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Monitor Consultancy

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list (a) the nature an value of contracts his Department has entered into and (b) discussions Ministers or officials have held with the Monitor Consultancy since 1990. [14947]

Mr. Tom Clarke [holding answer 7 November 1997]: My Department was established in 1992 and since that date has not let any contracts, nor held any discussions, with the Monitor Consultancy.

Tennis

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the number of tennis clubs in England during each of the last 25 years. [15147]

Mr. Banks: According to the Lawn Tennis Association's (LTA) Survey of 1996, there are a total of 3,200 tennis clubs in England of which 2,400 are affiliated to the LTA. This compares against 2,700 LTA affiliated clubs 25 years ago.

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much lottery funding has been provided to local tennis clubs to secure the freehold purchase of their existing grounds. [15151]

Mr. Banks: The English Sports Council has made awards totalling £184,649, to two tennis clubs to assist with the freehold purchase of their existing grounds.

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for culture, Media and Sport how many people in England he estimates play tennis; and what have been the trends over the last 25 years. [15150]

Mr. Banks: According to the Lawn Tennis Association's (LTA) Survey of 1996, there are 4.5 million people who play tennis in England, of which 1.75 million play regularly (once a fortnight or more). I understand that the LTA have not kept records of tennis participation levels for the last 25 years.

Sports Clubs

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what is the minimum length of tenancy a sports club is required to hold in order to qualify for national lottery funding for capital projects. [15148]

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Mr. Banks: The minimum length of leasehold required is dependent on the size of the award, as follows:

Years
Up to £5,0003
£5,001-£10,0005
£10,001-£15,0007
£15,001-£25,00010
£25,001-£35,00012
£35,001-£50,00015
More than £50,00021

British Academy for Sport

Mr. Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he plans to announce the location of the British Academy for Sport. [14420]

Mr. Banks: We hope to make an announcement on the location shortly.

Concessionary Television Licences

Mrs. Ballard: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on anomalies within the current concessionary television licence scheme. [14435]

Mr. Fisher: The regulations governing the concessionary scheme give rise to a number of real and perceived anomalies. However, changes at the margins of the scheme, to address such anomalies, would most likely create new ones and would do little to improve the public acceptability of the scheme. The current Agreement between the Government and the BBC specifies that the licence fee system will continue until 2002. In reviewing the arrangements for funding the BBC after the year 2002 we shall also comprehensively examine the concessionary arrangements. In the meantime, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has produced a simplified explanatory leaflet on the concessionary scheme, which explains the qualifying criteria for the concession and answers some common questions about the scheme. Copies of the leaflet have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Tobacco Sponsorship

Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the impact of withdrawal of tobacco sponsorship on sport; and if he will make a statement. [14904]

Mr. Banks: We are looking very carefully at how best to achieve an end to the advertising and promotion of tobacco at sports events in a way which will minimise any damage to the sports concerned. Discussions are underway within Government on how best to achieve this and I am consulting the sports concerned. Plans include a transitional period. The Government will publish a White Paper next year setting out measures to tackle tobacco consumption.

After considering the issue of sponsorship in great depth the Government has proposed excluding Formula One from the scope of the proposed EU Directive on tobacco advertising and sponsorship which is currently being negotiated. We have always made clear that we are

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pursuing twin objectives of reducing smoking and of safeguarding sport from any effects arising from the loss of tobacco sponsorship. The fact is that a blanket Europe-wide ban on Formula One sponsorship would not only mean fewer Grand Prix in Europe, but also, perversely, more tobacco advertising on our TV screens beamed in from events outside the European Union.

Television Licences (Hotels)

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) how many hotel television licences have been issued in each year since 1990; and what was the total revenue received by the BBC from hotel television licences for each of these years; [14566]

Mr. Fisher [holding answer 10 November 1997]: Records of television licence fee revenue received from hotels are available only from 1991. Licence fee revenue from hotels since 1991 is:

YearNumber of hotel licences issued (000s)Revenue (£ million)
1991-92604.6
1992-93584.7
1993-94615.0
1994-95655.5
1995-96655.3
1996-97666.1

Under the Broadcasting Act 1990, the BBC has been responsible for the administration of the television licensing system since April 1991. We understand from the BBC that no separate estimate is available of the cost of television licence fee evasion by the hotel trade. The BBC's agent, TV Licensing, makes use of a national hotels database, in addition to standard enforcement procedures, to ensure compliance by hotels with the licensing regulations, and new guidance issued to TV Licensing's enquiry officers includes specific instructions on hotels.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Computers (Century Date Change)

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will make a statement on the guidelines or directives issued by the European Commission on the millennium computer problem; and if she will make a statement. [13156]

Mrs. Roche: No guidelines have been issued by the Commission.

Mr. Ian Taylor: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate she has made of the call on departmental budgets required to carry out the adjustments of their computers to cope with the Year 2000 problem. [14910]

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Mrs. Roche: Each department is responsible for dealing with the Year 2000 problem affecting its own computers. Within core DTI the cost of dealing with the problem is estimated at £2.7m which will be found from existing PES provision. Agencies are responsible for their own programmes of work.

Competition Policy

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the President of the Board of Trade if she will list those organisations which have responded to the draft Bill on competition policy. [12986]

Mr. Nigel Griffiths: The organisations and individuals who have responded to the consultation document "A prohibition approach to anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position: draft Bill" to date are as follows:












































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The Department of Trade and Industry has also been engaged in detailed exchanges about the Bill with other public bodies, including the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, the Office of Fair Trading, OFTEL, ORR, OFGAS, OFFER, OFWAT and OFREG (NI).

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