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WALES
Data Protection Act
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will place in the Library copies of each version of the internal guidance which have been drawn up by his Department since 1 January 1999 to assist staff in his Department to answer subject access requests under the Data Protection Act 1998. [53374]
Mr. Paul Murphy: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, my hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Mr. Wills), gave to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Mr. McCabe) on 25 April 2002, Official Report, column 446W.
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Special Advisers
Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales on how many occasions between 31 March 2001 and 31 March 2002 (a) departmental and (b) non-departmental special advisers have travelled abroad in an official capacity; what places were visited; and how much each visit cost. [58724]
Mr. Paul Murphy: Between 1 April 2001 and 31 March 2002, a departmental special adviser accompanied me to Brussels on one occasion. It is not practicable separately to identify the cost of this visit, but the journey was judged to comply with the Civil Service Code.
Sick Leave
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many days of sick leave were taken in his Department last year; how many related to employees suffering (a) stress and (b) other mental health problems; and what the cost was to his Department. [56488]
Mr. Paul Murphy [holding answer 14 May 2002]: The number of days of sick leave taken in my Department last year was 232 days. This averages to 6.1 days per staff year. Sickness records are not broken down by (a) stress (other than work-related) or (b) other mental health.
The civil service is committed to reducing sickness absence by 20 per cent. by 2010 (to 8.3 days per staff year). Wales Office average of sick leave for last year is already below this target.
HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION
Visitor Tours
Mrs. Roe: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, what further consideration the Commission has given to visitor tours. [59659]
Mr. Kirkwood: Hon. Members were informed on 19 March of the Commission's wish to improve the arrangements to provide high quality tours for constituents and other visitors to the Palace, and its view that there should be a single official tours organisation supporting both the permanent Summer Opening and tours at other times. The Commission felt that this was an important part of its strategic aim to increase public understanding and knowledge of the House and its work.
At its meeting on 20 May the Commission considered the advice of the Administration Committee and the Board of Management on the way forward. We also took into account the views of a number of right hon. and hon. Members, their staff and staff of the House who have helpfully contributed to the process.
The House of Lords has an equal interest in visitor tours. We have sought the views of the authorities of that House on the improvements we would like to see, and will be working closely with them on the details.
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We think it is important that Members should have the same freedom and flexibility to arrange tours for their constituents as is now the case, but we believe that there is scope for improvement. We decided that:
- for the convenience of Members and their staff, the tours office should be a "one-stop shop", making bookings, issuing permits and allocating guides, and that funds should be provided for this in the current financial year. We thought that the separate, well-understood system for allocating Gallery tickets should remain unchanged, and that the separately organised Summer Opening primarily for tourists should not be affected;
informal visits of six people or fewer accompanied by Members, Peers, or Officers of either House, or four people accompanied by other permanent passholders, should continue as at present. The ability of Members, their staff, and staff of the House to guide their own larger parties should they wish would be unaffected;
in the interests of fairness, unguided and unaccompanied visits should be discontinued;
guides should be drawn primarily from staff of the House, who have given excellent service over a number of years; and that staff from all House Departments should be given the opportunity to contribute. We supported the idea of a guiding qualification that would help maintain high standards and encourage House staff to take part;
tours should emphasise the role and work of the House just as much as the history and the heritage of the building.
We had well in mind the need to ensure that the costs to visitors are kept as low as possible, especially in the interests of groups such as school parties and old age pensioners. We have asked the Finance and Services Committee to look at possible cost structures and to report to us for our next meeting. We have also asked the Board of Management now to develop a detailed implementation plan.
The views of Members, their staff and staff of the House will be a welcome contribution to the development of the new arrangements. They should be sent to the Serjeant at Arms as the member of the Board of Management responsible for this project.
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
BBC Wales
Denzil Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the basis was for the reference in her advertisement for the post of National Governor (Wales) of the BBC to a substantial proportion of the output of BBC Wales being in Welsh. [57208]
Dr. Howells: BBC Wales provides S4C with 10 hours per week of Welsh language programming, as part of its commitment under the 1996 Broadcasting Act. It also produces 18 hours a day of radio in Welsh on Radio Cymru and provides an extensive Welsh language online service, Cymru'r Byd.
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Listed Buildings (London)
Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) Grade I and (b) Grade II listed buildings there are in (i) Greater London and (ii) the London Borough of Enfield; what public funds including Lottery funds have been spent on them in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [57920]
Dr. Howells: The numbers of list entries as at 17 May, 2002 for listed buildings in Greater London are 576 at Grade I, 1,243 at Grade II* and 16,157 at Grade II; in Enfield as at the same date there are three list entries for buildings graded at Grade I, 13 at Grade II* and 256 at Grade II.
English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund are the main distributors of public funds for listed buildings. The public funds spent on listed buildings by English Heritage in each of the last five years are as follows:
| Year 1 April to 31 March | Enfield | Greater London(13) |
|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 2,285 | 2,599,000 |
| 1998–99 | 74,754 | 2,196,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 24,023 | 2,672,000 |
| 2000–01 | Nil | 2,083,000 |
| 2001–02 | 1,618 | 2,187,000 |
(13) Rounded figures
It is not possible to ascertain the public funds spent through the Heritage lottery fund, but only the amounts awarded for funding listed buildings each year; these are therefore estimated and projected figures as follows:
| Enfield (£) | Greater London (£) | Number of buildings funded | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 365,048 | 19,272,448 | 38 |
| 1998 | 264,236 | 15,098,893 | 51 |
| 1999 | Nil | 5,273,321 | 24 |
| 2000 | Nil | 13,230,900 | 42 |
| 2001 | Nil | 29,912,614 | 37 |
Gaelic Programmes
Mr. MacDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many hours of Gaelic programmes per year are required of (a) the BBC, (b) Grampian Television and (c) Scottish Television under the Multiplex Licence (Broadcasting of Programmes in Gaelic) Order 1996; and how many hours have been provided by each of the above broadcasters in (i) 1997, (ii) 1998, (iii) 1999, (iv) 2000, (v) 2001 and (vi) 2002. [57891]
Dr. Howells: The Multiplex Licence (Broadcasting of Programmes in Gaelic) Order 1996 requires the holder of the multiplex licence under which Channel 5 and S4C Digital are broadcast (SDN) to broadcast at least 30 minutes of Gaelic programming every day in Scotland during peak evening viewing time. In complying with this requirement SDN must broadcast at least 30 hours of Gaelic programmes per year supplied by each of the BBC, Scottish Television and Grampian Television. Under section 32(3) of the Broadcasting Act 1996, the BBC, Scottish Television
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and Grampian Television are required to provide SDN, free of charge, with such programmes in Gaelic as have been broadcast by the supplier as the holder may request.
In practice, programmes from the BBC, Scottish Television and Grampian Television are provided to SDN indirectly via the Gaelic Broadcasting Committee (CCG). I understand that, of the programmes supplied to SDN by the CCG, the following hours had previously been broadcast on the BBC, Scottish Television and Grampian Television (the Gaelic service (TeleG) on SDN did not begin broadcasting until 31 October 1999):
| BBC | STV | GTV | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 14.5 | 19.5 | 6.0 |
| 2000 | 38 | 120.5 | 56 |
| 2001 | 31.5 | 161 | 41.5 |
| 2002(14) | 13.5 | 37.5 | 20.5 |
(14) To 30 April 2002.
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