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Railtrack
Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate has been made of the total amount owed to (a) creditors and (b) the Government by Railtrack plc on (i) 7 October and (ii) 7 December; and what the projected figures are to the end of March 2002. [25743]
Mr. Spellar: This is a matter for the administrator.
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 19 December 2001, Official Report, column 496W, if the reference to Railtrack being unable to meet its debt liabilities refers to debt due to be raised under its business plan. [26440]
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
South East Arts
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the policy is of South East Arts for making grants to small theatre companies promoting greater understanding of Shakespeare for young people. [25770]
Dr. Howells [holding answer 10 January 2002]:South East Arts funds a wide range of theatre projects involving young people through its open application grants schemes. All applications are assessed against published criteria which include a clear commitment to education and promoting greater access to and involvement in the arts.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the grants of £50,000 or less paid out by South East Arts to organisations in the South East in (a) 2001 and (b) 2000. [25769]
Dr. Howells [holding answer 10 January 2002]: Information supplied by South East Arts for the financial years to 31 March 2000 and 2001 will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
National Anthem
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans the Government
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have to encourage the British Broadcasting Corporation to reinstate the playing of the National Anthem at the end of the day. [26457]
Dr. Howells: It is not the role of Government to intervene in detailed issues of programme content and scheduling. The BBC's governing instruments, the Royal Charter and Agreement, place broad obligations on the corporation in respect of the number of its television and radio services and objectives. Within this framework, detailed decisions on programming and scheduling are a matter for the BBC, reflecting its editorial independence.
Libraries
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the Heritage Lottery Fund's policy is on (a) funding retrospective conversion projects and (b) providing information on and increasing access to British cultural heritage in UK libraries. [26577]
Dr. Howells: The Heritage Lottery Fund's policy is that (a) where a project involves conversion of information about collections into electronic forms, the Fund expects applicants to address the conversion of catalogues and other finding aids before digital imaging of collections and (b) to support documentary heritage projects from libraries of historical importance which run programmes of public benefit, and to support projects to widen access to collections, particularly those of non- national institutions. There is a separate policy for support of library and archive acquisitions; the Heritage Lottery Fund does not fund public lending library services.
ENSEMBLE
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport for what reason funding for the ENSEMBLE retrospective conversion bid has been made dependent on the development of the BiP web interface. [26576]
Dr. Howells: The ENSEMBLE bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for a programme of retrospective conversion of holdings of printed music to electronic format has been withdrawn on advice from HLF. HLF has decided to put off further decisions on bids from the Consortium of University Research Libraries (CURL), of which ENSEMBLE is a sub-set, until the educational objectives for the website have been achieved through the Britain in Print project. The proposed website will be the foundation for delivering future CURL projects to the public. The decision rests with the Trustees of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, which administers the HLF, as Ministers do not intervene in Lottery applications.
Channel 5
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to extend the Channel 5 signal to all parts of the UK. [27113]
Dr. Howells: Channel 5 services are available on all television platforms: terrestrial, satellite and cable. I do not expect the availability of analogue terrestrial Channel 5 services to be increased because the priority is to use available spectrum for developing digital terrestrial television (DTT). As part of the Digital TV Action Plan, Government and industry are considering the extension
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of DTT coverage. We commenced a three-month consultation on 11 December, inviting views on the basis on which we should plan the use of spectrum for DTT, including the level of coverage required for public service broadcasting and for pay-TV services.
Analogue Switch-Off
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the proposed date is for the total analogue switch off. [26705]
Dr. Howells: The Government are committed to ensuring that terrestrial analogue broadcasting signals are maintained until: everyone who can currently get the main public service broadcasting channels in analogue form can receive them on digital systems; switching to digital is an affordable option for the vast majority of people; as a target indicator of affordability, 95 per cent. of consumers have access to digital equipment. Our target is to complete digital switchover by 2010.
Television Licences
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what criteria sheltered housing complexes must meet to be exempt from payment of a television licence. [27167]
Dr. Howells: No sheltered housing schemes are exempt from payment of the television licence fee. However, under the Accommodation for Residential Care concessionary licence scheme, a special licence, at a fee of £5 per unit of accommodation, is available for residents in sheltered housing schemes which:
(a) form part of a group of at least four dwellings within a common and exclusive boundary (though up to 25 per cent. of units in a scheme can be properties purchased under the 'right to buy' legislation);
(b) are provided for occupation by disabled persons, mentally disordered persons or retired persons aged 60 years or more;
(c) are provided or managed by a local authority, a housing association or a development corporation; and
(d) have a person (for example a warden) whose function is to care for the needs of the residents and who either lives on site or works there for at least 30 hours a week.
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households in Angus (a) pay the full television licence, (b) pay a reduced licence fee and (c) receive a free television licence. [27168]
Dr. Howells: TV Licensing, which administers for the BBC as Licensing Authority the concessionary arrangements, including the free licence scheme for the over-75s, is not able to provide geographical breakdowns of the number of licences issued. However, estimates based on the 1991 Census indicate that, out of approximately 76,000 people living in the Angus constituency, about 5,700 were aged 75 or over.
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Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households in the Uxbridge constituency (a) pay for a television licence and (b) receive a free licence. [27264]
Dr. Howells: TV Licensing, which administers for the BBC as Licensing Authority the free television licence concession for the over-75s, is not able to provide geographical breakdowns of the number of free licences issued. However, estimates based on the 1991 Census indicate that, out of approximately 76,100 people living in the Uxbridge constituency, about 4,800 were aged 75 or over.
John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many residents of the London borough of Havering are in receipt of free television licences. [27222]
Dr. Howells: TV Licensing, which administers for the BBC as Licensing Authority the free television licence concession for the over-75s, is not able to provide details of the number of free licences issued by local authority area. However, 1991 Census figures indicate that there were approximately 14,200 residents of the London borough of Havering aged 75 years or over.
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households in Chesham and Amersham (a) pay a television licence and (b) receive a free licence. [27121]
Dr. Howells: TV Licensing, which administers for the BBC as Licensing Authority the free television licence concession for the over-75s, is not able to provide geographical breakdowns of the number of free licences issued. However, estimates based on the 1991 Census indicate that, out of approximately 88,900 people living in the Chesham and Amersham constituency, about 5,900 were aged 75 or over.
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households in south Tyneside (a) pay for a television licence and (b) receive a free licence. [25924]
Dr. Howells: TV Licensing, which administers for the BBC as Licensing Authority the free television licence concession for the over-75s, is not able to provide details of the number of licences issued by local authority area. However, 1991 Census figures record 64,173 households in the metropolitan borough of south Tyneside, of which 8,199 included a person aged 75 years or over.
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