| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
9 Mar 2004 : Column 1387W—continued
Reading and Libraries
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what initiatives the Government have introduced to promote (a) reading and (b) library usage (i) in England and (ii) at a local level; at what cost; what promotional techniques and media were used; and if she will make a statement. [158966]
9 Mar 2004 : Column 1388W
Estelle Morris: In February 2003, DCMS published Framework for the Future, the first-ever national public libraries strategy. "Framework" reflects a 10 year vision to improve public libraries, affirming that reading and learning are at the heart of libraries' modern mission. "Framework" identified many good practice examples in libraries and proposed a strategy to build on this excellence to improve services delivered by all libraries in England. DCMS and Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) are taking the strategy forward through a three-year action plan, which is on the MLA website: www.mla.gov.uk.
Considerable work has been done in this area. Examples of some of the specific schemes to promote reading include: Bookstart, which DCMS has funded with £500,000, over the last two financial years, which provides reading books and a libraries card for babies; a Quality Index fiction tool, that is being developed in conjunction with the Audit Commission and Arts Council England to help authorities identify the quality of their stock and a joint DCMS/Wolfson Foundation Fund to which DCMS has contributed £4 million, over two years, for reader development projects. Arts Council England also support a number of reader development programmes through public libraries.
Very nearly all of England's over 3,000 libraries have been connected to the internet through the £100 million lottery funded People's Network programme. The early indications are that the People's Network has increased the number and types of people that use our public libraries.
School Sports Grounds
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many school sports grounds have been sold in each London borough since 1997. [159169]
Mr. Miliband: I have been asked to reply.
There are no figures available until October 1998 when we introduced new legislation to stop the indiscriminate sell off of school playing fields. Before October 1998, there was nothing to prevent a local authority selling a school playing field if it wanted to. Local authorities and schools now must obtain the written consent of the Secretary of State before disposing, or changing the use, of school playing fields. Applications to sell school playing fields are approved only where it is clear that any proceeds will be used to improve school sports provision or education facilities.
The following table shows the number of approved applications from London boroughs to sell areas of school playing field capable of forming at least a small sports pitch.
Notes:
1. A 'school sports pitch' is an area of playing field that has the shape and topography to form at least a sports pitch of 2,000m
(2).
2. The table includes playing fields that have been used as school sports pitches within the 10 years before the application was made.
3. There were no figures collected before October 1998.
4. The table reflects applications made by each authority. The playing field that was the subject of the application need not be in the same borough as that making the application.
9 Mar 2004 : Column 1389W
Television Licences
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many television licences have been bought online in each year since the service became available. [158043]
Estelle Morris: Facilities for paying the television licence fee online have been available since December 1999. The BBC has provided the following information on the number of television licences paid for online in each calendar year since then:
| Number of licences paid for online | |
|---|---|
| 1999 (December only) | 59 |
| 2000 | 4,628 |
| 2001 | 59,137 |
| 2002 | 127,201 |
| 2003 | 178,642 |
Workplace Exercise
Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what action her Department is taking to encourage employers to give their workers the opportunity to take exercise (a) at or close to the workplace and (b) in or around the work-day; [159948]
- (2) what her Department's policy is on encouraging employers to allow employees longer lunch breaks to spend time engaged in active recreational activities. [159953]
Mr. Caborn: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has an active Sports and Social Club that encourages staff to take part in a range of sporting, fitness and leisure activities: (a) cricket and softball teams practice and compete at various locations at or
9 Mar 2004 : Column 1390W
close to the workplace and staff can exercise at the on-site fitness facility; (b) a flexible working policy operates that allows staff the flexibility to take exercise at times to suit them, either during an extended lunch-break or at the start or end of the working day.
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS
Common Agricultural Policy
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will make a statement on the benefit to small farms in Lancashire of the revised Common Agricultural Policy. [153888]
Alun Michael: The link between the subsidy paid to farmers and the level of production has been broken. This is known as "decoupling". This means that activities of farmers in the UK will no longer be dictated by subsidy regimes and frees them to farm for what the market wants.
By removing incentives for intensification and over-production, and by linking compliance to a range of environmental standards, decoupling will help to reduce damaging environmental impacts.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, outlined in her statement to the House, on 12 February, that in England we have now set out a fair basis for calculating the single payment that will be sustainable in the longer term.
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much money from the Common Agricultural Policy has gone into the North-West Region in each of the last five years. [156504]
Alun Michael: The figures in the following table represent the amount of money that has gone into the North-West Region from the Common Agricultural Policy in each of the last five years.
These are based on the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) year which runs from 16 October to 15 October.
| EAGGF year | Amount |
|---|---|
| 1999(3) | 114,947,199.98 |
| 2000 | 190,337,294.44 |
| 2001 | 221,572,202.49 |
| 2002 | 178,075,721.05 |
| 2003 | 214,156,549.44 |
| Total | 919,088,967.40 |
(3) Figures available from August 1999 only, due to implementation of current data management system. Data prior to that time could be accessed only at disproportionate cost in time and resources.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |