---

31 Mar 2004 : Column 1456W—continued

Community Fund

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her estimate is of the total value of funding made available to voluntary groups by the Community Fund and utilised for the employment of paid employees. [164634]

Estelle Morris: The total value of funding made available to voluntary and community organisations by the Community Fund was £2.6 billion as at 31 March 2003. It is not possible to identify the value of funding utilised for the employment of paid employees as the Community Fund does not collect this data.

31 Mar 2004 : Column 1457W

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what value of the Community Fund has been set aside exclusively for local groups in the Wakefield area; if she will list the total distribution from this sum to date; and if she will make a statement. [164635]

Estelle Morris: Fair share is an initiative designed by the Community Fund and the New Opportunities Fund to make Lottery funding more readily available to disadvantaged communities in 77 local areas, which so far have not received their fair share of Lottery funding. Wakefield is one of these 77 areas. The Fair Share initiative was launched in the spring of 2002 and will run until March 2005. The Fair Share target amount for Wakefield for this period is £4,765,000. To date under the Fair Share initiative £3,070,429 has been awarded to 23 projects in Wakefield, which is 64 per cent. of the total allocated amount.

Digital Television

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of households in Taunton have not converted from analogue to digital television. [164557]

Estelle Morris: At present, information on digital take-up is not available with this level of detail. However, according to Ofcom, by 31 December 2003, digital television take-up across the UK was 50.2 per cent.

We expect information on regional take-up figures of digital television to be available soon.

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people over (a) 60, (b) 70 and (c) 80 she estimates have access to digital television; and if she will make a statement. [164764]

Estelle Morris: The information is not available. However, Growth from Knowledge (Gfk) a research company which produces research on the adoption of digital television for both this Department and the DTI estimates that at the turn of the year, 34 per cent. of over-55 households in the C2DE bracket in Great Britain had access to digital television, while 41 per cent. of households in the same age group in the ABC1 bracket had such access.

Funding (Redbridge)

Linda Perham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was allocated from the New Opportunities Fund to the (a) Ilford North constituency and (b) London borough of Redbridge in each of the last five years. [164882]

Estelle Morris: The information shown in the table is broken down by calendar year. It is derived from information supplied to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport by the New Opportunities Fund (and other Lottery Distribution bodies).

31 Mar 2004 : Column 1458W

The figures are the most recent figures available.

£

	Ilford North	Redbridge
1999	4,000	897,644
2000	6,401	55,993
2001	45,877	1,517,962
2002	85,759	704,491
2003	206,748	865,850

Grants

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what grants were made available to (a) the Greater London Authority and (b) each London borough from her Department in each of the last four financial years. [163102]

Mr. Caborn: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport provides a grant of £1.9 million per year to the Greater London Authority for the promotion of London to tourists as a destination in its own right and as a gateway to the rest of the UK and for the improvement of tourism amenities and facilities.

Other grants are allocated by the Department on a national level so it is not possible to give the amount available to each London borough.

National Lottery

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much National Lottery funding has been distributed to causes in Taunton in each year since 1997. [164559]

Estelle Morris: The information shown in the table is broken down by calendar year. It is derived from information supplied to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport by the Lottery Distribution bodies.

The figures for 2004 are the most recent figures available.

Lottery funding in Taunton

	Number
1997	107,838
1998	45,954
1999	83,958
2000	108,000
2001	98,049
2002	96,096
2003	130,195
2004	8,016

Public Bodies

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the (a) resource budget, (b) administration costs and (c) staff numbers were for 2003 of the (i) British Tourist Authority, (ii) English Tourism Council, (iii) Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, (iv) Community Fund, (v) Football Licensing Authority, (vi) Horserace Betting Levy Board,

31 Mar 2004 : Column 1459W

(vii) Horserace Totalisator Board, (viii) Millennium Commission, (ix) New Opportunities Fund, (x) UK Sport, (xi) Culture North East, (xii) East Midlands Cultural Consortium, (xiii) Living East (East of England Cultural Consortium), (xiv) North West Cultural Consortium, (xv) South East Cultural Consortium, (xvi) South West Regional Cultural Consortium, (xvii) West Midlands Life Cultural Consortium, (xviii) Working Group on Human Remains, (xix) Yorkshire Cultural Consortium, (xx) Music Industry Forum and (xxi) Viewers' Panel. [164022]

Mr. Caborn: Resource budgets for 2003–04 including provision for current and capital expenditure and non-cash costs (depreciation and cost of capital charges) are shown in the following table:

Organisation	Resource budget (£000)	Average staff numbers as at 31 March 2003
British Tourist Authority (VisitBritain)	52,485	484
English Tourism Council	0	59
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment	3,846	31.7
Community Fund	0	493
Football Licensing Authority	1,128	15
Horserace Betting Levy Board	0	126
Horserace Totalisator Board	0	3,902
Millennium Commission	0	68
New Opportunities Fund	0	287
UK Sport	28,050	77

Executive Non-Departmental Public Bodies are funded by grant-in-aid and are not subject to administration costs limits. Details of their staff costs and other operating costs are published in their respective annual reports and accounts. Copies of these may be obtained from the Library of the House.

The Community Fund, the Millennium Commission and the New Opportunities Fund distribute National Lottery proceeds only, receiving no Exchequer funds, and recover their administration costs from the National Lottery Distribution Fund.

The Horserace Betting Levy Board and the Horserace Totalisator Board are funded by levies and commercial betting operations respectively.

With effect from 1 April 2003, the English Tourism Council (ETC) was merged with the British Tourist Authority (BTA) to form VisitBritain. The ETC continues as a legal entity with a new remit as the

31 Mar 2004 : Column 1460W

England Marketing Advisory Board (EMAB) to provide strategic guidance to VisitBritain and Ministers on the domestic marketing of England.

The Regional Cultural Consortiums are currently Advisory Non-Departmental Public Bodies. All of their costs, including administration costs are met from the Department's resource budget for 'Research and Other Surveys'. For 2003–04 the budget for Regional Cultural Consortiums is £1,600,000 (2002–03 outturn: £840,826). In 2003 they did not directly employ any staff. In 2004–05 they will become Executive NDPBs.

The Working Group on Human Remains, Music Industry Forum and the Viewers Panel have completed their work. They had no resource budget and did not employ any staff. Their administration costs were included within the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's administration costs which are published in the Resource Accounts. Copies may be obtained from the Library of the House.

Regional Assemblies

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what role regional assemblies will have in the distribution of Lottery funds. [164549]

Estelle Morris: Lottery funds are given out by Lottery distributors who operate at arms length, independently of central and local government. That same principle would apply to regional Government. However the Government proposes giving regional assemblies, where these are created, a role in the appointment of the relevant regional arts council and regional sports board, which are the regional awards committees of Arts Council England and Sport England respectively, both of which are Lottery distributors.

---