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Digital Television

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households have digital television in (a) the UK and (b) each other EU country. [100047]

Janet Anderson: By the end of September, BSkyB had signed up 1.8 million subscribers and ONdigital had signed up 411,000 subscribers in the UK. Information about the number of UK households which have digital television without subscribing to digital pay-tv services is not available. My Department has no readily available information on the numbers of digital television households in each EU country.

Mr. Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on his plans for securing access to the Internet through digital television. [100136]

Janet Anderson [holding answer 30 November 1999]: As we take forward plans to switch analogue television transmissions over to digital, the Government will consider whether internet access might be guaranteed as part of a core package of services available to all viewers. We are also working with the industry on a public information campaign which will inform consumers about the benefits digital television has to offer; the services available, including internet access, and the equipment they will need.

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Sydney Paralympics

Mrs. Betty Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assistance his Department has provided to paraplegic athletes in their preparations for the Sydney Paralympics in 2000. [99843]

Kate Hoey [holding answer 29 November 1999]: In preparation for the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, the British Paralympic Association (BPA) has

2 Dec 1999 : Column: 328W

received a World Class Performance funding total of £455,030. Paralympic athletes--who include paraplegic competitors--will also benefit from the BPA's Core Preparation Programmes funding and should be in receipt of both personal subsistence and core programme capital if their sport has made a successful application for World Class Performance funding.

The funding support to date for each Paralympic sport, which includes paraplegic programmes, is as follows:

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£

Sport	Period of award	Combined performance and subsistence
Athletics	1 May 1998-31 December 1999	2,171,522
Swimming	1 August 1997-30 September 2000	3,133,136
Wheelchair basketball	1 October 1997-31 May 2000	8,226,739
Wheelchair rugby	1 August 1999-31 July 2000	149,476
Table Tennis	1 December 1997-31 January 2000	185,858
Shooting	1 July 1999-30 November 1999	65,000
Powerlifting	1 July 1999-30 September 2000	112,566
Goalball	1 August 1999-31 July 2000	110,220

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Sport England Lottery Fund

Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the cities that have received funding from the Sports Council's lottery funding. [100442]

Kate Hoey: To date, the following cities have been awarded funding from the Sport England Lottery Fund.

		£
City	Total award	Total project cost
Birmingham	11,850,738	16,478,416
Bradford	2,461,949	4,356,305
Bristol	4,317,967	6,272,568
Cambridge	9,012,993	14,717,658
Canterbury	3,836,475	5,032,395
Carlisle	1,531,910	2,549,444
Chester	1,211,912	2,054,664
Chichester	1,095,369	1,890,041
Coventry	46,412,826	67,927,735
Derby	1,193,414	3,218,349
Durham	620,170	1,013,347
Exeter	41,337	76,557
Gloucester	11,984,003	16,989,376
Greater London	226,754,885	484,433,107
Kingston upon Hull	218,656	339,016
Lancaster	5,051,541	11,383,754
Leeds	16,009,144	24,628,060
Leicester	1,637,226	3,835,822
Lincoln	467,821	603,044
Liverpool	17,660,223	26,914,325
Manchester	28,712,462	41,151,069
Newcastle upon Tyne	10,898,180	16,123,864
Norwich	14,567,220	17,657,920
Nottingham	22,721,667	39,260,006
Oxford	191,186	346,764
Peterborough	331,531	756,172
Plymouth	4,222,530	6,608,519
Portsmouth	12,414,360	22,381,600
Salford	966,049	1,353,583
Sheffield	15,748,753	21,389,041
Salisbury	677,088	984,223
Southampton	11,657,261	19,398,699
St. Albans	2,307,272	4,713,275
Stoke-on-Trent	8,753,332	10,973,800
Wakefield	5,974,631	7,721,503
Winchester	2,051,808	3,048,480
Worcester	353,658	744,968
York	768,486	1,098,222

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CABINET OFFICE

Public Bodies

Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies were in existence; what was their total annual running cost; how many employees they had; how many board members they had; and how many were in existence per sponsoring department in each of the last five years. [101066]

Mr. Stringer: The number of executive agencies in existence in each of the last five years is as follows:

Year	Number of agencies as at 31 December
1994	(6)104
1995	(6)111
1996	(6)131
1997	(7)142
1998	(7)142

(6) Figure includes HM Customs and Excise and Inland Revenue which are departments operating fully on Next Steps lines.

(7) Figure includes HM Customs and Excise, Inland Revenue, Crown Prosecution Service and Serious Fraud Office which are departments operating fully on Next Step lines.

The Next Steps Agencies in Government Review 1995 and 1996, and the Next Steps Report 1997 and 1998, provide details of the total annual running cost and the number of employees for each agency. The Next Steps Agencies in Government Review 1994 also provides details of the number of employees for each agency. Details of the total annual running cost for each agency in existence in 1994 is not centrally held. Executive agencies do not have board members.

The number of non-departmental public bodies in existence in each of the last five years is as follows.

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Year	Number of NDPBs as at 1 April
1994	1,345
1995	1,227
1996	1,194
1997	1,128
1998	1,073

The Government's annual publication "Public Bodies" for these years provides the relevant details for each body. Copies of these publications are in the Library of the House. "Public Bodies 1999", which is due to be published later this month, will set out the figures for 1999.

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Departmental Estate

Ms Roseanna Cunningham: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what his estimate is of the current value of land and property held by the Cabinet Office in (i) Scotland and (ii) in total; [99727]

(2) what his estimate is of the current value of land and property (a) in Scotland and (b) in total held by each of the executive agencies within the responsibility of his Department; and if he will give the total value of assets held by these bodies. [99728]

Mr. Stringer: The total current value of the land and property held by the Cabinet Office, excluding executive agencies, is £69,715,000, none of which is in Scotland.

The current value of assets held by each executive agency within the responsibility of the Minister for the Cabinet Office in the requested categories is given in the table.

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£

	Value of assets
	Land and property
Executive agency	In Scotland	Total	Total assets
Civil Service College	0	8,003,000	9,567,000
Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA)	0	0	1,386,000
Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA)	0	0	2,560,000
Property Advisers to the Civil Estate (PACE)	699,000	1,683,000	18,667,000
The Buying Agency (TBA)	0	0	527,000
Central Office of Information (COI)	0	0	1,295,000
Total	699,000	9,686,000	34,002,000
PACE: Surplus land and property on the Civil Estate for disposal	2,200,000	52,699,000	--

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The Department is at present implementing resource accounting. Values have been derived from audited accounting information. The first year of published resource accounts will be in respect of 1999-2000.

Executive Agencies

Mr. Rowlands: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which executive agencies were (a) established and (b) abolished in (i) 1998 and (ii) 1999. [100623]

Mr. Stringer: A list of executive agencies which were established and abolished in 1998 and 1999 is set out as follows:

Agencies established in 1998

Debt Management Office

Defence Communication Services Agency

Forest Service

Maritime and Coastguard Agency ¹

Agencies Abolished in 1998

Security Facilities Executive Agency ²

Agencies Established in 1999

Defence Aviation Repair Agency ³

Defence Housing Executive

Defence Procurement Agency

Defence Storage and Distribution Agency ⁴

Defence Transport and Movements Agency ⁵

Agencies Abolished in 1999

Government Property Lawyers ⁶

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¹ The Maritime and Coastguard Agency was launched as a result of the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions merging the Marine Safety Agency and the Coastguard Agency.

² On 14 May 1998, the then Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, Peter Kilfoyle, announced that the Security Facilities Executive Agency was no longer a viable organisation and that it would cease to be an executive agency from 1 July 1998.

³ Defence Aviation Repair Agency was launched as an agency incorporating the RAF Maintenance Repair Organisation and Naval Aircraft Repair Organisation.

⁴ Defence Storage and Distribution Agency was launched as an agency incorporating the majority of the Army Base Storage and Distribution Agency.

⁵ Defence Transport and Movements Agency was launched as an agency incorporating the Defence Transport and Movements Executive.

⁶ Following an evaluation of Government Property Lawyers (GPL) and a Prior Options Study, the Attorney-General concluded that against the background of a declining work load, the business of the GPL Agency had become non-viable and there was no longer a requirement to maintain a central conveyancing function in the public sector.

In addition to those agencies above which were abolished, in 1998 the Historic Royal Palaces Agency changed its status to that of a Non-Departmental Public Body. The Social Security Contributions Agency was incorporated in Inland Revenue in 1999 as an Executive Office (National Insurance Contributions Office).

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