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23 Jan 2003 : Column 436W—continued

Stray Dogs

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the obtaining of temporary kennels for stray dogs collected by local authority dog wardens from (a) local police forces and (b) other sources when temporary police kennels are not available. [92589]

Alun Michael: Section 149 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requires every local authority to appoint an officer to deal with stray dogs. In addition, under section 3(8) of the Dogs Act 1906, the local authority officer, police, or any other person having charge of a stray dog, are required to feed and maintain a dog until the owner has been given a reasonable opportunity to claim it back. Also, under the Protection of Animals Act it is an offence to cause any unnecessary suffering to a captive or domestic animal. It is therefore for local authorities to decide how they will meet the statutory requirements placed upon them.

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ADVOCATE-GENERAL FOR SCOTLAND

Departmental Expenditure (Newsprint)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Advocate-General what the total expenditure of her Department was on newspapers, magazines and periodicals in 2002. [90522]

The Advocate-General for Scotland: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland, Official Report, 23 January 2003, column 491W.

CABINET OFFICE

Paper Supplies

Sue Doughty: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office who the suppliers are of his Department's (a) paper and (b) paper products. [91898]

Mr. Alexander: Cabinet Office operates framework agreements with the Stationery Office Ltd. and Hewlett-Packard Ltd. for the supply of all standard photocopier and printer paper. The Cabinet Office is also party to framework agreements with the James McNaughton Group, the Robert Horne Group, the Howard Smith Paper Group and the Premier Paper Group for the provision of paper for printed publications. Self-adhesive message notes are provided under a framework agreement with Guilbert UK Ltd.

Further information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

National Lottery

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the amount raised through the National Lottery for good causes in Northern Ireland; and if she will list those good causes. [92943]

Mr. Caborn: To date the National Lottery has raised over £13 billion for the good causes. Over £137 million of this has been raised for distribution by the Northern Ireland Arts and Sport Councils, and additional amounts have been made available to Northern Ireland through the six UK wide distributors. At 31 December 2002 over £371 million of Lottery funding had been awarded to projects in Northern Ireland.

The National Lottery etc. Act 1993 established five good causes to benefit from the Lottery: these are sport; the arts; heritage; charities and projects to mark the year 2000 and the beginning of the third millennium. The National Lottery Act 1998 Act introduced a new good cause of health education and the environment.

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Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the total value of National Lottery ticket sales in Northern Ireland has been since its inception; and what analysis has been undertaken as to the social class of those buying tickets. [92944]

Mr. Caborn: The total value of National Lottery ticket sales in Northern Ireland since 1994 to date is £991 million. Research carried out by the National Lottery operator in 2001–02 indicated the following breakdown, taking the adult population of the United Kingdom as a whole who play the National Lottery regularly.

Percentage

	Saturday players	Wednesday players
AB	17	16
C1	29	28
C2	26	28
DE	27	27
Male	45	49
Female	54	50

Entertainment

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her estimate is of the total spending of his Department on entertainment in each year from 1994–95 to 2002–03; and if she will make a statement. [92395]

Dr. Howells: The following table shows expenditure on entertainment by my Department. The figures do not include the Department's agencies and NDPBs.

All expenditure on official entertainment is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting.

£

	DCMS expenditure
1994–95	14,967
1995–96	25,563
1996–97	41,000
1997–98	17,230
1998–99	28,688
1999–00	32,533
2000–01	50,891
2001–02	28,657
2002–03 spend todate	35,990

Focus Groups

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she has taken to implement the findings from the focus groups research run by her Department since June 2001; and what recent discussions and representations she has had with stakeholders and industry to deliver policies arising from those findings. [92719]

Dr. Howells [holding answer 22 January 2003]: Since June 2001, the Department has made use of focus group research in two cases.

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(1) Research into consumer attitudes to digital television

The findings from the three focus groups conducted as part of this MORI research have been fed into the work of the Digital Action Plan task groups. The Technical and Equipment Group, which have consumer representation including the RNIB and RNID, has identified key areas in which blind/partially sighted viewers and deaf/hard of hearing viewers can benefit from digital television and made recommendations to increase universal user accessibility. The group is taking these findings forward, and will also work with the Independent Television Commission on the "Easy TV" project which is aimed at making the new interactive facilities offered by digital TV easy to use and accessible by all viewers. Ministers are in regular contact with stakeholders and industry through the steering board of the Digital Action Plan.

(2) Regional Data Framework Project

The findings of the focus groups, which were run during 2002, were incorporated into the report and user guide documents. The framework is now being tested by stakeholders so that comments on content and usability can be built into the final version of this guidance documentation on data sources and methodologies.

Health and Safety Regulations

Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what discussions she has had with local authorities on the effect of the proposed licensing bill on health and safety regulations; and if she will make a statement; [92333]

(2) what discussions she has had with local authorities on the (a) implementation, (b) monitoring, (c) effect and (d) fee-setting of the proposed entertainment licences; and if she will make a statement. [92334]

Dr. Howells [holding answer 21 January 2003]: Ministers and officials have discussed all aspects of licensing reform with the local authority associations. We are continuing this discussion as the Bill undergoes Parliamentary scrutiny. The Local Government Association and the Association of London Government are represented on the Advisory Group on the Bill.

Under the proposed reforms there will no longer be a separate entertainment licence. Instead a single premises licence for each place where licensable activities are to take place will set out the activities that are permitted there, including entertainment.

Heritage Assets

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what sales of heritage assets and antique assets have been made by her Department since May 1997; and if she will list such assets; and if she will estimate the total sales proceeds. [92396]

Dr. Howells: The Department has made no sales of heritage assets or antique assets since May 1997.

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Sport (Community Access)

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to enable greater community access to school and local authority sports facilities and equipment; and if she will make a statement. [89994]

Mr. Caborn: As part of its £1 billion commitment to investment in sport and physical activity, the Government are allocating £750 million across the UK—including £581 million in England—from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) to support projects designed to bring a step change in the provision of sporting facilities for young people and for the wider community. This funding has been provisionally allocated to local education authority areas, and each LEA was invited to be the lead organisation for its area and work with schools and other partners, including community organisations, to determine the priorities for spend in their areas and submit a balanced portfolio of projects. Initial revenue funding is being made available from the allocations to support the development and promotion of the facilities for wider community use. Space for Sport and Arts, a joint DCMS-DfES initiative providing £130 million towards creating new, and rebuilding existing, primary schools, is also paying particular attention to developing facilities that can also be used by the community out of school hours.

Local authorities are key providers of sport and recreation and play a central role in the delivery of sport in and for the community. The majority of local authorities continue to recognise good value for money represented by spending on sport and recreation for people of all ages in the communities they serve, and they have made considerable progress in investing in quality sports facilities after so many years of neglect in that area. This Government have embarked on an unprecedented investment in sport and recreation across the board, and has to date, through the National Lottery, invested over £660 million into improving local authority sports facilities in England.

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