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19 Apr 2004 : Column 239W—continued
Digital Television
Mr. David Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on public broadcasting provision to remote rural locations following conversion to full digital television broadcasting. [166155]
Tessa Jowell: The Government's policy for digital switchover is that everyone, including those in rural areas, who can currently get the public service broadcasting channels in analogue form, must continue to receive them on digital systems when analogue is switched off.
David Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of accessibility to digital television in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland. [165677]
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Estelle Morris: I will reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on plans to upgrade transmitters in Dumfries and Galloway to receive digital television services. [165970]
Estelle Morris: Until analogue signals are switched off there will be no frequencies available to broadcast digital television services from transmitters in Dumfries and Galloway without causing interference to viewers' existing analogue signals. The Digital TV Action plan provides the route map to achieve digital switchover, which could be completed between 2006 and 2010 and we are working closely with stakeholders on the detailed plans.
Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what percentage of the population of Dumfries and Galloway are able to receive Freeview digital television services. [165971]
Estelle Morris: According to the BBC's coverage prediction database, around 20,000, or 31 per cent. of households in Dumfries and Galloway have access to Freeview at this time.
Green Ministers
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the meetings at which her Department has been represented regarding the delivery of sustainable development across Government as co-ordinated by the Ministerial Sub-committee of Green Ministers. [165956]
Estelle Morris: It is established practice under successive Governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. This practice is now formalised by Exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
Libraries (Greater London)
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much money was spent on library (a) buildings and (b) books in Greater London in each year since 1997, broken down by borough. [165840]
Estelle Morris: The information in the following tables shows the funds spent on library premises and books in (a) Inner London (b) Outer London and (c) Greater London.
Information relating to individual London library authorities can be found within the Annual Public Library Statistics published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), and available in the Library of the House.
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Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) public libraries and (b) mobile library units there were within each Greater London borough in each year since 1997. [165841]
Estelle Morris: The following information shows the number of service points open for 10 or more hours each week as well as the number of mobile libraries in (a) Inner London (b) Outer London and (c) Greater London.
Information relating to individual London library authorities can be found within the Annual Public Library Statistics published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), and available in the Library of the House.
| Libraries | 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inner London | |||||
| Static | 136 | 135 | 134 | 132 | 133 |
| Mobile | 14 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 |
| Outer London | |||||
| Static | 234 | 236 | 235 | 232 | 232 |
| Mobile | 22 | 22 | 21 | 21 | 21 |
| Greater London | |||||
| Static | 370 | 371 | 369 | 364 | 365 |
| Mobile | 36 | 34 | 33 | 33 | 32 |
Library Digitisation (Birkenhead)
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much money has been spent on the digitisation of content in libraries in Birkenhead since 1997. [166506]
Estelle Morris: The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a partner in the Merseyside Gateway Project which received £370,000 from the New Opportunities Fund to create a website depicting the history and growth of the Port of Liverpool and its environs. 710 (out of 20,000 overall) images from Wirral Archives and Birkenhead Reference Library have been selected for the site—these include a number of Birkenhead related documents including several photographs and other documents from the Cammell Laird archive. The council's contribution to the project was over £1,000.
New Opportunities Fund 3
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations have been made in relation to the administrative burden associated with the New Opportunities Fund 3 programme; and if she will make a statement. [166467]
Mr. Caborn:
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received correspondence from the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate (Stephen Twigg) on behalf of his
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constituent, Mr. M. Lazarus, of Hadley Wood. My right. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills has also received correspondence from Bedfordshire County Council on this matter.
The New Opportunities Fund for PE and Sport (NOPES) programme is administered by the New Opportunities Fund (NOF). NOF has worked closely with local authorities throughout the bidding process to ensure that levels of bureaucracy are kept to the minimum necessary to protect the distribution of public funds.
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the start date was of the New Opportunities Fund 3 project; what the projected expenditure on this programme was over its period; what the actual expenditure on this programme has been during that time; and if she will make a statement. [166468]
Mr. Caborn: The New Opportunities Fund for PE and Sport (NOPES) was officially launched in England in November 2001 with available funding of £581.25 million.
NOPES is a long-term project, reflecting the fact that such an investment takes considerable time and planning to ensure that money is spent both efficiently and effectively. Actual expenditure to date is £10.4 million.
It is anticipated that the majority of NOPES funding will be committed by the end of 2004, well ahead of schedule, with the great majority of new facilities in use by spring 2006, in line with the original timetable.
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement about the progress of the New Opportunities Fund 3 initiative to improve sports facilities in schools. [166469]
Mr. Caborn: The New Opportunities Fund for PE and Sport (NOPES) was officially launched in England in November 2001 with available funding of £581.25 million.
NOPES is a long-term project, reflecting the fact that such an investment takes considerable time and planning to ensure that money is spent both efficiently and effectively. Actual expenditure to date is £10.4 million.
It is anticipated that the majority of NOPES funding will be committed by the end of 2004, well ahead of schedule, with the great majority of new facilities in use by Spring 2006, in line with the original timetable.
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list those to whom a grant under the New Opportunities Fund 3 programme has been awarded where the award has been transferred from the Department to the school in recognition of works taking place. [166471]
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Mr. Caborn: New Opportunities Fund grants for PE and Sport are allocated and paid to local authorities and not direct to schools. Details of grants paid to local authorities, based on invoices submitted, are being placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the awards made under the New Opportunities Fund 3 programme, broken down by (a) county and (b) amount. [166470]
Mr. Caborn: New Opportunities Fund awards for PE and Sport are made to local authorities and not to counties. Details of local authority allocations for England, grouped by region, are being placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much money from the New Opportunities Fund was allocated to Birkenhead in each year since 1997. [166505]
Estelle Morris: The New Opportunities Fund made its first grant to the Birkenhead area in 1999. Since then, in each calendar year, it has allocated:
| Award amount | |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 5,687,368 |
| 2000 | 1,249,862 |
| 2001 | 1,909,933 |
| 2002 | 420,305 |
| 2003 | 383,372 |
These numbers are derived from the Department's database of lottery awards, which is based on information supplied by New Opportunities Fund (and the other distributing bodies).
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