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Regimental Amalgamations

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many regiments have remained unamalgamated throughout their history. [189711]

Mr. Caplin: I will write to the hon. Member and a copy of my letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
 
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CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Intellectual Property

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action she is taking in conjunction with other public agencies to strengthen protection of intellectual property in the creative arts. [189775]

Estelle Morris: I refer the hon. Member to my written ministerial statement of 19 July 2004, Official Report, column 2WS.

The Creative Industries Forum on Intellectual Property had its first meeting on 19 July 2004, jointly chaired by myself and my noble Friend the Minister for Science and Innovation, Lord Sainsbury of Turville, and agreed to focus on three main areas of work: Piracy and File-sharing; New Business Models; and Education and Communication. The Forum is due to meet again in late November 2004.

The Department also supports a range of initiatives being taken forward by the Patent Office, an executive agency of the Department for Trade and Industry, in this very important area of work.

Museums (Leeds)

Mr. Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding (a) has been committed and (b) will be made available through the Renaissance in the Regions programme to (i) Armley Mills and (ii) other museums in Leeds. [190004]

Estelle Morris: Under the Designation Challenge Fund, which is part of the Renaissance in the Regions programme, grants of up to £202,300 have been awarded to Leeds Museums and Galleries, which includes Armley Mills.

Leeds Museums and Galleries is also a partner in the Yorkshire Regional Museum Hub, one of the nine regional hubs funded through Renaissance in the Regions. The total allocations to the Yorkshire Regional Museum Hub under Spending Review 2002 are as follows:

	£
2003–04	210,000
2004–05	676,000
2005–06	1,180,000

It is difficult to specify what resources each hub partner receives, since much of the funding goes on general programmes that benefit all hub partners. It is for the hub to determine how much is allocated to cross-hub programmes and how much to individual hub partners.

Decisions on Renaissance funding beyond 2005–06 will be announced later this year.

Royal Parks

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much private finance has been attracted to the royal parks in each of the last seven years. [189197]

 
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Mr. Caborn: In answering the question I have taken 'private finance' to encompass Public Private Partnership (PPP) or Private Finance Initiative (PFI) arrangements entered into by the Royal Parks, the agency which manages the Royal parks in London.

It is the Royal Parks' normal practice, under the terms of their contracts, to make their concessionaires responsible for the maintenance of the buildings they occupy. The Royal Parks do not normally have information about the expenditure incurred by concessionaires on maintenance or improvements. However, during the last seven years there have been three instances where concessionaires have made significant investment in the buildings—Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park; Inn The Park in St. James's Park; and the boathouses in Regent's Park. The Royal Parks estimate that a total of £3.3 million of private finance has been invested in these ventures over the period. The Royal Parks does not have a breakdown of expenditure by year for these concessions.

Television Licences

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households there are in each parliamentary constituency in Northern Ireland; and how many are in possession of a television licence. [189764]

Estelle Morris: The table shows how many households there are in each parliamentary constituency in Northern Ireland:

Parliamentary constituency	Number
Belfast, East	34,824
Belfast, North	36,383
Belfast, South	39,715
Belfast, West	30,992
East Antrim	32,789
East Londonderry	32,280
Fermanagh and South Tyrone	32,203
Foyle	35,947
Lagan Valley	38,405
Mid Ulster	28,350
Newry and Armagh	34,473
North Antrim	37,583
North Down	34,931
South Antrim	36,725
South Down	35,605
Strangford	37,898
Upper Bann	38,518
West Tyrone	29,097

TV Licensing, who administer the television licensing system as agent for the BBC, are not able to provide breakdowns by parliamentary constituency of the number of licences issued. However, I understand that
 
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at 31 March 2003, the total number of television licences in force in Northern Ireland was approximately 560,000.

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households have been visited in each Northern Ireland parliamentary constituency in the past 12 months by staff investigating those who do not hold a current television licence. [189765]

Estelle Morris: TV Licensing, who administer the television licensing system as agent for the BBC, are not able to provide breakdowns by parliamentary constituency of the number of investigations into possible evasion. However, I understand that TV Licensing made 37,000 visits to homes in Northern Ireland in the 2003–04 financial year. This figure includes repeat visits to some addresses.

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in what circumstances (a) a person aged 75 years or over and (b) any other person allowed a concessionary television licence may take out such a licence additionally for a second or further property occupied by them; and what conditions (i) of residence or (ii) otherwise are required. [190018]

Estelle Morris: Free television licences for people aged 75 or over are available only for a person's sole or main residence. The £5 accommodation for residential care concession is available in respect of qualifying accommodation in which a retired person aged 60 or over or a disabled person is ordinarily resident, but does not extend to any other properties which such a person may own or occupy. The 50 per cent. reduction in the licence fee for registered blind people is available for any premises that are a residence of the individual concerned.

Wembley Stadium

Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of the impact on the construction of the new Wembley Stadium of the sacking of engineering construction workers by Fastrack Site Services; and what discussions Ministers have had with the Football Association on this. [189686]

Mr. Caborn: The industrial action at Wembley National Stadium was resolved in mid-September, when Hollandia, a sub-contractor of Multiplex at the Wembley site, offered to re-employ all of the sacked men.

We have been monitoring the situation carefully, working closely with all those involved in the stadium development, including the Football Association.

I am reassured that the stadium remains on target for completion in January 2006 and to be built within budget.
 
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TREASURY

Child Benefit (Manchester)

Mr. Keith Bradley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families resident in the City of Manchester claim child benefit for a student aged 18 years. [189457]

Dawn Primarolo: There were 1,320 such families at November 2002. The number of child benefit recipients in each local authority and constituency at November 2003 will be published on 14 October 2004, by Inland Revenue under National Statistics.

Overseas Travel

Mr Battle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the number of trips abroad by UK residents made in (a) 1975, (b) 1980, (c) 1990, (d) 2000 and (e) 2003. [189926]

Mr. Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Battle dated 11 October 2004:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning the number of trips abroad by UK residents made in (a) 1975, (b) 1980, (c) 1990, (d) 2000 and (e) 2003. (189926)

The estimated numbers of visits overseas' made by UK residents in the years requested are shown in the table.

Thousands

Year	Number of visits
1975	11,992
1980	17,507
1990	31,150
2000	56,837
2003	61,424

Source:
Office for National Statistics

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