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Scotland Office

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when she will announce the proposed operating costs of the Scotland Office for the financial year 2003–04. [89145]

Mrs. Liddell: Details of my Department's expenditure in 2003–04 will be published with the Main Supply Estimates, in the spring.

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CABINET OFFICE

Millennium Bug

Dr. Cable : To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) how much was spent on the Millennium Bug Campaign in each year from 1990; and if he will make a statement; [88811]

(2) what evaluation has taken place of the Millennium Bug Campaign; who undertook the consultation; what the overall costs were; and if he will make a statement. [88813]

Mr. Alexander: The total spend on the Millennium Bug public information campaign was #16million.

The estimated cost of the work to prepare central Government IT systems for the century date change was #380million.

The Government's Millennium Bug preparations were a huge success, with the UK almost untouched by the bug. The work also had wide reaching benefits to the entire modernising Government agenda. These were drawn out in the command paper 'Modernising Government in Action: Realising the benefits of Y2K', which was placed in the Library of the House on 18 April 2000.

Paper Purchases

Sue Doughty: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how the Cabinet Office defines sustainably managed sources, in relation to purchasing paper supplies. [88705]

Mr. Alexander: Cabinet Office defines 'sustainably managed sources', in relation to purchasing paper supplies, as forests supplying paper mills with wood which are typically managed in accordance with ISO14001 environmental management systems (EMS) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) programs.

Postcodes

Mr. Truswell: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what use the Cabinet Office and its agencies makes of postcode areas for (a) the collection and publication of data, (b) devising formulae for the distribution of grants and awards and (c) the delivery of services; and when usages were last reviewed. [87770]

Mr. Alexander: The information is as follows:

(a) The Office of the e-Envoy in the Cabinet Office is responsible for running and maintaining the UK online website. Postcode information is collected from those registering for consultations with a view to better understanding user requirements and tailoring future services accordingly.

UK Online Interactive does not currently routinely collect postcode information from users. However, Somerset County Council have been collecting postcode information through UK Online Interactive in order to present locally tailored information back to the user. A project is currently being planned which will extend this facility to the rest of the service, collecting postcode information derived from the set top box or entered by the user.

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The Office of the e-Envoy also uses postcode area data to map the availability and take-up of online technologies. These maps are used in the development of the Government's policy aimed at reducing the 'digital divide'.

(b) The Cabinet Office currently makes no use of postcode data in devising formulae for the distribution of grants and awards.

(c) The Government Car and Despatch Agency operates two services. The InterDespatch Service makes use of postcodes as a building identifier for its delivery and collection services. The Government Car Service uses postcodes in conjunction with an autoroute system to identify addresses for the pick up/set down of passengers. Both these uses are under constant review.

Staff Bonuses

Mr. Lyons : To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) how much each Government Department has paid in bonuses to staff who achieved personal targets in this financial year; [88303]

(2) how many Departments which have failed to achieve Government targets have paid staff bonuses. [88304]

Mr. Alexander: Responsibility for pay, outside of the senior civil service, is delegated to Departments and agencies. What bonuses are paid to these staff is therefore a matter for individual Departments and agencies. This Information is not held centrally. The new pay and performance management arrangements for the senior civil service are designed to reward and provide incentives for high performance. Under these arrangements all Departments awarded non-consolidated bonuses to their top performers. Performance bonuses totalling #6 million were paid to those who contributed most to their Department's objectives. Bonuses were paid to around 55 per cent. of senior civil service staff.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

ARC Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when a decision will be made on preserved rights and beneficiaries of the ARC scheme. [89113]

Dr. Howells: The Government have made clear their intention to introduce preserved rights for existing beneficiaries of the Accommodation for Residential Care (ARC) concessionary television licence scheme, when the social mix or the level of warden cover in their sheltered housing change. The regulations governing the ARC scheme are complex and the structure of the proposed changes remains under consideration, but we shall bring forward amending regulations as soon as is compatible with the need to avoid creating new anomalies or unnecessary administrative burdens.

BBC (Production Quota)

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if she will reform the

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independent production quota for the BBC to (a) minimise exclusions to qualifying hours and (b) calculate the quota per channel by (i) qualifying hours and (ii) spending; [88695]

(2) she intends to announce the Government's response to the Independent Television Commission's Programme Supply Review. [88668]

Dr. Howells: The Government's response to the ITC's UK Programme Supply Review will be announced within the next two weeks. This response will include details of the amendments we intend to make to the Communications Bill and the BBC's Agreement, including in relation to the independent productions quota.

Children's Hospices (Lottery Funding)

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the progress of allocating Lottery funding for children's hospices. [88631]

Mr. Caborn: The New Opportunities Fund children's palliative care programme was launched in March 2002 and closed in August 2002. Applications for all three strands of the programme (children's hospice provision, home based teams and bereavement services) are currently in assessment. A decision making committee will meet in January 2003 to consider which applications to fund. Applicants will then be informed whether or not their bid has been successful. Details of all the awards made will be announced shortly after this.

Licensing Bill

Mr. Mark Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she made of the compatibility of the objectives of the Licensing Bill with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, with particular reference to the prevention of nuisance. [88532]

Dr. Howells: On the face of the Licensing Bill, my right hon. and noble Friend the Minister for the Arts stated under section 19(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act that in her view the provisions of the Bill are compatible with the Convention rights.

Lottery Funds (West Cumbria)

Tony Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what Lottery funds have been given to the towns of Workington and Maryport in West Cumbria. [88842]

Mr. Caborn: Information on Lottery awards is provided from the National Lottery awards database, which is based upon information provided to us by the distributing bodies. While it is possible to search the database for information relating to specific towns, it is not mandatory for this information to be included in the dataset. This means that some awards relating to a specific town may not appear in the total figure shown.

The database shows that Lottery awards totalling a minimum of #8,455,887 have been made to Workington and totalling a minimum of #1,060,968 have been made to Maryport.

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Museums and Galleries

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to her answer of 2 December 2002, Official Report, column 539W, on museums and galleries, if she will place the efficiency review of national museums and galleries sponsored by her Department in 1999–2000 in the Library. [88932]

Dr. Howells : A copy of the Efficiency Review of national museums and galleries was placed in the House of Commons Library following its publication in September 1999. It can also be viewed on my Department's website at www.culture.gov.uk

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