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Television Reception

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many and what proportion of homes in North Devon, and what proportion of total geographical area in North Devon, were unable to receive (a) digital terrestrial, (b) digital satellite, (c) cable and (d) none of those television signals in each of the past seven years; and if she will make a statement. [51776]

Dr. Howells: The information can be provided only in the form requested at disproportionate cost. However, estimates of coverage of digital television services in North Devon, provided by the Independent Television Commission are as follows:

(i) digital terrestrial: approximately 46,000 viewers in North Devon can receive BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 services from the Huntshaw Cross transmitter, 42,000 of whom are able to receive all digital terrestrial services;

(ii) digital satellite: UK coverage is around 98 per cent. of the population; and

(iii) cable services: these are not available in the North Devon area.

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many homes are unable to receive analogue television signals in north Devon; and if she will make a statement. [51777]

Dr. Howells: I understand from the Independent Television Commission (ITC) that around 2,000 homes in north Devon may experience difficulty in receiving good quality analogue signals. However, the ITC also advise that, depending on the quality of individual aerial installations, reception is often possible in areas where signal strengths are low, though a degradation in picture quality may be noticeable.

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to improve (a) television and (b) radio reception in north Devon; and if she will make a statement. [51778]

Dr. Howells: The provision of television and radio services in the UK is a matter for the BBC, the Independent Television Commission, the Radio Authority and the commercial broadcasters to determine, subject to spectrum availability.

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UK Sport (Drugs Inquiries)

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if she will make a statement on UK Sport's inquiry into matters relating to the life ban on participation in athletics imposed on Mr. Paul Edwards; [51420]

(2) if she will have discussions with UK Athletics and King's college, London, on co-operation with UK Sport's inquiry into matters relating to the life ban on participation in athletics imposed on Mr. Paul Edwards. [51419]

Mr. Caborn [holding answer 19 April 2002]: UK Sport is the lead agency for the Government's anti-doping programme. Its Chairman Sir Rodney Walker has met Mr. Paul Edwards and his advisers to hear his concerns regarding his life ban on participation in athletics. This resulted from a second positive drug test, which was the subject of an independent review of the evidence, a disciplinary hearing chaired by an independent QC and an appeal hearing also chaired by a QC. UK Sport are seeking further information and views from the parties concerned. It would not be appropriate for Ministers to intervene in individual doping cases.

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will take measures to ensure that UK Sport has sufficient powers to conduct inquiries into previous rulings on the alleged use of performance- enhancing substances. [51418]

Mr. Caborn [holding answer 19 April 2002]: UK Sport is the lead agency for the Government's anti-doping programme. The National Anti-Doping Policy, recently launched by UK Sport, sets out standardised procedures to ensure that governing bodies of sport have consistent, transparent and accountable anti-doping procedures. The National Anti-Doping Policy has clearly defined independent review, disciplinary and appeal processes built into it.

Public Entertainment (Licensed Premises)

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what recent representations she has received concerning the licensing of premises for public entertainment; and if she will make a statement; [51752]

(2) what plans she has to change the law on the licensing of premises for public entertainment, with regard to the number of performers allowed to perform at unlicensed premises. [51753]

Dr. Howells: I have received a number of representations recently from hon. Members on behalf of their constituents and from performers of live music calling for the abolition of the exemption which provides for up to two musicians to perform live in public houses without a public entertainment licence. These include a number of similar letters sent to me as part of a campaign. I have also received representations arguing that all live music should be exempt from licensing, that some licence

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fees are excessive, that some conditions attached by local authorities are disproportionate and that the current licensing regime deters spontaneous singing in public houses.

Our plans for the modernisation of the licensing regimes were set out clearly in the White Paper "Time for Reform" (Cm. 4696) published on 10 April 2000. We proposed that the current exemption from public entertainment licensing that allows two musicians to perform live in premises licensed for the sale of alcohol should end. This is because one or two live musicians using powerful microphones and amplifiers can make more noise and so generate more nuisance for local residents than three without. Alcohol and public entertainment licensing will be integrated into a single scheme. This would remove at a stroke a considerable amount of existing red tape and reduce the licensing costs which currently deter many venues from providing live music and dancing. The reforms will be implemented by means of primary legislation to be brought forward as soon as parliamentary time permits.

Complaints

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many complaints were registered against her Department and its predecessor Departments in (a) 1990 to 1996 and (b) 1997 to 2002; how many are current; and what proportion were (i) taken up and (ii) upheld by the parliamentary ombudsman in those periods. [51584]

Dr. Howells [holding answer 22 April 2002]: The information on complaints received for the periods requested in (a) and (b) is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. There is one current complaint. The number of complaints (i) taken up and (ii) upheld by the parliamentary ombudsman is contained in the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration's annual reports for the periods specified, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

Playing Fields

Mr. Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will publish the statistics compiled by the DCMS monitoring group on playing field sales on the number of applications reported to the group for the disposal of playing fields over the past two years. [51920]

Mr. Caborn: Data on playing field sales are not available. The Playing Field Monitoring Group will shortly be publishing combined figures for (a) applications from schools submitted to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills for the disposal or change of use of school playing fields (which are already published monthly), and (b) figures from Sport England giving details of planning applications affecting playing fields which have been referred to them as statutory consultee (which are already published quarterly), along with (c) relevant data from the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions.

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PRIME MINISTER

Staff Pay

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Prime Minister what the cost in 2001–02 was of the pay increase to staff in his Office; and what the cost of the forthcoming increase will be in 2002–03. [50408]

The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 22 April 2002, at column 91W.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Vacant Teaching Posts

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many vacant head teacher posts there were in (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools, (c) special schools and (d) all schools, expressed as a percentage of the total number of head teachers, in each year since 1997 broken down by local education authority. [48259]

Mr. Timms [holding answer 10 April 2002]: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.

Individual Learning Accounts

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made in (a) reaching agreement on outstanding liability on the Department to pay Individual Learning Account contributions to training providers and (b) making such payments. [46713]

John Healey: My Department wrote to all registered learning providers on 31 January 2002 setting out future payment arrangements. Claims have been invited from providers for learning booked on the ILA centre system, but not confirmed by the closure of the Individual Learning Account programme on 23 November, with start dates between 1 September 2001 and 31 March 2002. Pay runs are now being made on a monthly cycle. Where we have complaints or other concerns, payments are withheld pending the outcome of validation checks and investigations.

Since the closure of the Individual Learning Account programme on 23 November: payments of £8.16 million have been made to 2,883 registered learning providers; and payments of £15.12 million to 223 learning providers have been withheld pending results of validation checks and investigations.

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the ILA providers who were (a) deregistered because of failure to register between June and August 2001 and (b) deregistered (i) temporarily or (ii) permanently for non-compliance with the scheme's rules. [49879]

John Healey [holding answer 15 April 2002]: It is not appropriate to list individual learning account providers as the information requested is held as commercial in confidence. The number of providers who failed to re-register between June and August 2001 is 485. Prior to

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the closure on 23 November 2001 47 providers had been suspended from the register of learning providers. None had been permanently removed from the register. From 23 November 2001, we have withheld payments from 239 providers, including 17 of those originally suspended, pending completion of validation checks and investigations into claims.

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