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10 Nov 2004 : Column 774W—continued
Church Building Stock
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department is taking to survey the state of church building stock; and what assessment she has made of church building stock's future repair needs. [196925]
Mr. Caborn: The Government currently have no plans to survey the state of the church building stock. However the Department does draw on work by individual denominations, such as the Church of England parochial return form, which is sent out annually to all Church of England parishes, and in 2003 asked for information about outstanding repair costs.
Consultants
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much expenditure her Department has incurred in each year since 2002 on employing external consultants to deal with press and public relations; and if she will make a statement. [195440]
Mr. Caborn: There was no expenditure by the Department on employing external consultants to deal with press and public relations in either 2002–03 or 2003–04. The Department's Promotions and Publicity Unit has spent £8,142 on a public relations consultant for the digital television project since April 2004.
The Unit has also recently appointed a public relations consultancy for the public information campaign on the switchover from analogue to digital television. This work has been budgeted for £100,000 and is expected to run until March 2005.
Departmental Advertising
Charles Hendry:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the cost of (a) creative work, (b) media spend and (c) administration for her
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Department's advertising activity has been in each financial year since 1997–98, broken down by contractor. [197302]
Mr. Caborn: The only advertising activity undertaken by the Department since 1997–98 has been a short radio advertising campaign for the BBC Charter Review—'Your BBC Your Say'. The total costs were:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Production (including creative and administration) | 3,225 |
| Media (including administration costs) | 12,907.36 |
Departmental Estate
Mr. Andrew Turner:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the properties
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occupied by (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2004, showing (A) for each and (B) in aggregate the area; and what in aggregate the annual rental value was. [196367]
Mr. Caborn: Since 1997 DCMS has disposed of two of its premises, at lease termination, and acquired alternative premises, so that direct aggregated comparisons are not possible. The rents paid for the premises vacated in 1999 are not now known. The two premises occupied in 1997 had floor areas of: 1,365.36 sq m and 8,744 sq m with rents of £507,500 and £3,437,397 respectively. In 2004 floor areas remained the same and rents of £507,500 and £4,015,000 are paid following rent reviews in 2002. The two premises acquired in 1999 have floor areas of 1,320.05 sq m and 1,840.45 sq m and rents of £488,000 and £408,062.52 respectively. The Royal Parks Agency properties, listed as follows, are all freehold, hence no rents are paid.
(33) Gross internal area
(34) Net Internal Area
(35) New building
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Greyhounds
Ms Dari Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the increased rate of voluntary payments from bookmakers to the British Greyhound Racing Fund will (a) enable all retired greyhounds to be re-homed and (b) guarantee adequate funding for greyhound rescue centres. [196983]
Mr. Caborn: The Government do not have control over the use of the voluntary payments made by bookmakers to the British Greyhound Racing Fund (BGRF). We understand that the distribution of the increased payments, agreed between bookmakers and the sport earlier this year, has not yet been determined.
Places of Worship
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will establish a cross-departmental governmental group to consider the impact of policy proposals on churches and places of worship; and if she will make a statement. [196924]
Mr. Caborn: There are currently no plans to create a cross-departmental Government group.
However the Department is involved in cross-departmental discussions regarding the ecclesiastical built heritage and actively seeks to keep all relevant parties engaged when necessary.
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions her Department has had with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on the importance of places of worship in planning decisions. [196926]
Mr. Caborn: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport considers listed places of worship as part of the built heritage as a whole, and therefore the Department and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister regularly discuss the importance of places of worship, including the current Ecclesiastical Exemption Review.
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the operation of the Listed Places of Worship Scheme. [196927]
Mr. Caborn: To date over £22.9 million has been distributed under the Listed Places of Worship Scheme, and almost 5,000 listed places of worship UK-wide have now claimed under it. The scheme was intended as an interim measure pending the outcome of the review, presently under way, of Annex H of the European Union's sixth VAT Directive, which governs which goods and services are permitted reduced rates of VAT. The UK Government are committed to trying to secure a permanent lower rate of VAT to apply to repairs and maintenance of listed places of worship as part of this review.
However, as the future of these negotiations is uncertain at present, the Chancellor announced in the March 2004 Budget that listed places of worship would be able to claim the full amount of VAT paid on eligible carried out on and after 1 April 2004. The scheme is currently due to continue until 31 March 2006.
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Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer about the level of public funding for historic church buildings; and if she will make a statement. [196928]
Mr. Caborn: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no specific discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer about the current level of public funding for historic church buildings. DCMS officials have met with Treasury officials to discuss the continuation of funding for the Listed Places of Worship Scheme.
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