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24 Mar 2004 : Column 877W—continued

Shooting

Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what representations he has received about excessive noise from gunfire by clay pigeon shooters; and if he will require clay pigeon shooters to attach silencers to their guns. [161028]

Alun Michael: I have been asked to reply.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, has not received any recent representations on excessive noise from gunfire by clay pigeon shooters. There are no plans to require clay pigeon shooters to attach silencers to their guns.

Mr. Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his policy on responsible and safe shooting sports conducted in accordance with the law. [161766]

Caroline Flint: The Government believe that shooting should be done in a responsible and safe way and in accordance with the law.

Mr. Salter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he last met representatives of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation; and what was discussed. [161767]

Caroline Flint: I met representatives of the Association on 8 September 2003 to discuss their concerns about the firearms related provisions in what is now the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003.

Special Constables

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps his Department is taking to support the recruitment of special constables. [162745]

Ms Blears: We are determined to boost Special's numbers as a central component of our reform agenda geared towards re-energising volunteering within neighbourhood policing.

24 Mar 2004 : Column 878W

We launched a £2.5 million advertising campaign in February to raise the awareness about Specials and their voluntary work. There has been a significant increase in expressions of interest in the Specials with, for example, calls to the recruitment hotline leaping from around 60 in the week before the TV ad first aired, to over 1,800 in the week of the 23 February.

The campaign was also timed to coincide with the second annual "National special Weekend" held on the 28–29 February, with all 43 Forces in England and Wales working to raise Specials' profile and to focus on local recruitment and employer support initiatives.

These measures are part of a wider initiative to increase Specials Number and effectiveness, which has also seen all 43 police Forces awarded a share of £2.75 million "Capacity building" funding to help develop and improve Specials' recruitment, management and retention. We hope that by 2006/07 another 3,000 Specials will have been recruited through wider public awareness and better management and communication by Forces.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Betting

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans her Department has for regulating betting exchange. [163143]

Mr. Caborn: The draft Gambling Bill now being scrutinised by a Committee of both Houses includes a number of proposals for the better regulation of betting exchanges.

Computer Misuse

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many cases of computer misuse there were in her Department in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003, broken down by category of misuse; and how many of those cases resulted in disciplinary action. [163289]

Mr. Caborn: There were no cases of computer misuse in DCMS in either 1997 or 2003.

Grants (Religious Buildings)

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her policy is on the future of conservation and restoration grants to (a) English cathedrals, (b) English parish churches and (c) other religious buildings. [162839]

Mr. Caborn: The Government channel their funding for the built historic environment through English Heritage, which is the largest source of non-Lottery grant funding for listed cathedrals and churches in England.

English Heritage runs a Cathedral Repairs Grant Scheme for Church of England and Roman Catholic Cathedrals which are listed grade I or II* and/or are situated within a conservation area. A budget of £2 million was made available for this scheme in financial year 2003–04 to assist with urgent repairs to high-level roofs and masonry to keep the cathedral

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building structurally stable and weather-tight. Grant offers have already been made under this scheme against a budget of £2 million for 2004–05. Following a review of all its grant schemes, and now that the majority of big repair projects to cathedrals in England have been completed, English Heritage has earmarked a budget of £3 million for this scheme in 2005–2008.

Together with the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage funds the Repair Grants for Places of Worship in England 2002–05, which welcomes applications from all faith groups and denominations, both Christian and non-Christian, provided they are formally constituted religious organisations. £30 million was made available in financial year 2003–04 for grants for urgent repairs to listed places of worship in regular use. This scheme has benefited a large number of parish churches in England.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport administers the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme, an interim scheme introduced in the 2001 Budget, which has returned in grant aid the difference between five per cent and the actual amount of Value Added Tax (VAT) paid on eligible repairs and maintenance. In his Budget announcement on 17 March 2004, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that claims for all eligible works carried out on and after 1 April 2004 will receive grant payments under the scheme to cover the full amount of VAT paid. Unless a permanent VAT reduced rate is achieved in the meantime as part of negotiations on a review of the EU rules governing VAT reduced rates, this scheme will continue until 31 March 2006. Listed places of worship belonging to all formally constituted religious organisations are eligible to apply to the scheme. Around 4,500 listed places of worship throughout the United Kingdom have so far benefited from the scheme, which has paid out over £18 million.

National Lottery

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of Lottery funding has been spent on (a) health, (b) education and (c) environmental projects; and if she will make a statement. [162908]

Estelle Morris: One third of Lottery money for good causes is distributed by the New Opportunities Fund (NOF), which makes grants to health, education and environment projects. Of the money distributed by NOF, the approximate breakdown between health, education and environment projects as at February 2004 was as follows:

	Percentage of overall committed funding	Percentage of overall payments (i.e. spend)
Health	29	22
Education	57	65
Environment	14	13

Data on grants made by other National Lottery distributors to projects with a health, education and environment dimension are not collected.

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Sporting Contacts (Ban)

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether on 28 October 1997 Ministers had the power to invoke a ban on sporting contacts with other countries. [162474]

Mr. Caborn [holding answer 18 March 2004]: In October 1997, as now, the power existed to use visa controls to deny anyone entry from countries whose nationals require visas to visit the UK, including sports people where appropriate.

Television Ownership

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 15 March 2004, Official Report, columns 57–8W, on television ownership, what estimates her Department has made of the number of United Kingdom households that do not own a television in each of the last 10 years. [163307]

Estelle Morris: The estimated number of households without a television in the United Kingdom in each of the last ten years is set out in the following table:

March	Thousands of households(10) , (11)
1994	646
1995	662
1996	692(12)
1997	664
1998	646
1999	641
2000	625
2001	599
2002	544
2003	515

⁽¹⁰⁾ Based on data from the British Audience Research Board and from official estimates of numbers of Households

⁽¹¹⁾ Revisions to data prior to 2001 are expected as official household estimates for these years are to be revised.

⁽¹²⁾ The higher figure in 1996 may not be reliable. Since the percentage of households not owning a television is small, the survey measuring this is inevitably prone to the incidence of sampling variation.

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