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18 Nov 2004 : Column 1804W—continued
National Lottery
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding the Heritage Lottery Fund has given to museums in each of the last three years; and what proportion of total Heritage Lottery Funding this constituted in each year. [199144R]
Mr. Caborn: The information is in the following table:
| Amount (£million) | Proportion of total HLF funding | |
|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 107,419,163 | 34.7 |
| 2002–03 | 103,529,510 | 31.8 |
| 2003–04 | 73,831,797 | 25 |
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Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much money was distributed to sport through the lottery in each of the last 10 years. [197457]
Estelle Morris [pursuant to her reply, 11 November 2004, Official Report, c. 838W]: The information given in the table contained in my answer was not correct. In fact, the closest approximation of the amount of lottery funding distributed to sport is the amount drawn down from the National Lottery Distribution Fund by the sports lottery distributing bodies to make grant payments to successful applicants. These figures, aggregating draw-down by the individual distributors, for each financial year since the inception of the national lottery, appear in the following table.
The NLDF annual accounts for 2003–04, which are currently being audited prior to publication, will give the figure for that year.
Tony Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will assess the merits of establishing a designated lottery fund for the maintenance of war memorials. [197269]
Mr. Caborn: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has no such plans. However, the Heritage Lottery Fund will consider applications for the restoration of war memorials provided that they fulfil their criteria, and to date the HLF has awarded over £618,000 to 21 projects renovating war memorials. The Grants for War Memorials scheme co-funded by English Heritage and the Wolfson Foundation, but administered by the charity the Friends of War Memorials, also provides grants of up £10,000 to undertake any necessary restoration, essential maintenance or repair of war memorials.
Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 14 October 2004, Official Report, column 328W, on Lottery grants, what monitoring has been carried out to ensure that timber used in Lottery-funded projects is from legal and sustainable sources; and what sanctions can be applied where this is found not to be the case. [199221]
Estelle Morris: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Sports Councils
Kate Hoey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 28 October 2004, Official Report, column 1307W, on sports
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councils, what the annual Exchequer grants to the national governing bodies of sport were in each year from 1974 to 1996. [198332]
Mr. Caborn: As I stated in my answer of 27 October 2004, Official Report, column 1233W, to my hon. Friend the Department does not hold this information. We have contacted Sport England to see if they hold this information and they are currently checking to see if printed copies of the old Great Britain Sports Council's Annual Report and Accounts are available. I will write to my hon. Friend when it is determined whether the information is available.
Television
Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to ensure that there is a competitive market in the provision of cable television to residential customers. [199205]
Estelle Morris: There is a competitive market in the provision of digital television services through the three platforms of digital terrestrial television, satellite and cable. It is a commercial decision for cable companies whether to provide a service to a geographic area, and there is no restriction on companies wishing to enter the market.
Brian White: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to ensure that analogue cable television networks are converted to digital provision. [199207]
Estelle Morris: None. Analogue cable television is not affected by digital switchover and the extent to which operators convert their networks to digital is a commercial decision for them. We are however in regular contact with the cable companies to encourage digital provision. About 72 per cent. of cable TV customers use digital services.
Theatre
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding the Arts Council has given to theatre, in each of the last three years; and what proportion of total Arts Council funding this constituted in each year. [199142R]
Estelle Morris: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
TV Licence Payments
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether (a) her Department and (b) agencies responsible to her Department have conducted a recent analysis of the socio-economic groups which are more likely to pay for their television licence by direct debit. [198749]
Estelle Morris:
Neither the Department for Culture, Media and Sport nor any agency responsible to the Department have carried out such an analysis recently.
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Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of people in (a) Hemsworth constituency and (b) the UK who pay for their television licence in a single instalment. [198750]
Estelle Morris: TV Licensing, who administer the television licensing system as agents for the BBC, do not record the number of television licences issued by constituency. For the United Kingdom as a whole, approximately nine million licence payers currently pay for their licence in a single instalment.
VisitBritain Website
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the likely impact of the proposed VisitBritain online accommodation booking system on existing commercial accommodation booking agencies. [198978]
Mr. Caborn: The Government expects the impact of the EnglandNet information and booking system to be market-neutral. EnglandNet will carry a wide variety of information about attractions and events, as well as details of quality-graded accommodation. It is not designed to replicate the role performed by existing commercial booking agencies. Rather, it will provide such agencies with access to new online marketing opportunities, and make bookings much easier to receive and fulfil. In this, EnglandNet will provide commercial operators with access to the 11 million potential customers who visit VisitBritain's websites each year—a figure set to rise to 20 million by 2007.
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what guidance she has given to VisitBritain on standards for property which will be made available for booking on the VisitBritain website. [198979]
Mr. Caborn:
The EnglandNet tourism information and e-commerce system is being developed by Networks for Tourism, a company owned by VisitBritain and all
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the Regional Tourist Boards in England. VisitBritain's shareholding was formerly held by the English Tourism Council.
Under an agreement between the Council and the Boards on the formation of the company, it is intended that EnglandNet will offer access to the providers of accommodation which has been subject to inspection under a recognised grading scheme. My Department supports that intention, as it will encourage the fullest possible co-ordination of the new marketing opportunities which EnglandNet will provide, with the consumer benefits of grading inspection—particularly in the light of the in-principle agreement to the adoption of common grading standards in England, announced by VisitBritain, the Automobile Association and the Royal Automobile Club in May 2004.
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