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3 Mar 2005 : Column 1315W—continued

Licensing

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what powers the police have to object to the licensing of a night club. [219432]

Mr. Caborn: There is no legal definition of a nightclub". Under the current licensing regime the police may object to the licensing justices about the grant or renewal of a justices' licence authorising the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises. They may also object to the grant of a special hours certificate by the justices which authorises sales of alcohol outside of normal permitted hours until 2.00 a.m. in most of the country and until 3.00 a.m. in the west end of London. In order to obtain a special hours certificate, a nightclub must first obtain a public entertainment licence which authorises music and dancing and which is granted by the local authority. The police may also object to grant or renewal of this licence.
 
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The Licensing Act 2003 provides that responsible authorities, including the chief officer of police, may make representations about applications, including those by nightclubs, for provisional statements and about the grant or variation of premises licences. Responsible authorities may also apply for a review of a licence at any time as well as make representations about a review after it has been granted.

Representations must be about the effects of the application on the promotion of the licensing objectives. Where a simple conversion of an existing licence is made under the grandfather rights provisions in schedule 8 of the Act then the chief officer of police may make representations based on crime and disorder grounds.

National Lottery

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list each of the programmes that have been funded by the New Opportunities Fund since 1997, broken down by amounts (a) allocated and (b) distributed. [218570]

Estelle Morris: The table shows the total funding target for each of the New Opportunities Fund's policy direction initiatives, together with amounts committed, since 1997. Several of these programmes are long-term initiatives which were not intended to be completed by 2005 or where planning and design of facilities was expected to take time. For example, the Big Lottery Fund are on target to comply with the direction to commit all the Fund for New Opportunities for PE and Sport before the end of this year.

			£000
Initiatives	Total funding target	Amount committed as at 31 December 2004	Amount distributed as at 31 December 2004
Health Programmes
Healthy Living Centres	300,000	267,775	124,536
Cancer prevention detection treatment and care	149,530	145,193	135,295
Reducing the burden of CHD, stroke and cancer	213,500	199,088	102,819
Palliative Care	84,470	78,616	30,063
Education Programmes
Out of school hours learning	258,900	214,906	167,794
Out of school hours childcare and childcare	418,500	372,785	279,386
Community access to lifelong learning	200,000	188,218	169,279
ICT training and content creation	301,000	287,361	255,540
Opportunities for young people—PE and sport in schools	852,050	597,968	82,385
Opportunities and activities for young people	67,200	64,549	60,913
Young People's Fund	174,120	0	—
Environment programmes
Green spaces and sustainable communities	130,000	116,727	94,251
Transforming communities	159,000	138,062	29,381
Small scale grants scheme	54,840	44,519	38,367
Fairshare	50,000	50,000	50,000
Veterans(5)	5,160	10,723	9,074

⁽⁵⁾ Remaining Veterans budget to be allocated from ICT underspend

National Trust

Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether (a) she and (b) her Ministers discussed the proposed administrative changes at the National Trust at the meeting with the director general of the National Trust on 2 February. [219684]

Mr. Caborn: The meeting on 2 February 2005 was an informal discussion with a number of representatives from the heritage sector. The proposed administrative changes at the National Trust were not discussed.

Sports (Access)

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what plans she has to expand access to sports and fitness services for young people on low incomes; [218796]

(2) what plans she has to expand access to sports and fitness services for elderly people on low incomes; [218797]

(3) what plans she has to expand access to sports and fitness services for disabled people on low incomes. [218798]

 
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Mr. Caborn: My Department has a Public Service Agreement target to increase, by 2008, the take-up of cultural and sporting opportunities by people aged 16 and above from priority groups. The Department's Funding Agreement with Sport England sets a target to increase the proportion of the population engaged in regular physical activity by 1 per cent. per annum, and focuses on developing participation among specific sections of the population, including young people and the most economically disadvantaged groups in society.

The Equality Standard for Sport, launched last year, is a framework to guide sports and community organisations towards achieving equality. Its aim is to widen access and increase the participation and involvement in sport and physical activity from under-represented individuals, groups, and communities. It will assist organisations in developing structures and processes, assessing performance, and ensuring continuous improvement in equality. Progress through The Standard is a mandatory condition within the national funding agreements involving Sport England, National Governing Bodies of Sport, and national and regional sports organisations in England.

TREASURY

Air Ambulance Charities (Tax)

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much tax has been collected from air ambulance charities in VAT in respect of pilot costs since January 1989. [219052]

John Healey: HM Customs and Excise do not collect data on VAT from individual goods and services. The amount of VAT paid by air ambulance charities on pilot costs is therefore unavailable.

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions Customs and Excise has had with the British Air Ambulance charities with respect to zero rating fuel supplies since January 2004. [219054]

John Healey: There is no provision in law for the supply of fuel to charities to be zero-rated for VAT. HM Customs and Excise have, however, met with representatives of British Air Ambulance charities and agreed to review the VAT liability of air ambulances and related supplies.

Congestion Charge

Mr. George Osborne: To ask Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been spent on congestion (a) charges and (b) penalty charge notices by the Department since the commencement of the congestion charging scheme. [213826]

Mr. Timms: I refer to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. Milburn) on 28 February 2005, Official Report, column 957W. The Treasury has no cars other than those supplied by the Government Car and Dispatch Agency. Where officials incur congestion charges or penalty charges on their own cars used travelling to work or on business, they are personally responsible for meeting the cost.
 
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Research and Development Tax Credits

Mr. Byrne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the value was of research and development tax credits awarded in each year since their introduction, broken down by (a) industry and (b) size of firm. [219437]

John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Salisbury (Mr. Key) on 2 February 2005, Official Report, column 908W.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION

Election Participation

Mr. Evans: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission how much has been spent by the Commission since 1 February 2004 on measures designed to increase participation by young people at elections. [218449]

Mr. Viggers: I am informed by the Electoral Commission that young people (18 to 24-year-olds) are the most likely of all age groups not to be registered to vote, and are among the least likely to turn out to vote. A significant element of its public awareness work is therefore aimed at improving voter engagement in this group. The Commission anticipates spending up to £705,000 in the current financial year for programmes aimed at raising young people's awareness of democratic processes in the United Kingdom, and encouraging them to get involved.

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