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2 Mar 2004 : Column 843W—continued
Crystal Palace
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the progress of negotiations regarding the future of Crystal Palace sports facilities; and what role the Government have played in the negotiations. [157758]
Mr. Caborn: As the hon. Member for Bromsgrove may be aware, it was announced on 25 February that Sport England, the Greater London Authority and the London borough of Bromley have between them secured the future of the National Sports Centre. Details of the re-development, and its timing, are yet to be finalised.
Sport England's lease will continue for a further two years. After that, the London Development Agency will take responsibility for the site. This will ensure that the Crystal Palace Grand Prix—the last major athletics event before the Athens Olympics—will take place this summer.
It has been agreed that Sport England, the Greater London Authority/London Development Agency and the London borough of Bromley will each pay one third of the maintenance costs for the first year of the agreement. After that, the London Development Agency will be solely responsible. This will be the starting point for the modernisation of the whole of Crystal Palace Park.
The Government have remained close to all partners throughout discussions.
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Departmental Budget
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when the updated figures for her Department's budget for the next five years will be published. [157788]
Mr. Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave her on 5 January 2004, Official Report, column 129W.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport's Annual Report 2004 is expected to be published in April 2004. All data will be subject to revision following the outcome of the Spending Review 2004, due in the autumn, at which time budgets for 2006–07 will be agreed.
Departmental Christmas Card
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total cost was of producing her Department's Christmas card last year. [157790]
Mr. Caborn: The cost of the production of the DCMS Christmas card for 2003 was £1,587.50.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many Christmas cards were sent by her Department last Christmas. [157791]
Mr. Caborn: There were 3,798 Christmas cards sent out from DCMS in 2003.
Digital Television
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the purchases necessary to receive digital television in different areas of the United Kingdom. [157514]
Estelle Morris [holding answer 1 March 2004]: There are four ways consumers can receive digital television today:
Consumers need to buy either a digital adapter (set top box) or an integrated digital television. While many people will be able to use their existing aerials, some may need to have new aerials or cabling installed to receive all services. Digital terrestrial television is now receivable in around 75 per cent. of the UK.
Consumers need to get either a digital satellite adaptor and connect it to their existing analogue TV set or a digital TV set designed to receive digital satellite signals. They will also need a dish installed outside their home. Digital satellite signals reach the vast majority of UK homes, but in a few cases reception may not be possible, because the line of sight to the satellite is obstructed, or because planning or property regulations do not permit householders to put up a dish.
Consumers need a set top box provided and installed by the operator of the cable network which serves their home, if they live in a cabled area.
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(d) Through Broadband DSL
A fourth digital platform is emerging through use of digital subscriber line technologies based on telephony network cabling. Today, this service is only available in Kingston upon Hull, and London.
More information is available on www. digitaltelevision.gov.uk.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what efforts her Department is making to ensure that all households that desire it have access to digital television prior to the analogue signal being switched off. [157515]
Estelle Morris [holding answer 1 March 2004]: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is working with stakeholders, within the Digital Television Action Plan, to ensure that everyone who can currently get the main public service broadcasting channels in analogue form (BBC 1 and 2, ITV, Channel 4/S4C and Channel 5) will be able to receive them on digital systems. However, this might not be possible before switchover for a small minority of consumers. Though Digital satellite signals reach the vast majority of UK homes, in a few cases reception or installation of the necessary dish may not be possible, either for topographic or legal reasons. We are reviewing these legal constraints to ensure they are minimal and proportionate. Any further extension of the digital cable networks is a commercial matter for the operators. As for terrestrial reception, it is not possible to extend it before switchover, as signals currently have to be transmitted at low power to prevent interferences with UK and foreign analogue signals. Only switchover will allow digital terrestrial television to reach the same level of coverage as analogue.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of (a) analogue and (b) digital television sets bought in the last five years in the United Kingdom. [157772]
Estelle Morris: The department holds figures for television sales in the UK up to December 2003 for the last four years only. These figures are:
| Number (Thousand) | |
|---|---|
| (a) Analogue TV sets | 18,775.8 |
| (b) Digital television sets | 395.9 |
These figures do not include sales of set top boxes, which allow viewers to receive digital television through analogue sets. They also do not include TV/VCR and TV/DVD combination sets.
Mobile Phones
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many departmental mobile phones are used by her Department; and what the total cost of calls was in the last five years. [157775]
Mr. Caborn: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport currently has 70 departmental mobile phones. The cost to the Department of mobile phones supplied to Ministers and officials was £25,500 in 2000–01, £21,000
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in 2001–02, £29,000 in 2002–03 and £35,000 as of the end of February this year. It is not possible to provide figures prior to 2000 save at disproportionate cost.
Parliamentary Questions
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many Parliamentary Questions have been tabled to her Department since 1 January 2003, broken down by (a) ordinary written and (b) named day; what percentage in respect of (a) were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage in respect of (b) were answered by the specified date. [157519]
Mr. Caborn: Ministerial colleagues and officials at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport attach great importance to answering parliamentary questions accurately and to time. We aim to ensure that all Members receive a substantive response to an ordinary written question within a working week of it being tabled and that named day questions are answered on the specified date.
1,532 House of Commons written Parliamentary Questions were tabled to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for answer between 1 January 2003 and 26 February 2004. This figure excludes those questions either withdrawn by the Member or transferred to another Department.
1,356 ordinary written questions were answered during this period. Of these 1,131 (83.4 per cent.) were answered within 10 working days.
176 named day questions were answered during this period. Of these 105 (59.6 per cent.) were answered on the specified date or named day.
Performance Targets
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how she will measure her Department's performance in reaching its Public Sector Agreement target to increase by eight per cent. the number of adult C2DE visitors to national museums and galleries. [157802]
Estelle Morris: Progress against the target is measured by using the results of periodic surveys carried out by each museum and gallery. These record the number of C2DEs visiting the museum. Progress is reported to the Department half-yearly and annually. The results are aggregated to measure progress against the PSA target.
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