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CABINET

Ministerial Speeches

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what (a) code of conduct and (b) guidance governs (i) the placing of (A) speeches and (B) notes for speeches by Ministers (1) on their departmental website and (2) in the Library and (ii) the types of occasions and locations at which Ministers may announce new departmental policies. [104069]

Mr. Alexander: The decision on how and where to publish material is for individual Government Departments. When publishing material, Departments are required to act within the principles of propriety and effective use of public money set out in the 'Guidance on the work of the Government Information Service', the 'Civil Service Code' and the 'Ministerial Code'. These do not differentiate between the various forms of publication. All of the guidance mentioned is available on the Cabinet Office and Government Information and Communication Service websites (www.cabinet-office.gov.uk and www.gics.gov.uk)

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Correspondence

Mr. Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she intends to reply to the letter to her dated 4 February from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Anne Tucker. [103743]

Tessa Jowell: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 20 March 2003.

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Departmental Crèche Facilities

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what crèche facilities are provided by her Department; and at what cost. [104295]

Dr. Howells: The Department offers holiday places at four central London sites. The scheme operates during all main school holidays for children aged between five and 12 years. The cost per day is £30 of which the Department subsidises 50 per cent.

Departmental Invoices

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the occasions on which her departmental agencies and non-departmental public bodies failed to pay valid invoices within 30 days or after the agreed credit period in the financial year 2001–02. [104307]

Dr. Howells: There were 270 occasions when valid invoices were not paid within 30 days by the Royal Parks Agency in 2001–02, and these are listed at the Annex.

The Department is not able to list the occurrences of non-payment by its 41 non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) other than at disproportionate cost. Notwithstanding this, Treasury guidance requires all NDPBs to disclose in the foreword to their annual report and accounts a statement describing the payment policy adopted on the payment of suppliers, and performance achieved in the reporting period. The foreword should therefore provide an indication of the payment performance of each NDPB.

Departmental Website

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total cost of her Department's website was in the last 12 months; and how many hits it received in the same period. [104194]

Dr. Howells: The DCMS primary website, www.culture.gov.uk is managed in house. The only cost is for hosting the site, which was £20,000 for the server, which is also used to host a number of departmental websites.

It received 365,305 unique visits and 5,920,848 page impressions between March 2002 and February 2003. The number of hits is not available.

Digital Services (Disabled Access)

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what measures she will introduce to allow (a) hearing impaired and (b) other disabled people to use digital TV, radio and telephone services. [104528]

Dr. Howells: The Government recognise that disabled people often need terminal equipment with particular features if they are to be able effectively to access communications services. The regulation of these matters is decided at a wider European level and the standards established have effect across Europe.

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We are working with manufacturers, the disabled groups and the telephone regulator, Oftel, to draw together the expertise necessary to improve the range of equipment available to disabled users.

The Bill also extends the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) targets for subtitling, signing and audio description to digital cable and satellite broadcasters for the first time.

Gibraltar

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions she has had with media outlets in Gibraltar. [104246]

Tessa Jowell: I have had no recent discussions with the media outlets in Gibraltar.

Licensing Bill

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of the effect the Licensing Bill will have on the playing of (a) darts, (b) pool, (c) skittles and (d) other games in public houses. [104422]

Dr. Howells: The Bill will have no effect on playing of darts, pool, skittles or other games in public houses as we are not proposing any changes to the way these activities are regulated.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations her Department has received on the impact of the Licensing Bill on games in public houses; and if she will make a statement. [104423]

Dr. Howells: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport have received no representations with regard to the Bill's impact on games in public houses.

Ministerial Travel

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list internal flights made by Ministers in her Department in 2002, including in each case the (a) cost, (b) departure location and (c) destination; and of these how many were (i) first class, (ii) business class and (iii) economy class. [103593]

Dr. Howells: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Cabinet Office on 22 January 2003, Official Report, column 334W, to the hon. Member for Yeovil (David Laws). Detailed information about UK travel is not collected centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. With regard to the number of UK flights undertaken by Ministers since 2001. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for West Chelmsford (Mr. Burns) on 10 February 2003, Official Report, columns 553–54W).

Olympic Games

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessments she has made of those cities other than London who are bidding or are expected to bid for the Olympic Games in 2012; and if she will place copies of those assessments in the Library. [103851]

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Tessa Jowell: The International Olympic Committee's rules of conduct for cities wishing to organise the Olympic Games expressly forbid any published comparison by one city with others. The Government has made clear that it would not support a bid unless London had a good chance of winning. Our assessment of winnability was published as an Appendix to the Culture Media and Sport Committee's Third Report of Session 2002–03, "A London Olympic Bid for 2012".

Ministerial Vehicles

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her estimate is of the cost of (a) ministerial cars and drivers and (b) taxis for her Department in 2002. [101854]

Dr. Howells: The cost of ministerial cars and drivers for the Department will be addressed in a letter from Mr. Nick Matheson, the Chief Executive of the Government Car and Despatch Agency to the hon. Member for Buckingham.

The cost of taxis for the Department was £20,811 in the financial year 2001–02.

Scotland

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many times she has visited Scotland on official duties each year since 2000; and what meetings were held on each occasion. [103620]

Dr. Howells: Visits to Scotland since Tessa Jowell has been Secretary of State are listed as follows:

2001: 1


2002: 2


2003: 1

with reference to what meetings were held.

In line with exemptions 2 and 7 of the "Code of Practice on Access to Government Information", it is not normal practice of Governments to release details of specific meetings or their content, as some of these discussions may have taken place on a confidential basis.

Sport Funding

Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what measures she has taken to ensure that sportsmen and women in Northern Ireland who wish to compete as British competitors receive funding from the National Lottery; what measures she has taken to ensure that sportsmen and women in Northern Ireland who wish to compete on behalf of the Republic of Ireland do not receive funding from the National Lottery; and if she will list the occasions when funding from the National Lottery has been used to assist in the development of sport in a foreign country. [103942]

Mr. Caborn: National Lottery funding for Northern Ireland athletes who wish to compete as British competitors is available through UK Sport's World Class Performance Programme (WCPP). The criteria for the inclusion of an athlete from Northern Ireland on

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the WCPP is the same as that for an athlete from any of the four home countries. Inclusion is based on sporting performance and future medal prospects.

An athlete may have the option to compete for All-Ireland or for UK/GB. Where an athlete chooses to compete for All-Ireland, he/she would not receive funding from the UK programme.

In addition, the Sports Council for Northern Ireland also provides National Lottery support to athlete development in Northern Ireland through Programmes such as Talented Athlete, Talented Athlete Next Generation and Talented Junior. This funding is provided for training and preparation for competition to enable the athletes to qualify for a variety of high profile tournaments eg the Olympic Games, the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games. As far as the Olympics and European Championships are concerned, athletes have a choice about which country they represent, either Great Britain or Ireland, and the choice often depends on the constitution of the Governing Body to which they are affiliated.

However, all athletes in receipt of funding ultimately represent Northern Ireland in the Commonwealth Games, if selected.

In accordance with the Good Friday Agreement, under which the British and Irish Governments recognise the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose, the Sports Council for Northern Ireland seeks to ensure that the structures of sport in Northern Ireland provide an equal and equitable opportunity to all to participate in a sport of their choice, for a country of their choice.

Normally, UK Sport Lottery funding is confined to supporting the goal of "winning athletes" and the bidding for and staging of world class events in the United Kingdom. The UK Sport Council agreed to make a Lottery award in support of the joint bid by Scotland and Ireland to bid for the UEFA Euro 2008 Championships. It was agreed that it would be counter-productive to attempt to confine UK Sport's Lottery funding to just the Scottish element of that bid. This is the only example of its kind.

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