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25 May 2004 : Column 1545W—continued
Casinos
Mr. Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the permitted areas where casinos may be established under the Gaming Act 1968; and in which of those areas casinos are not currently operating. [175819]
Mr. Caborn: The areas where casinos are allowed to operate under the Gaming Clubs (Permitted Areas) Regulations 1971 are as follows:
That area which is within the area specified in the licensing (Metropolitan Special Hours Area) Order 1961—plus the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
The rest of England, Wales and Scotland
The areas of the former county boroughs, non-county boroughs and urban districts of:
Aberdeen
Birkenhead
Birmingham
Blackpool
Bolton
Bournemouth
Bradford
Brighton
Bristol
Cardiff
Coventry
Derby
Dudley
Dundee
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Great Yarmouth
Hove
Huddersfield
Kingston upon Hull
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
Luton
Lytham St. Annes
Manchester
Margate
Newcastle upon Tyne
Northampton
Nottingham
Plymouth
Portsmouth
Ramsgate
Reading
Ryde
Salford
Sandown/Shanklin
Scarborough
Sheffield
Southampton
Southend-on-Sea
Southport
Stockport
Stoke-on-Trent
Sunderland
Swansea
Teesside/Middlesbrough
Torbay
Walsall
Warley
West Bromwich
Wolverhampton.
There are currently no casinos operating in Ryde, Sandown/Shanklin or Warley.
Cricket Tours
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions her Department has had with the International Cricket Council regarding the rules operated by the ICC in respect of cricket tour cancellations. [175487]
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Mr. Caborn: The Government have not discussed the rules about cricket tour cancellations with the International Cricket Council. This is a matter between the ICC and the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many buildings in England owned by her Department are used at less than 25 per cent. capacity for more than three months of the year. [175982]
Mr. Caborn: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport leases four buildings or part buildings in London, none of which, ever fall to an occupancy level as low as 25 per cent.
Electronic Programme Guides
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if she will request that Ofcom include a requirement for a periodic review of the ordering of channels on electronic programme guides (EPGs) in its new code of practice for EPG providers; and if she will make a statement; [174670]
(2) what assessment she has made of the impact of television channels' positioning on the electronic programme guides on viewer choice; what steps she intends to take to ensure that EPG providers facilitate a reordering of channels disadvantaged by their EPG listing; and if she will make a statement; [174671]
(3) what discussions she has had with Ofcom about the role of the electronic programme guide in promoting fair competition between the UK 24-hour news sources on digital television; and if she will make a statement; [174672]
(4) what discussions she has had with Ofcom about whether the new electronic programme guide code will include a requirement for a review of channel ordering on the EPG; and if she will make a statement. [174673]
Estelle Morris: The regulation of electronic programme guides is a matter for Ofcom and therefore I have not had any detailed discussions with them on this matter.
Under section 310 of the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom has to draw up a code giving guidance as to the practices to be followed in the provision of electronic programme guides. Ofcom must review and revise this code from time to time.
In their consultation on this issue, Ofcom stated that they "intend to review the code at intervals of no more than two years, or more frequently if circumstances warrant it". They proposed that the code should require "all EPG providers to have an objectively justifiable method of allocating listings" and stressed that "this does not preclude different methods"—for example, objectively justifiable methods could include, "first come first served" listings, alphabetical listings and those based on audience shares.
In their consultation on the regulation of electronic programme guides, Ofcom state that "discriminatory treatment of a channel in terms of listings or presentation would constrain its ability to compete
25 May 2004 : Column 1548W
effectively with other channels for audience share and advertising revenue and would thus be prejudicial to fair and effective competition".
Intellectual Property Rights
Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who the members are of the forum on intellectual property rights being established jointly by her right hon. Friends the Minister for the Arts and the Minister for Science and Innovation; what sectors they represent; what the agenda will be for the forum's work; and what timetable it will be working to. [175687R]
Estelle Morris: This Department and the Department of Trade and Industry are currently finalising details of the forum. An announcement will be made as soon as possible.
Sports Spectators
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people watched professional (a) rugby league, (b) football, (c) rugby union and (d) cricket in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [175480]
Mr. Caborn: In 2003, around 1.6 million people attended professional Rugby League matches: 1.4 million at Super League matches; 100,000 at Challenge Cup ties; 100,000 at National League matches.
In the 2003–04 football season, 29 million people attended Premier League and Football League matches: 13.3 million at Premier League games; 16 million at Football League matches (Divisions 1, 2 and 3).
In 2003, around 4.5 million people attended Rugby Union matches in Britain: 3.4 million attending international matches; 1.1 million at Zurich Premiership matches.
In the May to September 2003 cricket season around 1.9 million people attended cricket matches in England: 630,000 attending international games; 1.3 million attending domestic cricket matches.
HOME DEPARTMENT
Speed Cameras (West Sussex)
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money was raised in fines from speed cameras in the last year for which records are available in (a) West Sussex and (b) the East Worthing and Shoreham constituency. [175046]
Caroline Flint: Information on the revenue raised from speed offences detected by camera is not available.
Available information on the number of fixed penalties and court fines ordered to be paid within the Sussex police force area for the offence of 'speeding detected by camera' in 2002 is shown in the table. It is not possible from the data collected centrally to identify the county of West Sussex and the constituency of East
25 May 2004 : Column 1549W
Worthing and Shoreham within the geographical area of the Sussex police force.
Not all fines and fixed penalties will have been paid.
| 2001 | |
|---|---|
| Fixed penalties | |
| Number of tickets(24) | 19,000 |
| Estimated revenue (£)(25) | 1,141,000 |
| Court proceedings 4 | |
| Number of fines | 610 |
| Total amount of fine (£) | 54,700 |
| Average fine (£) | 90 |
(23) Offences under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and The Motor Vehicles (Speed Limits on Motorways) Regulations 1973.
(24) Paid i.e. no further action.
(25) "Estimate" based on £60 penalty charge.
(26) Includes cases where fixed penalty notices were originally issued but not paid and subsequently referred to court.
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