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Written Ministerial Statements

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development how many written ministerial statements have been made by the Department since 29 October 2002. [126609]

Hilary Benn: The Department for International Development has made 17 Written Ministerial Statements since 29 October 2002.

16 Jul 2003 : Column 333W

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

BBC Parliament

Jim Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to her answer of 5 November 2002, Official Report, column 194W, when the BBC will convert its quarter-screen service for the parliamentary channel to the full screen version envisaged in its original bid. [125207]

Estelle Morris: The BBC has no plans to offer its BBC Parliament in full-screen. I understand that it did not, as part of its bid to the Independent Television Commission for the former ITV Digital Multiplex B, make a commitment to broadcast BBC Parliament in this way.

In its application for some of the ex-ITV Digital capacity, the Corporation proposed a change in transmission mode which improved the reliability of reception for many DTT viewers but at the cost of reducing capacity overall. This left insufficient capacity to offer a full-screen BBC Parliament service. However, sufficient capacity was available for the BBC to propose, as part of Freeview, an improved version of BBC Parliament with quarter-screen pictures and accompanying context-specific text.

Community Fund (Havering)

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the latest awards granted by the Community Fund to projects in the London borough of Havering. [125999]

16 Jul 2003 : Column 334W

Estelle Morris: Since April 2002, the Community Fund has awarded six grants to organisations based in the London borough of Havering, totalling £627,526.

Consultation Documents

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the consultation documents issued by her Department in each of the last four years; what the cost was of producing each of these; how many documents were issued in each consultation; and how many responses were received in each consultation. [124566]

Mr. Caborn: The Government recommend that policy development should be done in close consultation with stakeholders. Formal consultation documents are only one part of this process, which includes:

Stakeholder meetings


Listening events/public meetings


Web forums


Public surveys


Focus groups


Regional events


Free-phone and freepost surveys and events


Targeted leaflet campaigns


Road shows and exhibitions.

It is standard practice for departments to evaluate the policy development process, including the use of consultation.

Information on Departmental consultations from 2001 to date is as follows:

Title	Date
National Gallery/National Portrait Gallery Review: stage one consultation	January 2001
National Heritage Memorial Fund Review: stage one consultation	April 2001
BBC Application to Launch BBC3	April 2001
Report of the Gambling Review Body	July 2001
National Museum of Science and Industry Review: stage one consultation	August 2001
Geffrye Museum/Horniman Museum/Museum of London Review: stage one consultation	August 2001
Consultation on the draft Digital Television Action Plan	October 2001
English Heritage Review: stage one consultation	October 2001
Public Lending Right. Quinquennial Performance Review: Consultation Paper	November 2001
Quinquennial Review on the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art	November 2001
National Maritime Museum Quinquennial Performance Review	November 2001
Consultation on Media Ownership Rules	November 2001
Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester: Quinquennial Performance Review	December 2001
Spectrum Planning Consultation	December 2001
Council of Europe—Convention on the Protection of Audiovisual Heritage	December 2001
Review of Progress toward digital switchover	February 2002
Regent's Park Sports Facilities Consultations	March 2002
UK's Open General Export Licensing (OGEL) Limits	April 2002
Changes to Licensing Houses during All New Year's Eve	April 2002
The Draft Communications Bill	May 2002
Prize Competitions	May 2002
National Lottery Licensing and Regulation Consultation	June 2002
Review of Lottery Funding: a consultation on Lottery Distribution Policy	July 2002
Children's Play review	December 2002
Export Controls on Objects of Cultural Interest	January 2003
Review of Lottery Funding	February 2003

16 Jul 2003 : Column 335W

The remaining information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Policies (Pendle)

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what policies (a) initiated and (b) managed by her Department since 2001 have had an impact on Pendle; and if she will make a statement. [124099]

Mr. Caborn: The principal funding to Pendle from policies initiated and managed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport since 2001 is listed as follows.

l. Since 2001, Pendle has received 58 awards from the National Lottery ¹ , with a total value of £3,501,882:

¹ Some of the funding will have been allocated under policies which were agreed prior to 2001.

2001

Distributing body	Number of grants	Total amount awarded (£)
Heritage Lottery Fund	2	53,690
Community Fund	6	724,192
Sport England	6	100,861
Arts Council of England	1	16,500
New Opportunities Fund	1	4,600
Total	16	899,843

16 Jul 2003 : Column 336W

2002

Distributing body	Number of grants	Total amount awarded (£)
Heritage Lottery Fund	1	996,000
Community Fund	2	6000
Sport England	2	7,184
Arts Council of England	1	2,800
New Opportunities Fund	1	599,350
Awards For All (England) Joint Scheme	16	57,762
Total	23	1,669,096

2003

Distributing body	Number of grants	Total amount awarded (£)
Community Fund	1	221,220
New Opportunities Fund	5	657,613
Awards For All (England) Joint Scheme	13	54,110
Total	19	932,943

2. Exchequer Funding ²

² The grants from Sport England, Arts Council North West and English Heritage are to Pendle only. A large number of other grants will have had an impact on Pendle but will have been given to organisations based outside the constituency.

Body	Number of grants	Amount given to Pendle January 2001–03
Sport England	1	30,000 (£10,000 per year for 3 years to August 2004) for a Community Sport Development Office
Arts Council North West	1	£12,000 per year for 3 years—2002–03, 2003–04 and 2004–05 for an Arts Development Officer Post
English Heritage	6	2001–02—£250,941
	3	2002–03—£118,501 for various Heritage schemes

3. The Community Fund and the New Opportunities Fund are to deliver £176 million to 77 disadvantaged areas that have not had their fair share of Lottery funds. Pendle has been identified as one of the areas that will benefit under this fair share initiative, with a financial target for 2002–05 of £1,297,447.

4. Creative Partnerships is DCMS' and Arts Council England's flagship programme in the cultural education field. The aim is to give school children aged 5–18 and their teachers the opportunity to explore their creativity by working on sustained projects with creative professionals. In June 2003, Ministers announced that the Creative Partnerships would be extended to 20 new areas. East Lancashire, including Pendle, will be one of the new areas in Phase 3 of the scheme, which will begin in April 2004, with activity in schools from September 2005.

Iraq

Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support her Department gives to post-war reconstruction of Iraq. [125111]

Tessa Jowell: My Department has recently taken a number of measures to assist the Iraqis to protect and conserve their Cultural heritage. Two officials from my Department have been working closely in Iraq with Ambassador Cordone, Head of Cultural Affairs at the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Their priority has been to re-establish the Culture Ministry as soon as possible and a Culture Cabinet of six Iraqis was formed in May. DCMS officials have helped prepare a budget for the Culture Ministry for 2003–04.

My Department has created a database of offers of support from UK heritage bodies and others, and will follow up on these when we have a better picture of what specifically is needed in Iraq. It is in close touch with UNESCO, which is co-ordinating international help for the cultural sector in Iraq.

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