
Mr. Morley: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for how many days during July, August, September and October the MV Cap Afrique was contracted by the Ministry of Defence. [7716]
Mr. Soames: The MV Cap Afrique was chartered twice in July 1996 for a total of six days: from 9 July to 11 July inclusive and 23 July to 25 July inclusive. On both occasions she was employed to transport military vehicles and stores equipment between Marchwood military port and Antwerp. Those were the only occasions on which she was chartered by the Ministry of Defence since 1 July 1996.
Contracts
Mr. Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the total value of contracts placed by his Department with (a) subsidiaries of foreign companies and (b) British companies working in partnership with foreign companies in each of the last five years. [7740]
Mr. Arbuthnot: The management data held centrally covering MOD headquarters contracts do not provide details about whether the contractor is a subsidiary of a foreign company or a British company working in
5 Dec 1996 : Column: 730
partnership with a foreign company. Consequently, with some 8,000 to 10,000 businesses receiving contracts each year, research to answer such a general question could be undertaken only at disproportionate cost.
NATIONAL HERITAGE
Ministerial Visits
Mr. Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what is her Department's procedure for advising hon. Members of ministerial visits to their constituencies. [3977]
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley: My office is instructed to write notifying right hon. and hon. Members of all official visits to their constituencies.
Mr. Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will list each official visit which she has made to the London borough of Southwark since her appointment and the date in each case of the notification of the visit to the hon. Member whose constituency she visited. [2921]
Mrs. Bottomley [holding answer11 November 1996]: Official visits to the London borough of Southwark since my appointment include:
29 August 1995: A rehearsal for British Youth Opera at South Bank university
27 September 1995: A site visit to Bankside, Summer street
3 October 1995: A visit to GMTV Studios, London TV Centre, South Bank
26 October 1995: A visit to South Bank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
26 October 1995: Attend the launch of "Centenary of Cinema", at the Museum of the Moving Image, South Bank
9 November 1995: Visit to the Globe theatre, Bankside and the Rose theatre site
8 January 1996: Attend AA and Power Exhibition, at the Hayward gallery, South Bank
12 March 1996: Open the headquarters of Groundwork Southwark, and visit Burgess Park
30 July 1996: Attend the Arts Review launch at the Royal Festival Hall
31 July 1996: Visit Butler's Wharf Chef School
19 September 1996: Attend a lunch to launch stage 2 of "Making more of music", at The Warehouse, Theed street
23 October 1996: Open "Charlotte Perriand: Modernist Pioneer" Exhibition, at the Design museum
30 October 1996: Launch of The Human Resources Document at Butler's Wharf Chef School
21 November 1996: Launch of English Heritage annual report at the Oxo tower
Mr. Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage when she next plans to visit the London borough of Southwark to discuss the operation of the national lottery. [4298]
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Mrs. Bottomley [holding answer18 November 1996]: I have no immediate plans to do so.
Film Industry Finance
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what is the Government's response to the report of Sir Peter Middleton's advisory committee on film finance. [8044]
Mrs. Viginia Bottomley: I have today announced the Government's response to the report of the advisory committee on film finance. Copies of the press release have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
The Government are grateful to Sir Peter Middleton and his committee for their expert analysis of the obstacles to raising investment finance of British film making and for their recommendations on how these obstacles might be overcome.
The Government have accepted most of the committee's recommendations. Specifically:
Mr. David Nicholson:
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what proposals she has to extend the provisions of the Broadcasting (Channel 3 Transmission and Shared Distribution Costs) Order 1991. [8045]
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley:
The Broadcasting (Channel 3 Transmission and Shared Distribution Costs) Order 1991 expires on 31 December 1996. I intend shortly to lay a statutory instrument under section 66 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 to extend the provisions of the 1991 order until 31 December 2002. The Government will review the provision of transmission facilities to the channel 3 network in the course of 2000 and decide at that point whether the order should be further renewed beyond 2002.
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The Government did not accept the recommendations made by the committee regarding improvements to the tax regime for the film industry or staying in the Council of Europe's Eurimages co-production programme.
the Government intend to work with the film industry and financial sector to establish a new forum to promote better understanding of each other's activities. The new body, which will be chaired by Sir Peter Middleton, will be called the Film Finance Forum;
the Government will consult the film industry and other interested parties on the statutory definition of a British film and will consider, in the light of comments received, whether changes to the existing definition are necessary;
the Government welcome the announcement by the Arts Council of England that it intends to apply national lottery money more strategically to the film industry to help create the market-focused film making structures recommended in the report;
the Government will continue to negotiate in Brussels for a European audiovisual guarantee fund which is entirely commercial in its approach and private sector led from the outset.
Master of Business Administration Course
Mr. McAvoy: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many civil servants are undertaking the recently introduced master of business administration course for public servants; and what are (a) the grades and (b) the respective Departments of those undertaking the course. [7041]
Mr. Freeman: There are currently 45 civil servants undertaking the public sector MBA course on full and part-time programmes. A further 16 civil servants finished full-time programmes in September 1996. This total of 61 are distributed between Departments as detailed in the table. A number of students will begin part-time programmes in January 1997. Information on the grades of participating students is not held centrally, and has not been collected on the grounds that the variation in grading systems across Departments and agencies makes such data of limited value.
| Department | Full-time 1995-96 | Part-time 1995-97 | Full-time 1996-97 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAFF | 2 | -- | 1 | 3 |
| Cabinet Office | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Central Statistical Office | -- | 1 | -- | 1 |
| Crown Prosecution Service | -- | 1 | -- | 1 |
| HM Customs and Excise | -- | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Ministry of Defence | 1 | 2 | 6 | 9 |
| Department for Education and Employment | 3 | 4 | -- | 7 |
| Department of the Environment | -- | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Foreign and Commonwealth Office | 1 | -- | 1 | 2 |
| GCHQ | -- | -- | 2 | 2 |
| Department of Health | 3 | -- | 1 | 4 |
| Health and Safety Executive | -- | 1 | -- | 1 |
| Home Office | -- | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Inland Revenue | -- | 2 | -- | 2 |
| Overseas Development Administration | 1 | -- | -- | 1 |
| Department of Social Security | -- | 4 | -- | 4 |
| OFSTED | -- | 1 | -- | 1 |
| Scottish Office | -- | 1 | -- | 1 |
| Department of Trade and Industry | 2 | -- | 3 | 5 |
| Department of Transport | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Her Majesty's Treasury | 2 | -- | -- | 2 |
| Total | 16 | 24 | 21 | 61 |
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