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Departmental Policies (Haltemprice and Howden)

Mr. Sedgemore: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Haltemprice and Howden constituency, the effects on Haltemprice and Howden of her Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [216018]

Mr. Caborn: The Department's aim is to improve the quality of life for everyone through cultural and sporting activities, to support the pursuit of excellence and to champion the tourism, creative and leisure industries. The Department's policies and actions have had a significant impact on Haltemprice and Howden since 2 May 1997.

In order to achieve our challenging targets for increased participation in sport and physical activity, we have invested in thousands of new and refurbished public sports facilities. In 2002 we launched the first ever comprehensive national physical education, school sport and club links strategy with an investment of £459 million. There is currently a school sport partnership involving one School Sport Co-ordinator and one Primary Link teacher in Haltemprice and Howden. To achieve our challenging targets for increased participation in sport and physical activity, we have invested in thousands of new and refurbished public sports facilities. Sports facilities in Haltemprice and Howden have benefited from five Sport England lottery grants totalling £351,449.

We have increased our national funding to the arts in real terms by 60 per cent. from £199 million in 1998–99 to £367 million in 2004–05. Between 1998–99 and 2003–04 Arts Council England Yorkshire and the Humber grants increased from £6.7 million to £21.3 million. In 2005–06 the total Arts Council England Yorkshire and the Humber investment in regularly funded organisations will be £23.4 million. Haltemprice and Howden has benefited from grants to arts projects, organisations and individuals, including Word Quake, a rural literature development agency that works throughout libraries in East Riding.

Young people in Haltemprice and Howden benefit from the Humber Youth Music Action Zone, known as Music4U. The Action Zone covers the East Riding of
 
21 Feb 2005 : Column 5W
 
Yorkshire council, Hull city council, North East Lincolnshire council and North Lincolnshire council and is co-ordinated by the National Centre for Early Music. Music4U was set up in September 2001 and has so far been awarded three grants totalling over £760,000. It has already reached over 15,000 children and young people, 85 per cent. of whom were first-time participants.

Culture Online was launched in 2002 to increase access to, and participation in, arts and culture. Many of its projects are aimed at children of school age and at audiences that might not otherwise participate in arts and culture, including those who do not easily have access to arts and culture, people from deprived communities and people with particular educational or physical needs. People in Haltemprice and Howden will be among those who benefit from Culture Online. Between 2002 and 2004, £13 million was allocated to fund 20 Culture Online projects.

Through our commitment to public service broadcasting we have helped to foster an environment in which a creative, commercially successful broadcasting industry provides a wide range of UK-made, high quality original programmes catering for all viewers and listeners. We have ensured a secure funding base for the BBC and Channel 4, while giving them the freedom to develop commercial operations which complement and support their public service remit. The Communications Act 2003 includes provisions to ensure that public service broadcasting will continue to have a key role to play in the digital future.

In November 2000 we introduced free television licences for people aged 75 or over. Information on the number of beneficiaries by constituency is not available. However, according to Department for Work and Pensions records, the number of households in Haltemprice and Howden with at least one person aged 75 or over claiming the winter fuel payment in 2003–04 was 5,615.

We have changed the licensing laws to allow people to hold and attend commercial dances on Sunday, to make it easier for restaurants to open an hour later, and to relax the alcohol licensing hours from 11pm on new year's eve to 11am on new rear's day in all future years; and we have given the police greater powers to take action against under-age drinking and disorderly and noisy licensed premises. The Licensing Act 2003, when fully implemented, will introduce a streamlined, consistent and fair licensing regime for the provision of alcohol, public entertainment and late night refreshment. It will provide greater choice for consumers, bring regeneration and increased employment opportunities and protect local residents whose lives have been blighted by disturbance and antisocial behaviour.

The Gambling Bill will, when implemented, transfer responsibility for licensing gambling premises to local authorities. Local people and businesses will be able to make representations about applications for licenses and local authorities will be able to decide not to issue licenses for casino premises. These changes will give
 
21 Feb 2005 : Column 6W
 
local communities, including those in Haltemprice and Howden, a greater say in regulation of gambling in their area.

Tourism in Haltemprice and Howden has benefited from Government-funded marketing activity. In April 2003 we established VisitBritain with a new domestic marketing remit for England, and we gave strategic responsibility for tourism development to the Regional Development Agencies, including Yorkshire Forward. These changes, together with VisitBritain's successful marketing activities in promoting Britain abroad as an attractive tourist destination, benefit all parts of the country, including Haltemprice and Howden.

English Heritage has awarded grants worth £770,564 to seven projects in Haltemprice and Howden since 2 May 1997, including St Michael's Church, Skidby; StsPeter and Paul Church, Howden; and the Howden Historic Environment Regeneration Scheme.

In common with all those in the United Kingdom, the public library branches in Haltemprice and Howden constituency are connected to the internet through the People's Network which was funded through a £120 million lottery grant and which has put all the United Kingdom's public libraries on-line. In addition, the Department is funding the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council with £5 million over three years to implement the Framework for the Future Action Plan and Library Improvement Programme, which is designed to encourage improvement across the public libraries sector in England.

The Department has been an energetic advocate of the community and informal learning value of public libraries. East Riding of Yorkshire council has recognised this value and undertaken initiatives such as Word on the Street" to initiate and develop positive attitudes to reading in young people aged between 11 and 16 and raise their awareness of the value and relevance of the modern library service. DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund 2000–01 awarded £75,982 to this project. Of this money, £25,000 funded a website geared to the needs of young people across East Yorkshire, including Haltemprice and Howden.

Information from the national lottery distributors indicates that since 2 May 1997 Haltemprice and Howden has benefited from over 190 awards totalling over £4.1 million. Of these, 20 awards worth over £1.7 million were made by the New Opportunities Fund which was established by the Government in 1999. The New Opportunities Fund merged with the Community Fund in June 2004 to form the Big Lottery Fund.

Departmental Policies (Tatton)

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Tatton constituency, the effects on Tatton of her Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [215975]

Mr. Caborn: The Department's aim is to improve the quality of life for everyone through cultural and sporting activities, to support the pursuit of excellence
 
21 Feb 2005 : Column 7W
 
and to champion the tourism, creative and leisure industries. The Department's policies and actions have had a significant impact on Tatton since 2 May 1997.

In order to achieve our challenging targets for increased participation in sport and physical activity, we have invested in thousands of new and refurbished public sports facilities. In 2002 we launched the first ever comprehensive national physical education, school sport and club links strategy with an investment of £459 million. A school sport partnership involving four School Sport Co-ordinators and 25 Primary Link teachers is based at Wilmslow High School in Tatton. To achieve our challenging targets for increased participation in sport and physical activity, we have invested in thousands of new and refurbished public sports facilities. Sports facilities in Tatton have benefited from seven Sport England lottery grants totalling £804,000.

We have increased our national funding to the arts in real terms by 60 per cent. from £199 million in 1998–99 to £367 million in 2004–05. Between 1998–99 and 2003–04 Arts Council England, North West grants increased from £7.6 million to £19.6 million. In 2005–06 the total Arts Council England investment in the North West will be £28.4 million. Tatton has benefited from grants to arts projects, organisations and individuals, including Cheshire Rural Touring Network and the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.

Culture Online was launched in 2002 to increase access to, and participation in, arts and culture. Many of its projects are aimed at children of school age and at audiences that might not otherwise participate in arts and culture, including those who do not easily have access to arts and culture, people from deprived communities and people with particular educational or physical needs. People in Tatton will be among those who benefit from Culture Online. Between 2002 and 2004, £13 million was allocated to fund 20 Culture Online projects.

Tatton also benefits from museums initiatives through the Cheshire Museums forum. Tatton Park, a National Trust property and registered Museum, was part of a successful bid from the Cheshire Museums forum to improve learning in Collections care. The forum also received £11,900 from the Museums Development fund to support a series of workshops to develop staff skills.

Through our commitment to public service broadcasting we have helped to foster an environment in which a creative, commercially successful broadcasting industry provides a wide range of UK-made, high quality original programmes catering for all viewers and listeners. We have ensured a secure funding base for the BBC and Channel 4, while giving them the freedom to develop commercial operations which complement and support their public service remit. The Communications Act 2003 includes provisions to ensure that public service broadcasting will continue to have a key role to play in the digital future.

Our support for, and promotion of, the film and broadcasting industries have contributed to the general success of film-making and television activity within Cheshire. Two companies based in Knutsford have received lottery funding for development work.
 
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Since April 2002 the job of promoting local locations, crews and facilities to visiting production companies has been carried out by North West Vision. In particular Tatton Hall and Park has been used extensively as a location for films and television dramas such as Granada's 'The Forsyth Saga', 'Island at War' and 'Coronation Street'.

Many other productions have been filmed in and around Knutsford such as Blue Blood (BBC3), Spine Chillers (BBC3) and the new feature film of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Local crew and facility companies are promoted through North West Vision's online production database and published production guide. 50 per cent. of Cheshire's freelancers live in the district of Macclesfield and over 25 per cent. of film facility companies are based in the borough.

Since 2002 Cheshire has facilitated 78 productions generating 501 filming days.

In November 2000 we introduced free television licences for people aged 75 or over. Information on the number of beneficiaries by constituency is not available. However, according to Department for Work and Pensions records, the number of households in Tatton with at least one person aged 75 or over claiming the winter fuel payment in 2003–04 was 5,770.

We have changed the licensing laws to allow people to hold and attend commercial dances on Sunday, to make it easier for restaurants to open an hour later, and to relax the alcohol licensing hours from 11 pm on new year's eve to 11 am on new year's day in all future years; and we have given the police greater powers to take action against under-age drinking and disorderly and noisy licensed premises. The Licensing Act 2003, when fully implemented, will introduce a streamlined, consistent and fair licensing regime for the provision of alcohol, public entertainment and late night refreshment. It will provide greater choice for consumers, bring regeneration and increased employment opportunities and protect local residents whose lives have been blighted by disturbance and antisocial behaviour.

The Gambling Bill will, when implemented, transfer responsibility for licensing gambling premises to local authorities. Local people and businesses will be able to make representations about applications for licenses and local authorities will be able to decide not to issue licenses for casino premises. These changes will give local communities, including those in Tatton, a greater say in the regulation of gambling in their area.

Tourism in Tatton has benefited from Government-funded marketing activity. In April 2003 we established VisitBritain with a new domestic marketing remit for England, and we gave strategic responsibility for tourism development to the Regional Development Agencies, including the North West Development Agency. These changes, together with VisitBritain's successful marketing activities in promoting Britain abroad as an attractive tourist destination, benefit all parts of the country, including Tatton.

English Heritage has awarded grants worth £736,208 to five projects in Tatton since 2 May 1997, including the
 
21 Feb 2005 : Column 9W
 
Anderton Boat Lift, Belmont Hall in Great Budworth, Quarry Bank Mill in Styal, the Lion Salt Works and St.Michael and All Angels in Little Leigh.

In common with all those in the United Kingdom, the public library branches in Tatton are connected to the internet through the People's Network which was funded through a £120 million lottery grant and which has put all the United Kingdom's public libraries on-line. In addition, the Department is funding the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council with £5 million over three years to implement the Framework for the Future Action Plan and Library Improvement Programme, which is designed to encourage improvement across the public libraries sector in England.

The Department has been an energetic advocate of the community and informal learning value of public libraries. Cheshire council has recognised this value and has undertaken various initiatives such as the Fully Booked project to encourage reading among people across Cheshire, especially those of 65 plus who visit day centres and those with special needs. The project received an award for £30,348 from the DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund in 2000–01.

Information from the national lottery distributors indicates that since 2 May 1997 Tatton has benefited from over 150 awards totalling over £6.9 million. Of these, 19 awards worth over £245,000 were made by the New Opportunities Fund which was established by the Government in 1999. The New Opportunities Fund merged with the Community Fund in June 2004 to form the Big Lottery Fund.

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