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13 Dec 2004 : Column 823W—continued
Working Time Regulations
Mr. Brady: To ask the Prime Minister how many officials working in ministerial private offices in his Office have worked more than a 48-hour week at any time in the last 12 months for which figures are available; how many of those had signed a waiver under working time regulations; and what percentage these figures represented of the total in each case. [204171]
The Prime Minister:
Officials in my private office who work more than 48 hours a week as defined by the working time regulations have signed a waiver.
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CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
Film Classification
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans her Department has to change British film classifications. [203587]
Estelle Morris: The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is the independent body responsible for classifying all films, DVDs and videos available to the public in the UK. The Department has no plans to change the existing arrangements. Local authorities, which are statutorily responsible for issuing cinema licences, have the power either to change the BBFC's classification of a specific film, or to refuse to allow it to be shown in their areas.
Olympic Medal Winners
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many requests to have Olympic medal winners visit secondary schools have been met by UK Sport in 2004. [204483]
Mr. Caborn: UK Sport has not received any such requests.
Park Refurbishment (Liverpool)
Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding the Heritage Lottery Fund has provided for the refurbishment of parks in Liverpool since 1997, broken down by (a) park and (b) organisations to which funding was made. [203042]
Mr. Caborn: Since 1997, the Heritage Lottery Fund has made one award to parks in Liverpool. The award of £2,442,000 was made in 1998 to Liverpool City council for the restoration of the Grade II* listed Palm House in Sefton Park.
Public Swimming Pools
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many public swimming pools there are in England. [204386]
Mr. Caborn: According to the most recent Sport England figures, there are a total of 3,484 swimming pools in England, including main, learner, diving, leisure and outdoor pools.
Of these, 2,662 are open to the public.
Regional Archive Councils
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the estimated public expenditure on the regional archive councils in England was in the latest year for which figures are available. [203558]
Estelle Morris:
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (Resource at that point) awarded a grant of £28,125 to support Regional Archive Councils (or their equivalent) to be distributed by the National Council on Archives in 2003–04 as £3,125 to be distributed to each English RAC. MLA has always stated that its revenue
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support for the RACs would finish permanently in March 2004 when all Regional Agencies would be up and running.
Regional Sports Boards
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the estimated public expenditure on the regional sports boards in England was in the latest year for which figures are available. [203559]
Mr. Caborn: Details of the 2004–05 budget for the public expenditure (Exchequer and Lottery) of Sport England's regional offices are given in the table.
School Sport
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much of the £750 million pledged by the Prime Minister to school sport (a) has been spent and (b) is planned to be spent in the West Midlands. [203586]
Mr. Caborn: £750.75 million is available to local education authorities for the New Opportunities for PE and Sport (NOPES) programme: £581.25 million in England; £87 million in Scotland; £48.75 million in Wales; and £33.75 in Northern Ireland.
In October 2004, £446.65 million of NOPES funding had been committed for 2026 facilities, with £40.1 million being drawn-down by the local education authorities.
West Midlands local education authorities have been allocated £61.27 million of NOPES funding. Of this amount, £46.45 million is committed expenditure.
Sickness Absence
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many days sick leave were taken by civil servants in the Department in each year since 1997; and what the sickness absence rate was in each year. [204509]
Mr. Caborn: Cabinet Office publishes an annual report "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service". The most recently published figures for the calendar year 2003 were announced by Written Ministerial Statement on 1 November 2004, and copies placed in the Libraries of the House.
DCMS is committed to managing sickness absence effectively.
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Sports Bodies
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people are employed by (a) Sport England East, (b) Sport England East Midlands, (c) Sport England London, (d) Sport England North East, (e) Sport England North West, (f) Sport England South East, (g) Sport England South West, (h) Sport England West Midlands and (i) Sport England Yorkshire; what the running cost of each body was in the last year for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement on the future of each body. [203754]
Mr. Caborn: The number of staff employed by each of Sport England's regional offices on a full-time equivalent basis as at October 2004, and the budget for the 2004–05 running costs of each regional office, are shown in the table.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport keeps Sport England under review, in accordance with Government guidelines, to ensure that its functions are still required and that it still provides the most effective means of carrying out those functions.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
14 to 16 Education
Sir Sydney Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether it is his intention to continue the 14 to 16 years old increased flexibility programme. [203996]
Mr. Miliband: An announcement will be made shortly.
16 to 18 Education
Sir Sydney Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, how many extra 16 to 18 year olds he expects to stay in education as a result of the education maintenance allowance in the London Borough of Barnet. [203997]
Mr. Ivan Lewis:
Since the start of the academic year, as of 30 November 2004, 751 young people in the Barnet local authority area have received payments under the national EMA scheme. The number is increasing at a steady rate and we expect it to continue to do so. In 2004/05 across England we expect the number of 16 to 18 year olds participating in education to increase by 35,000 (3.8 percentage points) as a direct result of EMA.
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By 2006/07, when EMA is available to all eligible 16 to 18 year olds, an additional 72,000 young people will be in further education.
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