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7 Jul 2004 : Column 713W—continued

Empty Houses

Mr. Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport for how many empty houses her Department is responsible; and if she will make a statement. [182148]

Mr. Caborn: The DCMS estate does not include any empty houses.

Men's Magazines

Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make it her policy to subject men's magazines which distribute DVDs with an age-related classification to a similar classification requirement; and if she will make a statement. [182525]

Estelle Morris: Under the Video Recordings Act 1984, it is an offence to supply or offer to supply a DVD to a person below the age specified in its classification. I therefore see no need to subject men's magazines to additional classification requirements.
 
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Pay Systems

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will place in the Library the most recent review of (a) her Department's pay systems, (b) the pay systems of the non-departmental public bodies for which she is responsible and (c) the departmental equal pay action plan. [181343]

Mr. Caborn: I will place the information relating to this Department in the Libraries of both Houses. Reviews of pay systems in non-departmental public bodies are not undertaken centrally but, rather, are a matter for individual bodies.

PFI/PPP Contracts

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many contracts have been let by her Department in each financial year since
 
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2001–02 to (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte and Touche, (c) KPMG and (d) Ernst & Young for advising her Department on private finance initiative and public private partnership contracts; and what fees were paid in each case. [182261]

Mr. Caborn: None of the named consultancies has been awarded any private finance initiative or public private partnership contracts in any of the last three years.

Tourism

Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) overseas tourists and (b) domestic tourists have visited London in each year since 1992. [182534]

Mr. Caborn: The available statistics for the number of visits to London by overseas and domestic tourists since 1992 are shown in the table. Statistics are only available on visits which included a stay of at least one night.
Million

	Visits to London by staying:
	(a) Overseas tourists	(b) Domestic tourists(7)
1992	9.2	—
1993	9.6	—
1994	10.4	—
1995	11.9	—
1996	12.3	—
1997	12.3	—
1998	12.3	—
1999	13.2	—
2000	13.1	18.5
2001	11.5	16.9
2002	11.6	16.1
2003	11.8	Not yet available

⁽⁷⁾ Regional data from the UK Tourism Survey are only available back to the start of 2000 due to a significant change in the survey methodology in 1999.
Sources:
1. International Passenger Survey.
2. UK Tourism Survey.

SCOTLAND

Departmental Websites

Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the total cost of his Department's websites was in the most recent year for which figures are available. [178791]

Mrs. McGuire: The cost of maintaining the websites for the Scotland Office and the Office of the Advocate-General in 2003–04 was £764. The Friends of Scotland website was transferred to the Scottish Executive on 1 July 2003.

Employment Tribunals

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many cases against his Department and its predecessor organisations have been brought to
 
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employment tribunals in each year since 1997 in relation to (a) equal pay, (b) sex discrimination, (c) race discrimination, (d) disability discrimination and (e) unfair dismissal; how many cost awards were made against (i) respondents and (ii) applicants; and how much has been spent (A) settling and (B) contesting claims. [181466]

Mrs. McGuire: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999. Since that date no cases involving the office have been brought to an employment tribunal.

Pay Systems

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will place in the Library the most recent review of (a) his Department's pay systems and (b) the departmental equal pay action plan. [181353]

Mrs. McGuire: The staff of the Scotland Office were included in the equal pay review completed by the Scottish Executive in April 2004. A summary of the main findings, together with a note of the action which will be taken to ensure that the pay system is free from discrimination, will be issued to staff shortly. A copy will be placed in the Library.

Renewable Energy

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions he has had with the Department of Trade and Industry about renewable energy provision in Scotland. [180338]

Mrs. McGuire: The development of renewable energy in Scotland is a matter for the Scottish Executive. However, both the Scottish Executive and the Government place renewables at the heart of energy policy and the Scotland Office has had regular discussions with the Department of Trade and Industry on the subject of renewable energy in Scotland.

A Government amendment to the Energy Bill in the House of Lords provides a power to give assistance to renewable generators connecting in remote and peripheral areas.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

PFI/PPP Contracts

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many contracts have been let by the Department in each financial year since 2001–02 to (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte and Touche, (c) KPMG and (d) Ernst & Young for advising his Department on private finance initiative and public private partnership contracts; and what fees were paid in each case. [182268]

Mr. Lammy: From 1 April 2001, my Department and its predecessors have let contracts with these accountancy firms for advice on private finance initiative and public private partnership contracts under a framework agreement as follows: (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers (2); (b) Deloitte and Touche (none); (c) KPMG (-1); and (d) Ernst & Young (-3).
 
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The breakdown of fees paid to each for the relevant years is as follows:
£

	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
PricewaterhouseCoopers	357,456	101,425	0
Deloitte and Touche	0	0	0
KPMG	46,289	50,168	13,733
Ernst & Young	161,042	115,885	105,148

Regional Assembly Referendums

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what (a) meetings and (b) correspondence his Department has had since 10 June with the Electoral Commission concerning the regional assembly referendums; and if he will place copies of such correspondence in the Library. [182349]

Mr. Leslie: Officials from the Department for Constitutional Affairs attended a meeting on 28 June 2004 between the Electoral Commission and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister as part of a regular series of meetings to discuss regional assembly referendums. No further meetings have taken place bilaterally between the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Electoral Commission on this issue. There has been no correspondence between the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Electoral Commission on this issue.

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