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10 Oct 2005 : Column 416W—continued

Private Finance Projects

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 8 June 2005, Official Report, column 583W, on private finance projects, what total value of assets and liabilities for the project is recorded on the Government Balance Sheet; what proportion of assets and liabilities is listed; what the accounting treatment is for assets and liabilities; and whether it is compatible with (a) generally accepted accounting practices and (b) international financial reporting standards. [15960]

Mr. Lammy: No value is recorded on the Government Balance Sheet.

The accounting treatment complies with FRS5 and treatment reflects guidance, in particular, HM Treasury Private Finance Taskforce's Technical Note No 1—How to Account for PFI Transactions. This complies with all aspects of UK GAAP. We are currently waiting for Treasury guidance on treatment of PFI projects under International Financial Reporting Standards. At present these standards do not apply to these projects.

Public Libraries

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) books, (b) DVDs, (c) video cassettes, (d) computer games and (e) audio books have been available in library service stock in each year since 1997; how many loans were made of each type of item in each year; and if she will make a statement. [15946]

Mr. Lammy: The information is not held centrally. However, the following table shows the number of books, talking books, video/DVD, and CD-Roms, software, etc. items held by libraries in England, and the number of loans annually in each of these categories, since 1997–98.
Million

	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Books(135)	73.91	72.69	70.39	69.47	67.83	66.41	64.76
Loans	407.50	389.06	362.82	342.91	318.34	305.11	289.22
Talking books	1.62	1.65	1.78	1.86	1.87	1.89	2.19
Loans	11.16	10.68	11.11	11.23	10.78	11.57	11.30
Video/DVD	1.24	1.38	1.48	1.60	1.63	1.87	2.06
Loans	9.92	11.05	11.26	11.89	12.15	14.03	14.43
CD-Roms, software, etc	0.04	0.04	0.06	0.11	0.19	0.13	0.12
Loans	0.59	0.65	0.23	0.64	1.26	0.78	0.52

⁽¹³⁵⁾Lending stock only
Source:
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy—Public Library Statistics (Actuals)





 
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Library Fines

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was collected in public library fines in each London borough in each of the last five years. [15816]

Mr. Lammy: This information is not held centrally. However, the table shows the total amount of overdue charges collected by library authorities across inner and outer London for each year between 1997–98 and 2003–04.

	Overdue charges collected (£)
1997–98	818,673
1998–99	846,378
1999–2000	955,407
2000–01	888,044
2001–02	1,031,046
2002–03	918,802
2003–04	946,016

Source:
The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy: Annual Public Library Statistics (Actuals).

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much revenue the library service has generated from (a) late book returns, (b) DVD loans, (c) video cassette loans and (d) computer game loans in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [15945]

Mr. Lammy: This information is not held centrally. However, the table shows the revenue derived by public libraries in England from overdue charges and the hire of audio and visual items since 1997–98.
£ million

	Overdue charges	Hire of audio/visual materials
1997–98	15.54	15.37
1998–99	15.67	16.86
1999–2000	15.44	17.95
2000–01	15.61	18.87
2001–02	14.91	21.01
2002–03	14.27	23.50
2003–04	14.28	24.13

Source:
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy—Public Library Statistics (Actuals)

Regional Casinos

Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will review the number of regional casinos to be developed in the initial pilot scheme. [16605]

 
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Mr. Caborn: The Gambling Act makes provision, initially, for one regional casino. We are proceeding with plans for implementing the Act on that basis.

We do not rule out the possibility of asking Parliament to approve an increase in the number of regional casinos in the future. We will consider any evidence that it is safe and prudent in regulatory terms to increase the number to anything up to eight. Any proposal to increase the number will ultimately be a matter for approval by Parliament, by means of the affirmative resolution procedure.

Regional Cultural Consortiums

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture,Media and Sport (1) what the role of regional cultural consortiums is in delivering her Department's policies; [15975]

(2) what targets the regional cultural consortiums have been set. [15991]

Mr. Lammy: The role of the regional cultural consortiums is to champion and promote the whole spectrum of cultural and creative interests in each region, including tourism and sport, and to forge links across this spectrum and with other related interests. The consortiums are also responsible for the implementation of regional cultural strategies, and they have a role in central policy making, regional data collection and research.

We have agreed a series of objectives and tasks, rather than specific targets, with each consortium to reflect their role in helping to deliver the Department's priorities at regional level. These are set out in their Funding Agreements with the Department. I am arranging for copies of the Funding Agreements to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the composition of each regional cultural consortium is. [15990]

Mr. Lammy: The board members of the regional cultural consortiums represent a wide range of cultural, creative, sporting and related interests in each region. The chairs of the consortiums are appointed by the Secretary of State. The other board members are appointed by the chairs in consultation with other regional partners. The list of board members of each consortium is available in the sponsored bodies section of the Department's annual report.
 
10 Oct 2005 : Column 419W
 

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture,Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the performance of the regional cultural consortiums. [15992]

Mr. Lammy: The regional cultural consortiums are required by their Funding Agreements to submit progress reports to the Department every six months, as well as their annual reports and any other reports we may ask for from time to time.

Officials have recently finished reviewing the consortiums' six monthly reports for the second half of the financial year 2004–05, which are the first such reports the consortiums have submitted since they were re-established as executive NDPBs with limited company status in October 2004. On the basis of those reports and further information received since they were submitted, I am satisfied with the performance of the regional cultural consortiums.

This information is correct at the 26 July 2005.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the annual administrative cost of each regional cultural consortium was in 2004–05. [15995]

Mr. Lammy: The regional cultural consortiums each received an allocation of £200,000 from the Department for the financial year 2004–05. They have each been given an allocation of £215,000 for each of the three years from 2005–06 to 2007–08. The consortiums also receive additional funding and support from their regional partners. Information on the administrative costs of the consortiums will be included in their annual reports and accounts which will be published in the autumn.

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