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5 Jan 2004 : Column 132W—continued
Food Advertising
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what plans she has to change the current regulations on the advertising of food to children; [145573]
- (2) upon what evidence the Government bases its view that the regulation of food advertising to children must be tightened. [145576]
Estelle Morris: The Department has no plans at present to change the rules on the advertising of food to children, but is taking part in the consultations being undertaken by the Food Standards Agency on the possible impact of broadcast advertising on childhood obesity. The Secretary of State has also asked OFCOM to review the adequacy of its codes regulating such advertising, in the light of the conclusions of the FSA Report, the Department of Health's Food and Health Action Plan and the Health Select Committee's inquiry into obesity. It is principally the responsibility of OFCOM to ensure that there is an appropriate code for the regulation of broadcast advertising and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State looks forward to the outcome of their work.
Football Broadcasting
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on football broadcasting rights and the role of the EU Commission. [145577]
Estelle Morris: The European Commission and the Premier League announced that they had agreed the terms of a settlement of the competition inquiry on 16 December. Although the detailed terms of this are yet to be finalised, the agreement is clearly very good news for English football.
One of the Government's primary concerns during the inquiry was the health of football at all levels. Substantial public funds are invested in the development of grass roots football in partnership with the Premier League. So although it was right that the Premier League made its own case to the Commission, the Government encouraged both parties to engage in constructive dialogue throughout the inquiry.
Government Car Service
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much has been spent by her Department on the Government car service in the past year. [145605]
Mr. Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to the reply provided by the Chief Executive of the Government Car and Despatch Agency (Mr. Nick Matheson) to the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) in May 2003. Copies of the letter were placed in the Libraries of the House.
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Museums
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent representations she has received regarding the Government's museums policy. [145555]
Estelle Morris: I have received a wide range of representations, both from individuals and from key sectoral organisations, including the National Museums' Directors' Conference, the Museums Association and the Association of Independent Museums. There is strong support for the main planks of our policy: namely, free access to the National Museums and Galleries in London and the regions, the Renaissance programme for regional museums, and support for improved museum education services, particularly to children. The views received will make an important contribution to the Department's developing thinking during the 2004 Spending Review and thereafter.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what targets the Government have set to increase social inclusion through museum policy; [145556]
- (2) what financial incentives are in place to encourage museums to increase the number of visitors from different sections of the community; [145558]
(3) what the Government's policy is on museums and social inclusion. [145559]
Estelle Morris: As set out in the publication "Libraries, Museums, Galleries and Archives for All" (PP 383 January 2001), our policy objective is that social inclusion should be a priority for all museums and galleries. To that end we have set two Public Service Agreement targets for the 2003–06 period: an 8 per cent. increase in adult C2DE visitors to the national museums and galleries; and 500,000 visits by new users, predominantly from social classes C2DE and ethnic minorities, to regional hub museums participating in the Renaissance in the Regions programme.
Renaissance in the Regions is the main funding programme specifically targeted at increasing the number of visitors from different parts of the community. Two of the programme's eight priority areas—reaching a wider community and improving access to knowledge and information—are particularly relevant. Funding for the programme is £60 million during the 2003–06 period. The grant in aid the Department provides to the national museums and galleries also supports the social inclusion activities they undertake.
From 1 April 2001, all National Museums and Galleries that are free have been able to recover input VAT on their expenditure associated with free access and those that charged previously have been compensated for their loss of admission income.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many museums have closed since 1997. [145560]
Estelle Morris: Since August 1997, 93 museums have been removed, on grounds of closure, from the museum registration scheme run by Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries. During the same
5 Jan 2004 : Column 134W
period 407 museums joined the registration scheme, of which 101 were newly founded. There are currently a total of 1,725 museums fully registered throughout the UK.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make an assessment of the impact on collections in museums of the Government's free admission policy. [145561]
Estelle Morris: Free admission together with investment in new galleries has enabled more people to see and appreciate the great collections of the national museums and visit them more frequently. Visits to the former charging museums rose from 9 million in 1998–99 to 15.3 million in 2002–03, an increase of 71 per cent. There is a good mix of new and repeat visitors. In consequence earned income from trading has held up well and was greater in 2002–03 than in 2001–02 before the introduction of full free admission. There is therefore no reason to suppose that free access has inhibited care of collections. All those museums that went free received year-on-year compensation for loss of admissions income.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make an assessment of the impact of the Government's free admissions policy on museums that are not included in the policy. [145562]
Estelle Morris: I will reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the total Government funding to museums in real terms in each year since 1992. [145563]
Estelle Morris: Direct government funding to museums in England is shown in real terms in the following table from 1992–03 to 2005–06. It includes core funding of the National Museums as well as non-core support for regional museums as part of the Regional Renaissance programme.
| DCMS and MoD funding in real terms (£ million)(32),(33),(34) | |
|---|---|
| 1992–93 | 218.7 |
| 1993–94 | 214.4 |
| 1994–95 | 220.5 |
| 1995–96 | 215.4 |
| 1996–97 | 201.6 |
| 1997–98 | 188.6 |
| 1998–99 | 181.1 |
| 1999–2000 | 197.7 |
| 2000–01 | 203.7 |
| 2001–02 | 213.9 |
| 2002–03 | 230.6 |
| 2003–04 | 248.3 |
| 2004–05 | 254.0 |
| 2005–06 | 263.4 |
| Total increase | 43.6 |
(32) The figures exclude funding for the RAF museums at Hendon and Cosford.
(33) The figures exclude funds from DfES, the Arts Council of England and the National Lottery. DfES does not provide recurrent or direct funding to museums and galleries. Since 1999 DfES has provided approximately £6.8 million to support education work in museums and galleries through various project-funding programmes.
(34) The table does not include funding in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which is administered separately.
5 Jan 2004 : Column 135W
National Lottery
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent representations she has had from charities about (a) the funding they are able to generate and (b) the impact of the National Lottery on donations. [145564]
Estelle Morris: We have received no such representations. Charities have been significant beneficiaries of Lottery funding. Since 1995, the Community Fund has given £2.6 billion to more than 56,000 charities and community groups. This is in addition to the many charities which have benefited from grants from the other Lottery distributors.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much National Lottery funding has been distributed (a) in each constituency, (b) in each region and (c) to each good cause since 1997. [145565]
Estelle Morris: I am arranging for copies of the answer to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much revenue was generated by the National Lottery in each year since its launch; and what the projected figures are for the next five years. [145566]
Estelle Morris: Total revenue generated by the National Lottery in each year since its launch is as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1994–95 | 1,191 |
| 1995–96 | 5,217 |
| 1996–97 | 4,723 |
| 1997–98 | 5,514 |
| 1998–99 | 5,228 |
| 1999–2000 | 5,094 |
| 2000–01 | 4,983 |
| 2001–02 | 4,834 |
| 2002–03 | 4,574.5 |
For the current year and next five years we have advised distributing bodies to plan on an assumption of annual sales of £4.5 billion. But if London's bid for the 2012 Olympic games proves successful, Camelot plans to launch new Olympic Lottery games during 2005–6, which could raise the total value of ticket sales to about £4.7 billion per year, as an average for the five year period covered by the question.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much money has been distributed to good causes in each year since the launch of the National Lottery. [145567]
Estelle Morris: The information is shown in the following table.
The figures include income both from the operator and from investments.
5 Jan 2004 : Column 136W
| Year | Total |
|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 1,591,781 |
| 2001–02 | 1,842,233 |
| 2000–01 | 1,772,839 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,766,394 |
| 1998–99 | 1,918,906 |
| 1997–98 | 1,952,219 |
| 1996–97 | 1,587,759 |
| 1995–96 | 1,535,966 |
| 1994–95 | 298,580 |
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will set out her plans to give Lottery players more choice in determining where the money to good causes goes. [145568]
Estelle Morris: The Government made a commitment in the National Lottery Funding Decision Document to increase the public's involvement in decisions on Lottery spending. The Lottery distributors, in partnership with the National Lottery Promotions Unit and this Department, are already looking at ways to do this—for example, in relation to setting lottery funding themes and making local Lottery awards. The New Opportunities Fund and Community Fund are also developing new ways to consult people about local decisions which the new merged distributor will pioneer.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on her plans to merge the New Opportunities Fund and the Community Fund. [145569]
Estelle Morris: The National Lottery Funding Decision Document, published in July, outlined our plans to merge the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) and the Community Fund to create a new Lottery distributor, to be responsible for distributing 50 per cent. of Lottery money to good causes.
There is significant overlap between NOF and the Community Fund and an opportunity in merging them to create a new, dynamic Lottery distributor, more responsive, more streamlined and better able to exploit opportunities for joining up funding streams. We want the new body to be more than sum of its parts, and we believe it will successfully be able to set the pace for modernising delivery of Lottery funding, making a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged people and communities.
The new body will continue funding for charities and the voluntary sector, and health, education and the environment, and will also assume the Millennium Commission's ability to fund large scale regenerative projects.
Establishing the new body will require primary legislation. We are encouraging NOF and the Community Fund to work as closely together as possible in the meantime to begin to exploit the synergies between the two bodies and to ensure that full merger can happen quickly when the legislation is in place.
5 Jan 2004 : Column 137W
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to reform the National Lottery; and if she will make a statement on the timetable for the reforms. [145570]
Estelle Morris: The National Lottery Funding Decision Document, published July 2003, outlined our proposals for reforming the National Lottery. We intend to publish a summary of the consultation responses early in the New Year. The Department is working closely with the National Lottery Distributing Bodies and implementation of some of the reforms has already begun. Others will require legislation, which we would hope to bring forward over the next two years, subject to the availability of Parliamentary time.
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