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Written Answers to Questions

Monday 13 May 2002

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Listed Buildings

5. Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the work of English Heritage in relation to listed buildings. [53966]

Dr. Howells: English Heritage's statutory duty is to secure the preservation of buildings of historical importance. They advise the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport about historic buildings meriting statutory protection and advise Government and planning authorities about requests for permission to demolish or alter protected buildings. They also give grant aid for the repair of listed buildings.

National Stadium

12. Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when a decision will be made regarding the national stadium project. [53973]

Tessa Jowell: As I explained to the House in my statement on 7 May I have agreed to the Football Association's request to delay the Government's final decision on support for the national stadium until the current commercial negotiations between the FA and their bankers are concluded. Those discussions continue to make good progress.

Sport and Leisure Facilities

13. Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions she has had with the Department for Education and Skills and the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions about conducting a national audit of sport and leisure facilities; and if she will make a statement. [53974]

Mr. Caborn: I discussed the proposed database of sports facilities in England with a number of my ministerial colleagues, including those from the DfES and the DTLR, at the last meeting of the Inter-departmental Group on Sport in February.

I have also written to my ministerial colleagues at the DfES and the DTLR, along with those from the Department of Health, Home Office and the Ministry of Defence, seeking their views on the scope and content of the proposed database of sports facilities in England.

Social Deprivation (Amenities)

15. Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress her Department has made in the use of sports, arts and culture in tackling social deprivation in the poorest communities. [53976]

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Mr. Caborn: Tackling social deprivation is at the heart of the Department's activity. Our work is focusing on four strategic priorities: promoting lifelong learning and social cohesion by opening up institutions to the wider community; enhancing access to a fuller cultural and sporting life for children and young people; maximising the contribution which creative and leisure industries can make to the economy; and modernising delivery, ensuring that our sponsored bodies put the needs of the customer first.

Sport (Ethnic Minority Participation)

16. Mr. Khabra: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the efforts being made at the grassroots level to increase ethnic minority participation and representation in sport. [53977]

Mr. Caborn: The Government are anxious to ensure that sport is accessible to all members of society, irrespective of age, ability, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality or socioeconomic status, and remain committed to improving opportunities for those groups which are under-represented in sport, whether as participants, competitors, coaches or administrators.

There are a number of schemes and programmes aimed at those traditionally under-represented in sport; these include Sport England's Active Communities Programme, which targets ethnic minorities as one of its priority groups, and the Sporting Equals Programme, which receives £180,000 a year from the Government and the Commission for Racial Equality towards promoting sporting opportunities for ethnic minorities.

Film Industry

17. Mr. Tom Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the impact of the Budget on the film industry. [53978]

Tessa Jowell: It was announced in the Budget that the film tax relief will be restricted to films intended for the commercial cinema only, and that television production will no longer be able to access the relief. The relief was originally intended to help build a sustainable film industry and there has been a general acceptance that this is a necessary refocussing of the relief.

Digital Broadcasting

18. Mr. Simon Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to ensure choice of access for digital broadcasting services. [53979]

Dr. Howells: The draft Communications Bill and associated documents (Cm 5508, published on 7 May), set out a proposed framework for the regulation of communications, which is intended to broaden choice of and access to modern communications technologies, and to make markets work better.

Mr. Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what definitions of (a) access, (b) availability and (c) affordability the Government will use to determine when analogue switch-off will take place; and if she will make a statement. [54620]

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Dr. Howells: One of the key tasks of the Digital Television Action Plan is for Government to conduct a comprehensive review of progress towards digital switchover with particular reference to the accessibility, availability and affordability tests announced in September 1999. The Review will refine the tests and report on how progress towards meeting them is to be measured.

21. Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many digital television sets were sold in the last financial year; and if she will make a statement. [53982]

Dr. Howells: Industry figures indicate that 120,000 integrated digital television sets were sold in the 12 months until the end of March. As part of the Digital Action Plan, the Government will be comprehensively investigating with industry and the European Union the issues surrounding the transition to exclusive sales of integrated digital television sets. Because of our international agreements, the UK alone could not mandate the sale of integrated digital television sets.

26. Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the impact of digital switchover on the BBC licence fee. [53987]

Dr. Howells: The Government increased the BBC licence fee in 2000 in recognition of the BBC's role in the development of digital broadcasting services. The annual increase is set until 2006 when the charter is due for renewal. The effect of changing media markets on the licence fee will be one of the issues we consider as part of the charter review process.

Gaming Machines

20. Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the recommendations on gaming machines in the Budd report. [53981]

Mr. Caborn: We published a safe bet for success on 26 March. This sets out the Government's decisions on the recommendations for reform of the law on gambling which were made by the Gambling Review Body last summer. We took careful account of all the points made in public consultation on the report before reaching our conclusions.

Museums (North-East)

22. Mr. Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on her support for museums in the north-east of England. [53983]

Tessa Jowell: My Department directly provides support to the Tyne and Wear Museums to the sum of £1 million per year. Resource, the Council for Museums, Libraries and Archives will provide funding to the North East Museum, Libraries and Archives Council to the tune of £745,000 in 2002–03.

Resource has now received bids from each English region, including the North East, to be considered for selection as regional hubs in accordance with the recommendations of the Regional Museums task force as set out in the report Renaissance in the Regions: a new vision for England's museums which was published last

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October. My Department are currently working with Resource to start implementing the task force recommendations with £10 million per annum which was given to Resource in the last spending review.

We will take the task force's recommendations into account in the current spending review alongside other priorities.

Tourism

23. Ross Cranston: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what measures she is taking to promote tourism in the west midlands region. [53984]

Dr. Howells: My Department is currently considering options on how to provide stronger co-ordination of the promotion and marketing of England, including a strong regional dimension and we hope to announce our plans shortly.

Tourism in the west midlands region has recently benefited from £2 million funding from Advantage West Midlands (AWM) regional development agency (RDA). £1.1 million was spent on a recent national marketing campaign "Head to the Heart", promoted by the Heart of England Tourist Board (HETB), which principle aim is to attract more visitors to the region.

30. Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she last met representatives from the English Tourism Council to discuss tourism in the south-east. [53991]

Dr. Howells: I have been in close contact with the chairman of the English Tourism Council about the proposed merger between the south east and southern tourist boards. They also hold regular meetings to discuss issues of national and regional significance, the most recent being on 29 April. The Minister also met Joan Patten, chair of the south east tourist board, on 11 April.

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of Government funding provided to each region is for tourism marketing. [56023]

Dr. Howells: Over half of the £3.8 million obtained last year from the reserve to assist the domestic recovery of tourism from foot and mouth disease was passed via the English Tourism Council (ETC) to the 10 regional tourist boards (RTBs). Much of that money was used for promotional and PR activities.

Other central Government funding provided to the RTBs via the ETC is for the delivery of the national tourism strategy at regional level—that does not include money for domestic marketing. The RTBs are mainly private companies and use some of their membership fee and commercial income for regional marketing initiatives. In some regions, the Regional Development Agencies have also supported tourism marketing with Government funds and a substantial part of over £90 million spent by local authorities on tourism is also used for promotional activities.

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