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National Sports Foundation
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when the Government expects to announce the (a) size, (b) location, (c) names of senior management, (d) budget and (e) operating procedures for the National Sports Foundation announced in the 2005 budget. [33430]
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Mr. Caborn: The Government, along with Sport England and the national governing bodies for football, cricket, tennis, rugby union and rugby league, are continuing to discuss and examine options on how most effectively to deliver the National Sports Foundation. A further announcement will be made shortly.
Physical Education
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what definition she uses of high quality physical education and school sport as required by 2004 public service agreement target number one. [29202]
Mr. Caborn: The document High Quality PE and Sport for Young People" (DfES/DCMS, March 2004) provides a detailed description of the outcomes of high quality physical education and school sport For the purposes of the joint DCMS/DfES PE and school sport public service agreement target, high quality PE and school sport produces young people with the skills, understanding, desire and commitment to continue to improve and achieve in a range of PE, sport and health-enhancing physical activities, in line with their abilities.
A further document, Do you have high quality PE and sport in your school?" (DfES/DCMS, January 2005), helps teachers to use the pupil outcomes of high quality to carry out self-evaluation of the quality of PE and sport they provide. Copies of these documents have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Public Service Agreements
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether she uses (a) averages over several years and (b) a straight comparison between two specific years for the purposes of measuring performance against 2004 public service agreement target 4. [30290]
James Purnell: The public service agreement target 4 performance measurement will focus on the change from one year to the next. In addition a cumulative average is used for evaluation purposes. In each case, the comparison is with the performance of the service sector as a whole.
Regional Casinos
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the impact of regional casinos on problem gambling. [33607]
Mr. Caborn:
The Government have taken a cautious approach to the development of new casinos, so that their impact in terms of problem gambling can be properly assessed. That is why the Gambling Act 2005 allows for the establishment of only one regional casino, eight large and eight small casinos. We will ask the Gambling Commission to advise on whether the introduction of these new types of casino has led to an increase in problem gambling no earlier than three years after the award of the first casino premises licence.
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Television Licences
Anne Moffat: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households in East Lothian are exempt from requiring a television licence under the exemption scheme for people over the age of 75 years. [34005]
James Purnell: People aged 75 or over are not exempt from the television licensing requirements but are entitled to a free licence. TV Licensing, who administer the concession as agents for the BBC, are not able to provide geographical breakdowns of the number of free licences issued. However, the number of households with at least one person aged 75 or over claiming the winter fuel payment in the East Lothian constituency in 2004–05 was 4,745, according to Department for Work and Pensions records.
DEFENCE
Afghanistan
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the rules of engagement of the latest NATO deployment into Southern Afghanistan. [32475]
Mr. Ingram: It has been the practice of successive Governments not to comment in detail on the Rules of Engagement under which our armed forces operate.
Army Vehicle Repairs
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Army Base Repair Organisation Bovington site contract servicing of individual sections of a vehicle will be carried out off-site by other contractors. [33582]
Mr. Ingram: Wherever appropriate and cost effective, ABRO Bovington will undertake servicing of all major sections of vehicles. There may however, be times where it is necessary to carry out work through off-site contractors, particularly if capability or capacity is being created or upgraded to deliver new tasks.
Some specialist tasks, notably on sub-assemblies will continue to be carried out using specialist off-site contractors.
Astute-class Submarines
Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when he expects to confirm the total number of Astute-class submarines to be built; [32171]
(2) when he will decide the final total of (a) Type 45 destroyers and (b) Astute-class submarines to be constructed. [33053]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 30 November 2005]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 July 2005, Official Report, column 1760W.
Orders for the procurement of future Astute boats are being considered and announcements will be made at the appropriate time.
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Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the additional capabilities originally intended for the second tranche of Astute-class submarines which have been brought forward into the first tranche; and what the reasons were for this change. [33049]
Mr. Ingram [holding answer 30 November 2005]: We are currently considering a number of possible technology enhancements for later Astute-class submarines, which it may be possible to fit into the earlier Astute-class submarines, but no decisions on this have been taken.
Departmental Assets
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the 10 most valuable (a) movable and (b) immovable assets owned by his Department. [27380]
Mr. Ingram: The 10 most valuable movable and immovable tangible fixed assets owned by the Department, based on the current net book values (NBV) recorded in our asset registers, are as follows:
(1)Figure withheld for reasons of commercial sensitivity as site is about to be marketed.
Departmental Expenditure
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library copies of his Department's monthly financial submissions to the Treasury's general expenditure monitoring system for (a) financial years (i)2002–03, (ii) 2003–04 and (iii) 2004–05 and (b) the first six months of 2005–06. [24600]
Mr. Ingram:
Copies of the General Expenditure Monitoring Systems (GEMS) returns for 2002–03 and 2003–04 are available in the Library of the House. I will place a copy of the GEMS return for 2004–05 and the first six months of 2005–06 in the Library. The data on
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this return is broken down by requests for resources and includes resources within departmental expenditure limits, within annually managed expenditure and outside departmental expenditure limits.
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