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Export Bodies

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many employees the (a) Export Licensing Unit and (b) Advisory Council on the Export of Works of Art had in each year from 1997; what the cost to public funds of each body was in each year (i) in total, (ii) for staffing costs, (iii) for other administrative costs and (iv) for other costs; and if she will make a statement. [195062]

 
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Estelle Morris: Details of the staffing levels of DCMS are not recorded in the kind of detail that would be required in order to provide information about the precise staffing levels of the Export Licensing Unit on a year by year basis since 1997. Accordingly, details of precise costs cannot be calculated. The current staffing of the Unit consists of approximately 20 per cent. of a Grade B, two Grade Cs and two Grade Ds. This has involved a slight increase since 1997 as staff numbers have been adjusted according to the number of licence applications needing to be processed.

The Advisory Council on the Export of Works of Art provides advice to both the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and DCMS directly from time to time. The Council therefore involves no specific costs to DCMS as it is serviced as a small part of the work of the Reviewing Committee's secretariat.

Football Association

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department has taken to review the Football Association; and if she will make a statement. [195400]

Mr. Caborn: While all sports national governing bodies are independent from Government, the Government's aim is for them to be fit for purpose. The FA is no exception. The FA has been discussing a review of the organisation, including its structure and governance, since the spring of 2004. The Board and Council are committed to a review headed by an independent person, who will want to take a view on when they will be able to report. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to the FA in August 2004, and I have been in regular contact with the FA during this time.

Gambling

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment has been made of the competition implications under EU rules of placing a cap or ceiling on the number of regional casinos. [194655]

Mr. Caborn: Any statutory limitation on the number of regional casinos would potentially raise issues of compliance with EU law which would need due consideration.

Lottery Terminals

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions her Department has held with Camelot on the purchase and supply of National Lottery terminals to (a) newsagents and (b) shops in the UK. [195848]

Estelle Morris: Issues concerning National Lottery terminals are a matter for the National Lottery operator acting under its licence from the National Lottery Commission. I and my officials have regular meetings with both Camelot and the National Lottery Commission which discuss all areas of the National Lottery; but these have not involved any detailed discussion of terminal supply matters.
 
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Olympic Athletes (Ireland)

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many Olympic athletes who have received public funding from the UK have competed for the Republic of Ireland. [195178]

Mr. Caborn [holding answer 1 November 2004]: There were four competitors from Northern Ireland at Sydney 2000 and seven at Athens 2004 who received lottery funding from the Sports Council for Northern Ireland and who competed for the Republic of Ireland.

Temporary Staff

Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many agency temporary staff have been working for the Department in each of the last five years, excluding those working for agencies for which no data are kept centrally. [196052]

Mr. Caborn: The Department employs temporary agency staff on the basis of a booking which can last from as little as one day to many months. The number of individual bookings in each of the last five years is shown in the following table:

	Number
2003–04	106
2002–03	86
2001–02	92
2000–01	143
1999–2000	(4)47

⁽⁴⁾ Second half year figure only—first half year figure no longer available.

However, this does not represent the number of temporary agency staff working in the Department at any one time; or the average annual person years worked. There are 17 temporary agency staff currently working in the Department.

Tourism

Mr. Sanders: To the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding her Department plans to contribute for (a) marketing, (b) e-tourism, (c) improving the quality of tourism products and (d) skills and training towards achieving the £100 billion target value for tourism by 2010. [195226]

Mr. Caborn: This year we have made £48.4 million available to VisitBritain for marketing, e-tourism and quality. My Department expects to announce the new funding allocations for VisitBritain over the coming weeks. Funding for the improvement of skills and training in the tourism industry is provided by the Department for Education and Skills. This includes up to £4 million over three years for the Sector Skills Council/People 1st.

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what ratio of funding between the Government and the private sector she expects in meeting the £100 billion target value for tourism by 2010. [195227]

Mr. Caborn: The Department has made £48.4 million of public investment available to VisitBritain this year, alongside our investment in the museums, galleries,
 
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heritage sites, arts and sports events and other attractions that encourage tourists to spend their holidays here. Other Government Departments, the Devolved Administrations, Regional Development Agencies and local authorities also make significant public investment which directly and indirectly benefits tourism. However, inbound and domestic tourism is worth almost £74 billion to the UK economy and clearly the vast majority of investment will be made by private firms, investing in their products and marketing their services to the public.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Consultants

Pete Wishart: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much expenditure his Department has incurred in each year since 2002 on employing external consultants to deal with the press and public relations of his Department; and if he will make a statement. [195459]

Mr. Lammy: From March 2002, my Department's expenditure with press and public relations consultants was as follows:

	£
2002–03	12,000.00
2003–04	37,362.00
2004 to date	28,436.00

Departmental IT

Brian White: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what percentage of the Department's (a) implemented and (b) planned computer systems use open source software; and what plans are in place to raise this level. [195661]

Mr. Leslie: My Department's procurement of software solutions follows the 'level playing field' Government Open Source Software (OSS) Policy. The Government consider OSS solutions alongside proprietary ones in IT procurements and that contracts should be awarded on a value for money, case by case basis. The OSS policy can be viewed at www.govtalk.gov.uk

My Department works with its suppliers so that OSS is used, where appropriate, in the developments currently under way or under consideration. For example, my Department makes use of OSS in the hosting of its main websites.

Where OSS is used it is with a mixture of bespoke and proprietary software in a variety of environments, which makes it impossible meaningfully to estimate the percentages attributable to each type of software.

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