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Social Housing

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many (a) council houses and (b) registered social landlord houses he anticipates will be built in each of the next three years. [166890]

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister set out in the Sustainable Communities action plan proposals to tackle the issues including the supply of affordable housing.

£5 billion is being invested in housing over the next two years (2004–06) and the role of the regions is being strengthened to ensure this investment is targeted more effectively on local and regional investment priorities.

Registered Social Landlords are the main providers of affordable housing and £3.3 billion funding was recently agreed for the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme for 2004–05 and 2005–06 to provide homes for both rent and low cost home ownership. This funding will provide around 67,000 new affordable homes in England. The number of homes to be provided in 2006–07 will be the subject of the outcome of the Spending Review 2004.

The number of council houses built has fallen with only a small number of dwellings being provided in recent years. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not have estimates of the number of homes that will be provided by councils over the next three years. It is estimated from local authority housing investment returns that some 260 were planned to be built in 2003–04.

Thames Gateway

Bob Spink: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations he has received from English Heritage on development in the Thames Gateway; and if he will make a statement. [167221]

Keith Hill: Officials at the Office of the Deputy Prime   Minister have met with representatives from English Heritage to discuss the Historic Landscape Characterisation assessment of the Thames Gateway that English Heritage has commissioned. The aim of this work is to help planners, developers and regeneration agencies to understand the rich historic environment that exists in the Thames Gateway, to identify the capacity that specific places have to accommodate change, and to ensure that the historic environment can be integrated into the design of new development.
 
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Our heritage is an essential part of creating sustainable communities that are attractive places to live and work, with a positive sense of place. Officials will continue to work closely with English Heritage on historic environment issues in the Thames Gateway.

SCOTLAND

Fisheries

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he last met representatives of the Scottish fishing industry. [165968]

Mrs. McGuire: I regularly meet representatives of a wide range of organisations in Scotland, and I keep in close touch with developments affecting the Scottish fishing industry.

Mr. Peter Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the benefits to Scottish fishermen of continued membership of the EU Common Fisheries Policy. [165969]

Mrs. McGuire: The effects of the Common Fisheries Policy are regularly monitored by the Fisheries Departments.

Project Funding

Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) how many (a) solely state-financed and (b) public-private partnership and private finance initiative projects for which his Department is responsible have been launched in each region in each of the last 10 years; [160967]

(2) how much was spent by (a) the Government on solely state-financed projects and (b) the (i) Government and (ii) private sector on public-private and private finance initiative projects for which his Department is responsible, in each of the last 10 years, broken down by region. [160968]

Mrs. McGuire: Since its inception in 1999 the Scotland Office has been responsible for no such projects. Responsibility for solely state-funded major projects in Scotland was previously dispersed across the various Departments and agencies of the former Scottish Office and a number of Non-Departmental Public Bodies sponsored by the former Scottish Office, and subsequently transferred to the Scottish Executive. No central record of these conventionally procured projects has been kept. Information on signed private finance initiative projects is available from the HM Treasury website at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/documents/public   private   partnerships/ppp   pfi   stats.cfm

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Arts Funding

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to make bodies which distribute arts (a) capital and (b) revenue funding more democratically accountable to the regional community in which they operate. [167288]

 
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Estelle Morris: Arts Council England is the national development agency for the arts in England, distributing public money from the Exchequer and the National Lottery. The arts funding system in England has already reorganised along the lines of the Government's regional plans. On April 1 2002 the Arts Council and the 10 independent regional arts boards joined together to create a single organisation for the arts in England. Six to eight members of the 15–20 membership of the Regional Arts Councils are local authority nominees and the Chairs of the nine Regional Arts Councils are members of the National Council and form the majority of its membership of 15. This restructuring has given the regions real empowerment in decision-making and the delivery of the arts.

Departmental Policies (Newcastle)

Mr. Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Newcastle, East and Wallsend constituency, the effects on Newcastle, East and Wallsend of her Department's policies and actions since 1997. [166878]

Mr. Caborn: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport seeks to improve the quality of life for everyone through improved access to the best in cultural and sporting activities. The Department also champions the    tourism, creative and leisure industries. The Department's policies and actions have had a significant impact on the constituency of Newcastle, East and Wallsend since 1997. For example, Arts Council England funds a diverse range of arts organisations and projects in the constituency, such as Tyneside Disability Arts, Monster Productions and the Foolsyard Theatre. The constituency has received the following grants from Arts Council England since 1997 ¹ :
£

Financial year	Number of grants	Total amount
1997–98	18	38,849
1998–99	3	4,710
1999–2000	17	63,124
2000–01	21	71,029
2001–02	13	31,282
2002–03	11	50,267
2003–04	2	110,000
Total	85	369,261

Since 1997, English Heritage has offered the following   grants to the Newcastle East and Wallsend constituency ¹ :
£

Date	Grant	Details
31 March 2004	160,000	Contribution of 19,000 towards Stage 1 project development costs for St. Michael's church, Byker, with agreement to a further £141,000 towards repairs following successful completion of Stage (13).
Total	160,000

The Newcastle, East and Wallsend constituency has received the following awards from the National Lottery (granted by the following distributing bodies: Arts
 
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Council England, Community Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund, Millennium Commission, New Opportunities Fund, Sport England and the Film Council) since 1997 ² :
£

Financial year	Total amount
1997–98	279,481
1998–99	4,248,686
1999–2000	6,348,190
2000–01	3,448,016
2001–02	1,553,619
2002–03	1,781,574
2003–04	1,655,338
Total	19,314,904

Since 1997, the constituency of Newcastle, East and Wallsend has received the following amount of European Regional Development Funds ³ for cultural/sport/tourism projects:

Financial year	Total amount
1997–98	—
1998–99	1,987,498
1999–2000	42,100
2000–01	1,070,000
2001–02	—
2002–03	550,000
2003–04	—
Total	3,649,598

The Department has allocated £27 million Private Finance Initiative (PFI) credits to Newcastle City Council in order to procure a new city library and three refurbished community libraries. One of these community libraries, High Heaton Library, is based in the constituency of Newcastle, East and Wallsend. The community libraries will be made fully accessible and, as well as being upgraded in terms of layout, decoration and furniture, fittings and equipment, will also enjoy re-engineered display and information facilities.

Sport England has granted exchequer awards of £103,000 to fund Sports Development Workers promoting Active Schools Infrastructure and Equity in Sport across the City of Newcastle since 1997. The constituency of Newcastle, East and Wallsend has benefited from this funding. However, it is not possible to determine how much of this funding has gone directly to the constituency.

Since 1997, the constituency of Newcastle, East and Wallsend has benefited from various grants made by the North East Museums Libraries and Archives Council (NEMLAC) within its area. However, it is not possible to determine how much of this funding has gone directly to the constituency. Examples of this funding include:

£10,000 to Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, North and South Tyneside libraries and Tyne and Wear Archives for a joint campaign to promote heritage, local and family history services and lifelong learning opportunities in a poster campaign on the Tyne and Wear Metro;

Under the auspices of the British Library's Reaching the Regions initiative, British Library staff worked with teachers from the North East to produce Lindisfarne Gospels school packs and
 

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resource boxes for distribution throughout the schools and libraries of the North East. Three of these resource boxes are located in Wallsend Library. Reaching the Regions has invested £100,000 in the North East and NEMLAC is a key partner in this venture.

Between 1996–97 and 2002–03, the British Tourism Authority—and from 2003–04, VisitBritain—have been responsible for marketing Britain overseas as an attractive tourist destination. Grant-in-aid is not allocated in respect of individual areas of Britain, but Britain is promoted as a whole in a way that benefits Newcastle, East and Wallsend as it does the rest of the country.

The residents of Newcastle, East and Wallsend also have ready access to a wealth of cultural institutions in Newcastle and Gateshead, including the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, the Sage Gateshead (due to open in winter 2004) and the Discovery Museum.

¹  Excluding Lottery grants.

²  The data has been derived from the Department's Awards Database and is based on information supplied by the distributing bodies.

³  One of the EU Structural Funds administered by the Government Offices.

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