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HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

September Sittings

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission what estimate the Commission has made of the cost to the House arising from the interruption of building work in preparation for the sitting of the House this September. [187938]

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission what the additional cost to the House is of providing for the September sitting; and what impact the September sitting has had on the (a) nature and (b) cost of contracts with external contractors. [188128]

Sir Archy Kirkwood: I refer the hon. Members to the answer given to the hon. Member for Salisbury on 9 September 2004, Official Report, column 1330W.

Unfair Dismissal

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission how many employees have been dismissed during the past three years; how many of those dismissals have resulted in a claim for unfair dismissal being pursued; how many unfair dismissal claims are current; and if he will make a statement. [189161]

 
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Sir Archy Kirkwood: The information requested is as follows for the period 14 September 2001 to 13 September 2004:

	Number
Staff dismissed	21
Claims pursued for unfair dismissal	5
Current claims	2

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

New Opportunities Fund

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will set out the distribution of the
 
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New Opportunities Fund over the next three years broken down by main heading, including the Children's Hospice Service. [189070]

Estelle Morris: The following table outlines the New Opportunities Fund's existing commitments until 2006–07. The New Opportunities Fund and the Community Fund have undergone an administrative merger and are now operating as the Big Lottery Fund. Full merger will take place as soon as legislation permits. New funding will be available to the Big Lottery Fund by 2006–07. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State recently announced proposed themes for future funding and the Big Lottery Fund will be consulting on these shortly.

				Forecast grant drawdown(9)
Initiative	Amount available to distribute (£ million)	Awards committed as at 31 March 2004	Paid out as at 31 March 2004	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07
Healthy Living Centres	280.24	267.78	83.37	45.60	43.20	40.80
Cancer prevention, detection, treatment and care	145.28	145.19	122.64	13.80	7.20	0.74
Reducing the burden of CHD, cancer and stroke	202.07	195.18	66.17	57.14	45.00	26.41
Palliative care(10)	79.53	78.14	12.88	19.64	22.80	16.42
Out of school hours learning	214.90	208.26	130.57	45.60	24.86	9.86
Out of school hours child care and child care	389.89	367.70	233.72	71.34	70.61	35.98
Community access to lifelong learning	189.70	188.22	142.26	30.71	14.16	2.92
Small scale grants schemes (Awards for All)	53.00	33.85	33.59	18.29	2.22	—
ICT training and content creation	286.48	286.21	260.02	12.02	—	—
Green spaces and sustainable communities	121.91	116.73	68.55	34.17	12.50	4.41
Fair Share	50.00	50.00	50.00	—	—	—
Transforming communities	150.11	136.99	11.64	30.76	40.45	48.42
Opportunities for young people—PE and sport in schools	811.30	291.77	31.00	145.24	343.50	235.88
Opportunities and activities for young people	64.85	63.13	39.73	21.29	2.20	2.30
Young Peoples Fund	200.00	—	—	Not yet known
Total	3,239.26	2,429.15	1,286.13	545.59	628.70	424.14

⁽⁹⁾ The drawdown of funds to grant recipients is estimated on the forecast rate of spend, and therefore may be subject to change.
⁽¹⁰⁾ Approximately 58 per cent. of these awards are for children's palliative care projects in England.

Aboriginal Artefacts

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the lenders on securing the return of two bark etchings and an Aboriginal ceremonial headdress on loan to the Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia; why such items have not been returned; and if she will make a statement. [189148]

Estelle Morris: DCMS has been following this matter with interest and is liaising closely with the British Museum (which has been leading on this issue for the lenders), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Australian High Commission. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has represented the UK Government position directly to the Victorian State Government and to the Federal Government of Australia.

The items in question are currently on loan from the British Museum and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew to Museum Victoria. Their return from Australia has been delayed by two Emergency Declarations imposed by an Aboriginal inspector under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Protection Act 1984. The current Declarations expire on 18 September. While a Declaration is in force, the removal of an item contrary to its terms is a criminal offence. Museum Victoria is therefore currently unable to return the items to the British Museum and Kew Gardens.

Like the lenders, we are concerned about the potentially negative impact of this issue upon future loans to Australian museums, and are keen for the loan agreements entered into by Museum Victoria to be honoured.

Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will prevent further loans of cultural artefacts to Australia in the light of the seizing of Aboriginal etchings recently on loan to that country from the UK. [189149]

Estelle Morris: Decisions on whether or not to loan objects in museum collections are matters for the institution concerned, and the Government has no power to influence this decision. In making any decisions concerning loans of objects overseas, Trustees would obviously want to consider the particular circumstances of the countries to which the items would be sent. The government will take into account the risk that any item will not be returned to this country before granting any application for an export licence in relation to an item which a museum proposes to lend overseas.
 
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Departmental Publicity

Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her Department's expenditure was on (a) advertising consultants, (b) public relations consultants and (c) press officers, broken down by grade in (i) 1997–98 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available. [184346]

Mr. Caborn: The Department did not incur any expenditure on advertising consultants or public relations consultants in either 1997–98 or 2003–04, the latest year for which figures are available. Expenditure on press officers for 2003–04, broken down by grade, was:

Grade	£
A	66,124
A/TP	56,325
B	315,021

Information requested for earlier years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Free TV Licences

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many pensioners in Mitcham and Morden have received free television licences. [189356]

Estelle Morris: TV Licensing, who administer free television licences for people aged 75 or over as agents for the BBC, are not able to provide breakdowns by parliamentary constituency of the number of free licences issued. However, 2001 Census data for Parliamentary constituencies identifies that there are approximately 3,650 people aged 75 or over living in the Tamworth constituency.

Historic Buildings

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many requests in the last three years for which figures are available were (a) made and (b) granted for the spot listing of buildings of historic or architectural interest threatened with imminent demolition; and of these how many related to industrial premises. [188773]

Mr. Caborn: I regret that there is no facility, within either the English Heritage or DCMS listing databases, to separate out the listing requests made or granted that related to buildings that were threatened with imminent demolition or were industrial premises.

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