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Indonesia
Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent (a) reports and (b) representations he has received on violations of human rights by the Indonesian Army in Aceh and West Papua. [106728]
Mr. Battle: Despite the progress towards democracy in Indonesia, the security situation in Aceh and West Papua/Irian Jaya is a matter of serious concern. We have received reports of indiscriminate killings, abductions and harassment in Aceh, and we have received reports that four civilians were seriously wounded after security forces opened fire on demonstrators in West Papua/Irian Jaya on 4 December. These incidents highlight the importance of the new Indonesian Government's efforts to secure peace and reconciliation in their troubled provinces through dialogue--a process we fully support.
We have received a small number of parliamentary letters about the situation in the above provinces.
I discussed the current violence in Indonesia with President Wahid and senior Ministers during my visit to Indonesia last week and underlined our deep concern.
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Mr. Llew Smith:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the use by the Indonesian army in Ambon of UK-manufactured Saladin armoured cars against civilians. [106732]
Mr. Battle:
Saladin vehicles have not been exported to Indonesia since the 1960s. We have no confirmation of recent press reports that UK-supplied Saladin armoured vehicles have been used against civilians in Ambon.
Mr. Gordon Prentice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list by constituency the amount spent on lottery tickets and the number of lottery millionaires. [107066]
Kate Hoey:
I have placed a table showing the amount spent on National Lottery tickets by constituency for the first five years of the National Lottery in the Libraries of the House.
Figures for the number of Lottery millionaires by constituency are not available.
Mr. Ashdown:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many applications for National Lottery grants have been made by organisations in the Yeovil constituency over the last five years; how many of these have been accepted; and if he will make a statement. [106743]
Kate Hoey:
The table shows the number of applications and awards for each of the National Lottery distributing bodies to organisations in the Yeovil constituency, based on information provided by the National Lottery distributing bodies.
| Distributing body | Number of applications received | Number of awards made |
|---|---|---|
| Arts Council of England | 25 | 15 |
| Heritage Lottery Fund | 15 | 3 |
| Film Council | 0 | 0 |
| Millennium Commission | (29)-- | 4 |
| National Lottery Charities Board | 163 | 68 |
| New Opportunities Fund | 0 | (30)0 |
| Sport England | 15 | 8 |
| UK Sport | 0 | 0 |
(29) Not known.
(30) The New Opportunities Fund has allocated funding to schools in the Somerset County Council, amounting to £1,552,054, under its programme for ICT (information and communications technology) training for teachers and school librarians. In addition, under its programme for ICT training for public library staff, Somerset County Council will receive the entitlement of £135,725. Funding is allocated by Local Education Authority/Library Authority and it is not possible at present to provide a breakdown by parliamentary constituency.
Gillian Merron:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will publish tables for the (a) sales of national lottery tickets in and (b) awards from the lottery to (i) parliamentary constituencies, (ii) counties and (iii) regions ranked in descending order by amount in each case. [106843]
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Kate Hoey
[holding answer 25 January 2000]: I have placed tables showing National Lottery awards by constituency, county, and region by descending order of amount; and tables showing ticket sales by constituency and by region, by descending order of amount, in the Libraries of the House. Ticket sales by county are not available.
Mr. Cohen:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many National Lottery grants, indicating the amounts involved, have been allocated to projects in London via (a) national companies, (b) national institutions and (c) local London community groups. [106808]
Kate Hoey:
According to my Department's National Lottery awards database, there have been 5596 grants to organisations based in London since the National Lottery began, with a total value of £2,263,714,761. Of these, 4,650 grants, with a total value of £1,230,738,680, have been classified by the National Lottery distributors as local awards; the remaining 946 awards, with a total value of £1,032,976,081, have been classified as non-local.
Mr. Coaker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the value of lottery funds received by organisations in the Gedling constituency; and if he will make a statement. [106831]
Kate Hoey
[holding answer 25 January 2000]: According to my Department's National Lottery awards database (which uses information supplied by the National Lottery distributing bodies) there have been 50 awards to organisations based in the Gedling constituency, totalling £1,295,563.
Dr. Tony Wright:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list, in each constituency the (a) sales of National Lottery tickets and (b) allocation of Lottery funding ranked in order of (i) number of tickets sold and (ii) value of Lottery funding, in each of the first five years of the Lottery's operation. [106150]
Kate Hoey:
I have placed a table showing Lottery awards by constituency, where known, for each year from 1995 (the first year in which awards were made) to 1999 in the Libraries of the House. The table is taken from my Department's National Lottery awards database, using information provided by the National Lottery distributing bodies. It allocates awards to constituencies according to the applicant's post code.
I have also placed a table showing total ticket sales to 13 November 1999 in the Libraries of the House. Annual breakdown of these data is not available.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what orders his Department has made under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994 in each year since 1994; and what plans it has to introduce such orders. [106089]
Mr. Chris Smith
[holding answer 20 January 2000]: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has made two orders under the Deregulation and Contracting Out Act 1994. They are:
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The Deregulation (Wireless Telegraphy) Order 1996 (SI 1996/1864)
This abolished the requirement for TV dealers to hold TV licences and to register with the BBC. It was estimated to have saved TV dealers £10,000 a year.
The Contracting Out (Functions in relation to the Management of Crown Lands) Order 1998 (SI 1998/215)
This removes the statutory responsibilities of the Secretary of State for DCMS, for the day to day management of the historic royal palaces which is now carried out under contract by the Historic Royal Palaces Trust.
DCMS will continue to look for opportunities to use such orders to remove unnecessary legislative restrictions.
Mr. Berry:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action his Department is taking to ensure that broadcasters comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in respect of subtitling on their (a) digital television channels and (b) videos. [106138]
Janet Anderson:
It is for the broadcasters themselves to ensure that they are acting in accordance with the requirements of the Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, which relates to access to goods, facilities and services. Broadcasting, like other services to the public is covered by the Act, while the manufacture and design of manufactured goods, such as videos, are not. Broadcasters are also subject to the "Code on Subtitling, Sign Language and Audio Description on Digital Terrestrial Television", drawn up by the Independent Television Commission (ITC) under Section 20 of the Broadcasting Act 1996. The Code is concerned with the access to digital terrestrial television services for people with hearing disabilities and visual impairments. The code requires digital terrestrial broadcasters to provide subtitles on at least 50 per cent. of their services within 10 years of the commencement of digital services. The Independent Television Commission will continue to monitor the performance of commercial DTT channels to ensure compliance with the code. The ITC are currently looking at the implications of the Disability Discrimination Act to ensure that their codes are consistent with it.
Mr. Baker:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the ITC's returns from each of the (a) digital and (b) analogue terrestrial channels covered by its statutory subtitling targets for each of the last five years. [106974]
Janet Anderson:
The first digital terrestrial services began in November 1998 and the Commission has not yet published returns for these services. The ITC has published the following returns for analogue terrestrial channels in its Annual Reports:
| ITV | GMTV | Channel 4 | Channel 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 30 | 29 | 37 | -- |
| 1995 | 35 | 30 | 36 | -- |
| 1996 | 41 | 37 | 45 | -- |
| 1997 | 51 | 39 | 56 | 23 |
| 1998 | 61 | 42 | 60 | 27 |
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Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what plans he has to introduce legislation to set statutory subtitling targets for cable and satellite broadcasters; and if he will make a statement; [106970]
(2) what is his Department's policy on subtitling on (a) cable and (b) satellite television channels. The Minister for Tourism, Film and Broadcasting, [106971]
Janet Anderson: The Government have no current plans to legislate on subtitling for cable and satellite broadcasters. They have however, made clear their concern at the apparent poor level of subtitling on cable and satellite channels and have encouraged all broadcasters to respond positively to the RNID's initiative for a voluntary charter on broadcast subtitling.
Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the statutory subtitling targets set by the ITC for each year from 1995 to 2005 inclusive. [106973]
Janet Anderson: The ITC has set the following targets:
| Analogue | Digital Terrestrial Television | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Channel 3 | GMTV | Channel 5 | Year | From date of start of each programme service | |
| 1995 | 32 | 29 | -- | 1. | 5 |
| 1996 | 38 | 33 | -- | 2. | 10 |
| 1997 | 45 | 37 | 23 | 3. | 15 |
| 1998 | 52 | 41 | 27 | 4. | 20 |
| 1999 | 56 | 46 | 32 | 5. | 25 |
| 2000 | 61 | 50 | 37 | 6. | 30 |
| 2001 | 68 | 54 | 43 | 7. | 35 |
| 2002 | 75 | 54 | 50 | 8. | 40 |
| 2003 | 79 | 58 | -- | 9. | 45 |
| 2004 | 83 | 58 | -- | 10. | 50 |
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