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Public Service Agreements
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the Public Service Agreement targets which have been revised and those which have been introduced since the publication of the 2001 departmental report. [43258]
Dr. Howells: My Department has not revised or introduced any new Public Service Agreement targets since the publication of the 2001 departmental annual report.
Special Advisers
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the number and expected cost to her Department of special advisers in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03. [43272]
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- (a) Details of special advisers employed in the Department 2000–02 are shown in the table.
| Special advisers: Full time | Part time | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2001 | (11)2 | 0 | (11)2 |
| 2002 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
(11) We employed three special advisers to cover the two posts throughout the year.
(b) We expect to employ two special advisers for 2002–3.
The salaries of special advisers are negotiated individually within the stated pay range (£28,328–£82,867). Details of salaries remain confidential in order to protect the privacy of the individuals concerned.
Timber
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the companies from which her Department has obtained timber and wood products and the total spent with each firm over the last five years. [43408]
Dr. Howells: The only timber related products purchased in the last five years have been workstations. These are laminate over recycled timber chipboard in construction. The supplier has been Herman Miller Office Systems at a total cost of £105,000 over the five year period.
Film Industry
Jean Corston: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the United Kingdom's contribution to the international film industry. [43500]
Dr. Howells: Between 1997 and September 2001 four British films, "The Full Monty", "Notting Hill", "Chicken Run" and "Bridget Jones's Diary", together grossed around £700 million at the worldwide box office. Recent major budget productions attracted to these shores such as "Tomb Raider", "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", "Chocolat", "Killing me Softly" and "The Mummy Returns" have contributed to the overall inward investment figure of approximately £539 million in 2000. The Film Council's Premiere Fund has a budget of £30 million of Lottery money over three years for the production of theatrical feature films that have the potential to attract significant audiences at home and abroad. The Film Council's most recent release, Gosford Park, has already won a Golden Globe and has been nominated for seven "Oscars". The UK was one of the earliest signatories of the European Co-Production Convention and has seven bilateral co-production agreements with other countries. The UK also has a massive talent base, providing a major contribution to the world's feature film industry.
Restoration
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list those publicly funded and grant aided (a) art galleries and (b) museums
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where items in their collections have been damaged as a result of inappropriate and poorly executed restoration work since 1990; and if she will make a statement. [43497]
Dr. Howells: None of my Department's grant aided museums or art galleries have items in their collections that have been damaged as a result of restoration work carried out since 1990. The science of conservation and restoration is continually improving to ensure that best practices are employed. All conservation and restoration work is carried out by expert conservators.
Press and Public Relations
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many press releases were issued by her Department (a) between 1 May and 31 December 1997 and (b) in each year from 1998 to 2001 inclusive. [40029]
(a) My Department issued 248 press releases between 1 May and 31 December 1997.
(b) In 1998 we issued 319 In 1999 we issued 315 in 2000 we issued 331 in 2001 we issued 325.
Territorial Forces
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many members of staff of her Department are members of the Territorial Forces; and if she has a strategy to encourage members of staff to become members of the Territorial Forces. [44071]
Dr. Howells: The Department does not hold information on which members of staff are members of the Territorial Forces. We encourage staff to become members of the Territorial Forces by allowing up to eight days paid special leave per year for training plus an additional five for special courses or exercises. We also look favourably upon requests for unpaid special leave in connection with these activities.
Radio Broadcasts
Mr. Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in what languages other than English radio programmes are broadcast in the United Kingdom; and for how many hours each month in each case. [43860]
Dr. Howells: The following is a list of languages (other than English) which are broadcast on radio in the United Kingdom. Detailed information on how many hours each month, for each language are available only for BBC radio broadcasts.
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Languages which are broadcast on independent radio in the UK:
- Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Croatian, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Hindko, Italian, Kashmir, Malaysian, Mirpuri, Pahari, Pathwari, Patois, Punjabi, Pashto, Russian, Serbian, Sinhalese, Somali, Spanish, Tamil, Turkish, Urdu and Welsh.
Stichting Transworld Radio Europe and WRN Euromax are broadcast in multi-lingual European.
- Radio Nan Gaidheal broadcasts in Gaelic for around 155 hours per month;
Radio Cymru broadcasts in Welsh for around 535 hours per month;
The Asian Network broadcasts in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Mirpuri for around 272 hours per month;
Local radio stations offer some broadcasts in languages other than English including over 160 hours per month in Asian languages, four hours of Italian and 12 hours of Cantonese.
A special version of the World Service is currently available via Digital Satellite in Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Pashto and Persian and broadcasts 24 hours a day. Some listeners may also be able to receive foreign language programmes from the main World Service but this service is not of course directed at licence payers in the UK.
Tourism
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourism visits there were to (a) the UK, (b) England, (c) west midlands and (d) Staffordshire in each of the last four years to the latest available date. [43959]
Dr. Howells: The numbers of visits by overseas residents and visits with overnight stays by UK residents are given in the table for the latest available four years.
Data for 2001 are not yet available, with the exception of total visits to the UK by overseas residents, of which there were 23.4 million.
| Visits by overseas residents | Visits by UK residents | Total visits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | |||
| 1997 | 25.5 | 162.2 | 187.7 |
| 1998 | 25.7 | 148.8 | 174.5 |
| 1999 | 25.4 | 173.1 | 198.5 |
| 2000 | 25.2 | 175.4 | 200.6 |
| England | |||
| 1997 | 19.6 | 125.6 | 145.2 |
| 1998 | 19.9 | 115.4 | 135.3 |
| 1999 | 21.5 | 137.7 | 159.2 |
| 2000 | 21.5 | 140.1 | 161.9 |
| West Midlands | |||
| 1997 | 1.27 | (12)— | (12)— |
| 1998 | 1.36 | (12)— | (12)— |
| 1999 | 1.43 | (12)— | (12)— |
| 2000 | 1.46 | 5.2 | 6.7 |
| Staffordshire | |||
| 1997 | 0.11 | (12)— | (12)— |
| 1998 | 0.14 | (12)— | (12)— |
| 1999 | 0.13 | (12)— | (12)— |
| 2000 | 0.13 | 1.5 | 1.6 |
(12) Not available.
International Passenger Survey—Office for National Statistics; UK Tourism Survey—English Tourism Council; Welsh Tourist Board; Visit Scotland; Northern Ireland Tourist Board.
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