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Rural Post Offices (Montgomeryshire)
23. Mr. Opik: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will visit rural post offices in Montgomeryshire. [114284]
Mr. Hanson: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I are both very aware of the important role played by rural post offices in maintaining the social fabric of their areas and have discussed this issue with colleagues in Central Government and in the National Assembly for Wales. I would be happy to meet with representatives of Montgomeryshire either in London or in Montgomeryshire.
National Assembly Buildings
24. Mr. Ian Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what requests he has received for the provision of extra funds from the UK central Government in relation to the existence of future National Assembly buildings; and if he will make a statement. [114285]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I have received no such requests. Future National Assembly buildings will be funded from the provision within the Welsh Block.
University Students
25. Mr. St. Aubyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he last discussed with the First Secretary the number of students at Welsh universities who have failed to complete their course of study. [114286]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I regularly meet the First Secretary and discuss a variety of issues, including further education.
Local Councillors (Remuneration)
26. Mr. Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will introduce measures to increase the powers of the Welsh Assembly to set a ceiling for remuneration for local councillors in Wales. [114287]
Mr. Hanson: The National Assembly for Wales already has a power under section 18 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 to make regulations relating to councillors' allowances.
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
Athletics
Mr. Faber: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what was the expenditure by his Department on the sport of athletics in (a) 1997-98 and (b) 1998-99; and what are the planned levels of expenditure in (i) 1999-2000, (ii) 2000-01, and (iii) 2001-02. [113819]
Kate Hoey
[holding answer 13 March 2000]: Public funding of sport is channelled through the Sports Councils. Lottery Sports Funding, under the World Class
22 Mar 2000 : Column: 579W
Performance Programme, and exchequer expenditure on athletics by Sport England and UK Sport is as follows:
| £000 | |
|---|---|
| 1997-98 | 3,930 |
| 1998-99 | 7,060 |
| 1999-2000 | 6,597 |
Note:
Sport England's figures for Lottery funding are for 11 months. End year figure may therefore be higher.
In addition, since the start of the National lottery Sport England has approved awards totalling £38,113,748 in respect of community athletics facilities.
Neither Sport England nor UK Sport is able at this stage to say what will be its total planned expenditure on athletics for 2000-01 and 2001-02.
Mr. Greenway:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if the proposed further £28 million loan has been allocated by the Millennium Commission to the New Millennium Experience Company. [114686]
Mr. Chris Smith:
This is a matter for the Millennium Commission. I shall write to the hon. Member in my capacity as Chairman of the Commission and place copies of my reply in the Libraries of the House.
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Miss Kirkbride:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if his Department will publish figures for the percentage of programmes subtitled on each of the digital terrestrial television channels since their launch in November 1998; [115258]
(3) in what ways his Department is monitoring the levels of subtitling on digital terrestrial television. [115256]
Janet Anderson:
The Independent Television Commission (ITC) are responsible for monitoring the levels of subtitling on commercial digital terrestrial programme services. The Commission has made no exceptions to the requirements to provide subtitling. The BBC has a subtitling unit which monitors the output of subtitling on BBC digital services.
I understand from the ITC that they are currently evaluating data received from commercial digital terrestrial programme service licensees for the period 15 January to 31 December 1999.
The BBC have provided the following figures on the percentage of programmes subtitled of BBC digital terrestrial channels:
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(2) if all channels are meeting their requirements for subtitling on digital terrestrial television; and what exceptions have been made to the requirements; [115257]
| Percentage | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Service | Period | Target Percentage | Hours per week (13) | Proportion (14) | End-year (15) |
| BBC Choice | Year to October 1999 | 5 | 67 | 31.5 | 37.6 |
| November 1999 to end February 2000 | 10 | 121 | 22.6 | -- | |
| BBC News 24 | Year to October 1999 | 5 | 5.6 | 3.3 | 9.7 |
| November 1999 to end February 2000 | 10 | 18 | 10.7 | -- | |
| BBC Knowledge | June 1999 to end February 2000 | 5 | 4 | 8.9 | -- |
(13) Number of hours per week of subtitling on each channel--average for the period
(14) Percentage of total output subtitled--average for the period
(15) Percentage of total output subtitled by end year--average for last four weeks of full year
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Lottery Receipts
Mr. Pendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the value of Lottery receipts that have not been allocated to good causes; and what plans he has to disperse them. [115486]
Kate Hoey: All National Lottery income available for good causes has been allocated to distributing bodies.
Wembley Stadium
Mr. Faber: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the representatives of Wembley National Stadium Ltd. who were present at the meeting with his Department's Ministers on 29 June 1999 described in his Department's memorandum to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee (HC 164, Session 1999-2000, p. 90); and if he will make a statement. [115229]
Kate Hoey:
No representatives of Wembley National Stadium Ltd. (WNSL) were present at the meeting on 29 June 1999 as described. This was a genuine drafting error in the memorandum and in no way intended to
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mislead the Committee. WNSL and the English Sports Council submitted papers to my Department on 17 June 1999 and 23 June 1999 respectively, reviewing the options to increase capacity at Wembley to 80,000 for athletics events. My officials met representatives of WNSL and Sport England to discuss these in detail on June 28 1999 and the then Minister for Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for West Ham, (Mr. Banks) then met representatives from the ESC on 29 June 1999 to discuss the capacity issues. It was agreed at that meeting that increasing the capacity in football mode from the start of the project was not viable, but that the design should preserve the option to be upgraded later in line with Olympic requirements. This view was subsequently communicated to WNSL by officials from my Department.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proposals he is evaluating for keeping the Millennium Dome Exhibition open after 31 December. [115261]
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Janet Anderson
[holding answer 17 March 2000]: There are no proposals at present to continue the Millennium Experience beyond 31 December 2000.
Mr. William Ross:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many legally-held (a) handguns of over .22 calibre and (b) rifles of over .22 calibre have been stolen from private individuals, excluding police and prison officers, in Northern Ireland, and how many such weapons were stolen from members of (i) the armed forces, (ii) the police and police reserves and (iii) prison officers, in each of the last 10 years. [106064]
Mr. Ingram:
The following table shows the number of illegally held handguns stolen from private individuals, the Armed Forces, the Police and Prison Officers in each of the last 10 years.
| Year | Private individuals | Armed forces | Police officers | Prison officers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 0 | 6 | 15 | 4 |
| 1991 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 2 |
| 1992 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| 1993 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 1994 | 12 | 6 | 14 | 0 |
| 1995 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 1996 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| 1997 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 1998 | 16 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| 1999 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals | 78 | 33 | 70 | 9 |
During this period one rifle was stolen from a police officer.
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