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Acid Rain

Mrs. Brinton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make it his policy to support the proposals due to be considered by the European Commission in March to impose national emission ceilings on acid rain gases; and if he will make a statement. [74372]

Mr. Meacher: The Government have supported the EC Acidification Strategy as a means of reducing ecosystem damage from acid emissions, and will continue to do so. It also supports the principle of a national emission ceilings directive. The Government will give careful consideration to the detail of the proposed directive once it has been

4 Mar 1999 : Column: 843

published by the European Commission. Both the Strategy and the proposed directive will take forward the large reductions the UK has already achieved and further reductions planned for sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions. Between 1990 and 1996 the UK reduced total sulphur dioxide emissions by 46% and nitrogen oxide emissions by 25%. Current policies are expected to deliver reductions of 74% and 58% respectively by 2010.

English Partnerships

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is the expected spend of English Partnerships for the current year for the (a) North West, (b) North East, (c) West Midlands, (d) East Midlands and (e) Yorkshire and Humberside Regions. [74672]

Mr. Caborn: Based on the latest estimates, the total expected spend for 1998-99 for these regions of English Partnerships is as follows:

	£ million
(a) North West	92.0
(b) North East	47.0
(c) West Midlands	48.0
(d) East Midlands	26.5
(e) Yorkshire and the Humber	53.0

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much of the funding available to English Partnerships for the year 1999-2000 is planned to be retained centrally; and what projects are currently being considered for this funding. [74670]

Mr. Caborn: The total land and property programme, excluding the coalfields portfolio, for 1999-2000 is projected to be £371.6m (based on DETR's receipts targets). It is currently proposed that EP will be allocated £46.6m to take forward the responsibilities identified on 23 June 1998, Official Report, column 438. These include the reclamation and development of the Greenwich site, the setting up and running of databases on brownfield sites, and managing the programme of Millennium Villages. EP will also be responsible for the land and property programme for London (£56.3m) for next year; and will manage the ring-fenced Coalfields Portfolio (£49.6m) on behalf of and in liaison with the RDAs.

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is English Partnerships' current draft budget for the regional development agencies for the financial year 1999-2000 for the (a) North West, (b) North East, (c) Yorkshire and Humberside, (d) West Midlands and (e) East Midlands Regions. [74669]

Mr. Caborn: The land and property budgets for Regional Development Agencies will be set by the Department, not by English Partnerships, in consultation with the RDAs. The budgets have yet to be finalised.

4 Mar 1999 : Column: 844

The latest provisional budgets for these Regions, for the main land and property programme, excluding administration and the coalfields portfolio, for 1999-2000 are as follows:

Region	£ million
North West	73
North East	30
Yorkshire and Humberside	41
West Midlands	34.3
East Midlands	16

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much additional funding to that made available by Government to English Partnerships is expected to be generated from the public, private and voluntary sectors for the current year 1998-99 for the (a) North West, (b) North East, (c) Yorkshire and Humberside, (d) West Midlands and (e) East Midlands Regions. [74671]

Mr. Caborn: The following amounts of additional funding are expected to be generated for projects in 1998-99:

		£ million
Region	Other public	Private
North West	18.71	90.71
North East	25.89	213.83
Yorkshire and Humberside	13.59	65.14
West Midlands	23.75	22.41
East Midlands	18.06	27.89

Note:

1. The category "other public" includes funding from voluntary sector organisations.

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how much additional funding has been generated for every £1 spent by Government through English Partnerships in the (a) North West, (b) North East, (c) West Midlands, (d) East Midlands and (e) Yorkshire and Humberside regions in each of the past five years. [74674]

Mr. Caborn: Until April 1998, English Partnerships did not collect data of this sort on a regional basis. It is therefore not possible to provide a full answer.

English Partnerships publishes estimates of the value of private sector funding in its Annual Reports. The national totals have been as follows:

Year	£ million
1994-95	300
1995-96	580
1996-97	630
1997-98	767

For 1998-99, the estimated additional private sector funding for these regions is expected to be as follows:

Region	£ million
North West	90.71
North East	213.83
West Midlands	22.41
East Midlands	27.89
Yorkshire and Humberside	65.14

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Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is the total budget allocation for English Partnerships for (a) 1998-99 and (b) 1999-2000, broken down by funding held centrally, funding allocated by regional offices and funding transferred to the regional development agencies. [74673]

Mr. Caborn: The budget allocations for the English Partnerships land and property programme spend for 1998-99 and 1999-2000 is as follows:

		£ million
	1998-99	1999-2000
Central	72.0	46.6
Regional	339.3	56.3
Transferred to RDAs	--	267.7
Total	411.3	370.6

Notes:

1. Central spend excludes the ring-fenced funding for the Greenwich Millennium Project.

2. Regional spend in 1999-00 by EP is for London

3. The above figures do not include the funding for the coalfields portfolio (49.6 million) which is to be managed centrally by EP on behalf of and in liaison with the RDAs.

Lobbyists

Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if he will make a statement on the role of professional lobbyists in formulating policy in his Department; [74366]

(2) if he will make a statement on the role of professional lobbyists in formulating policy in his Department. [74355]

Mr. Meale: Any contacts with lobbyists by Ministers and civil servants in this Department are conducted in accordance with the "Ministerial Code" and "Guidance for Civil Servants: Contacts with Lobbyists".

Ministerial Visits

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when the visit of the Minister for London and Construction to Bromsgrove was first planned; and when the hon. Member for Bromsgrove was informed of the visit. [74561]

Mr. Raynsford: In January I agreed in principle to make a Labour Party campaign visit to the West Midlands on Friday 19 February. It was confirmed on Tuesday 16 February that I would visit Bromsgrove along with other West Midlands locations, and I wrote to the hon. Member at the House of Commons on Wednesday 17 February.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Theatre and Museum Funding

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the funding of theatres and museums by local authorities. [74235]

Mr. Alan Howarth [holding answer 2 March 1999]: In 1997-98 local authority funding for the arts is estimated to have been £194 million, and for museums £139 million.

4 Mar 1999 : Column: 846

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