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Second World War
11. Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans the Heritage Lottery Fund has to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. [158926]
Estelle Morris: Lottery distributors recognise this important anniversary. The New Opportunities Fund has announced an initiative called "Veterans Reunited"
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and the Heritage Lottery Fund will make a further announcement shortly on how it expects to lend its support.
School Playing Fields
12. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on lottery funding for school playing fields. [158927]
Mr. Caborn: Lottery funding will continue to be made available for the provision of new school sports facilities—including playing fields.
The Government have put in place a number of measures to safeguard existing playing fields and to ensure that effective community use is being made of them.
Museums
13. David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the contribution of museums to the UK economy in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement. [158928]
Estelle Morris: The National Museums and Galleries sponsored by my Department attract around 9 million tourists from overseas annually and so make a significant contribution to our economy. In this context, I look forward to the publication tomorrow of the report by the National Museums' Directors' Conference: "Valuing Museums", and to considering its findings.
14. Mr. Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many museums in receipt of grants from the National Lottery have closed in each of the past three years. [158929]
Estelle Morris: No museum registered through the MLA, and which has been in receipt of grants from the National Lottery, has closed in the past three years. We have information only on registered museums.
Rugby Union
15. Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions she has had with the authorities representing rugby union about the improvement of stadia. [158930]
Mr. Caborn: I recently met Howard Thomas, Chief Executive of Premier Rugby, to discuss his proposal for the creation of a Rugby Union Stadia Development Trust to help rugby clubs improve the capacity of their stadia.
Horse Racing
16. Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the progress of the Office of Fair Trading investigation into the control of horse racing. [158931]
Mr. Caborn: The racing authorities are in continuing discussion with the OFT about their response to the Rule 14 notice which it issued. It remains my hope that these discussions produce a satisfactory outcome.
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Digital Television
17. Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made with the digital television action plan with respect to the dates for analogue switch-off in different regions; and if she will make a statement. [158933]
Tessa Jowell: We are working with the stakeholders, within the Digital Television Action Plan, to ensure that the availability and affordability criteria set for switchover are met so that we can, if we choose, take the decision to order the switching off of analogue terrestrial transmission by 2010. We expect implementation of this to be phased over four years, region by region. The exact timetable and the order in which regions will be switched has yet to be determined. We are having discussions with the stakeholders and will undertake a public consultation before we announce the timetable.
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to encourage the sale of digital television sets; and if she will make a statement. [158718]
Estelle Morris: Consumers who are planning to buy a new television set should be able to make an informed choice between buying a television set with digital decoder integrated into it, and a television set that will require a set top box to enable it to be used for viewing digital television broadcasts. Through the Digital Television Action Plan, we are working with broadcasters, manufacturers, retailers and consumer representatives to make sure that consumers have clear and consistent information, including helpful messages about the benefits of digital equipment.
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Licensed Premises (Policing Costs)
19. Mr. John Denham : What assessment she has made of the implications of allowing police authorities to raise a levy on city centre licensed premises to pay for policing costs. [158935]
Mr. Caborn: We do not consider that the case has yet been made for imposing a compulsory levy on licensed premises for the costs of policing. We believe that the right way forward is through voluntary schemes where they can be justified. The implementation of the Licensing Act 2003 and the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England to be published shortly will do a great deal to address the issues that the honourable Member has previously raised about the policing of the night-time economy.
Arts Council Grants
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if she will list the Arts Council grants for capital projects by (a) name and (b) funding level for each year since 1998; [159232]
- (2) if she will list by (a) name and (b) the revenue funding level the Arts Council grants paid in each year since 1998 to (i) dance companies, (ii) theatre/drama companies, (iii) opera companies, (iv) visual arts organisations, (v) literature organisations and (vi) other arts organisations. [159234]
Estelle Morris: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the Arts Council grants for Capital projects broken down by funding level, which were agreed but not commenced, as at 1 March 2004. [159233]
Estelle Morris: The following table supplied by Arts Council England lists all Capital projects where the first payment has not yet been made. Awards made in the recent Grants for the Arts Capital round, announced in February this year, have not been included. In total the list comprises 54 projects totalling £77,105,741.
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