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16 Oct 2003 : Column 315W—continued

Climate Change Levy

Mr. Tynan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the receipts were to the Exchequer in 2002–03 under the climate change levy. [132054]

John Healey: In 2002–03, the climate change levy raised £829 million for the Exchequer. This figure was published by the Office for National Statistics in "Financial Statistics" (Table 2.1 D) in August 2003.

Iraq

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a monthly estimate of the costs incurred by the Government as a result of its presence in Iraq. [131995]

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Mr. Boateng: I refer the hon. Member to my answer I gave the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Llew Smith) on 14 October 2003, Official Report, column 144W.

Pensions

Mr. Viggers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what amount in taxation he has levied from pension funds in the last five years. [132077]

Ruth Kelly: Approved pension funds do not normally pay tax on their investments. The only exceptions are where a pension fund is involved in an activity outside the terms of its tax approval or makes a taxable payment to a scheme employer or member. The amount of tax paid by pension funds under these circumstances in the last five years is not held centrally.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

British Branding Overseas

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the cost of promoting British branding and identity in culture, media and sport overseas in the last year for which figures are available; and what element of this expenditure promotes (a) Welsh, (b) Scottish and (c) Irish branding and identity as a distinct component of that of the United Kingdom as a whole. [131945]

Mr. Caborn: There are a number of Government Departments which promote British branding abroad. DCMS provides £35.5 million per annum to VisitBritain (formerly the British Tourist Authority) to promote Britain overseas as a tourist destination. In 2002–03 an additional £20 million was provided from the Reserve in order to help tourism recover from the impact of the foot and mouth outbreak and the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Funds are not allocated for individual regions of Britain. Britain is promoted as a whole in a way which maximises the impact of VisitBritain's campaigns in individual markets overseas. Tourism is a devolved matter and is the responsibility of the respective administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Childhood Obesity

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the impact of advertising on childhood obesity; and if she will make a statement. [131937]

Estelle Morris: The Department has a responsibility only in relation to broadcast advertising. It has made no separate assessment of the impact of advertising on childhood obesity but will participate in consideration of the Food Standards Agency's recent report on the promotion of foods to children. The Department is fully supportive of Government initiatives to tackle the problem of child obesity, and is working closely with the Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills on these as well as developing its own health initiatives relating to increased physical activity, particularly in children.

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Euro Entry

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much has been spent in each year by her Department in preparing for UK entry to the euro; how much her Department plans to spend on preparations for UK entry to the euro for each year from the current financial year up to and including 2005–06; and what estimates she has made of the total costs to her Department of changeover to the European Single Currency. [131591]

Mr. Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 14 October 2003, Official Report, column 142W.

Ministerial Events Attendence

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the (a) sports events, (b) arts events, (c) broadcasting events, (d) tourism events and (e) museums and galleries she has attended since 1 November 2002. [118007]

Tessa Jowell: The number of events attended since 1 November 2002, is given in the following list:

































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The list includes events attended up to the start of the summer parliamentary recess 2003.

Tourism

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on (a) the domestic tourist industry and (b) the measures she is taking to encourage in-bound tourism. [131938]

Mr. Caborn: England's tourism industry is worth £62 billion a year. £52 billion of which is generated by domestic tourism. In 2002 British residents took 135 million tourism trips in England. Statistics for this summer will be available by the end of November. Early indications from the industry are that it was a strong season. In April this year, VisitBritain launched a £4 million 'Enjoy England' campaign to promote domestic tourism in England. Following a consultation exercise over the summer, VisitBritain will shortly be publishing its three-year domestic marketing strategy for England.

VisitBritain receives £35.5 million a year to promote Britain overseas as a tourist destination. It has 27 offices overseas and it runs on-going campaigns using advertising, PR, direct mail, the internet and other marketing tools. Major campaigns this year have included partnership campaigns with the industry in the United States and, in Europe, a £4 million "City Breaks" campaign to promote short breaks in Britain.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Civil Emergency

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to hold an exercise in a major United Kingdom city to test the preparedness of the relevant services in the event of a biological terrorist attack. [131656]

Mr. Blunkett: My Department has plans for, or involvement in, a number of exercises over the coming months as part of a regular programme of counter-terrorism exercises. The programme has been in place well before 11 September 2001.

Other Departments such as the Department of Health as well as local government and local emergency services also run exercises to test procedures and equipment across agencies. Some are based in cities such as the recent exercise at Bank Station, others are planned for areas where procedures can be practised with minimal disruption to the public, as well as through tabletop exercises.

As I announced in July 2003, we are embarking on a broader programme of exercises, and, where in the past such exercises were usually conducted in private, we aim to put as much information in the public domain as we can without providing information that may be useful to terrorists. Further information about counter-terrorism

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exercises is available on the Home Office website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/terrorism/govprotect/resilience/counterterr.html.

It is important to note that the Government, emergency services and others regularly train and practise their responses to all kinds of major incidents, including natural disasters and accidents, not just those caused by terrorist acts, in order to increase national resilience to a range of threats.

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