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Citygate Public Affairs Ltd.

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what meetings the Department has held with Citygate Public Affairs Ltd. since July. [36755]

Mr. Lammy: The Department does not maintain a central list of such contacts. Ministers and civil servants, including special advisers meet many people as part of the process of policy development and business delivery. All such contacts are conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Ministerial Code, Civil Service Code, Code of Conduct for Special Advisers and Guidance for civil servants on contacts with lobbyists and people outside Government
 
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Compulsory Purchase Orders

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the use of compulsory purchase orders in cases involving historic buildings. [38976]

Mr. Lammy: The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 allows the Secretary of State to confirm a compulsory purchase order (CPO) served by a local authority where reasonable steps are not being taken by an owner to properly preserve a listed building. The Act also allows the Secretary of State to compulsorily acquire a listed building herself though such powers are only exercised in exceptional circumstances. The Act requires the Secretary of State to consult English Heritage before she exercises the powers to confirm or make a CPO.

Correspondence

Graham Stringer: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she will reply to the letter of 4 October from the hon. Member for Manchester, Blackley, to her concerning the Licensing Act 2003. [30469]

James Purnell [holding answer 21 November 2005]: Ireplied to the letter of 4 October from my hon. Friend today.

Departmental Research

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what research projects commissioned by her Department are being undertaken; and what the publication arrangements are in each case. [32994]

Mr. Caborn: The DCMS currently has commissioned 13 research projects which are in the process of being completed, or have been completed and are scheduled for publication.

A brief summary of each piece of research, including publication plans, is given as follows.

1. Taking Part Survey": The DCMS, working in partnership with our NDPB partners, commissioned the Taking Part" survey with the aim of improving our current knowledge base of users and non-users of our sectors.

Findings from the survey are being published quarterly on the DCMS website, and the first quarter's findings were published on 15 December.

2. Sport and Social Capital in the United Kingdom: Statistical Evidence from National and International Survey Data": This research looks at the links between different types of sporting participation and individual measures of social capital.

The research will be published on the website of the DCMS, and the Institute of Public Policy Research. Publication is planned for January 2006.

3. Public Libraries: assessment of performance against Annual Library Plans 2004/05": Assessment of authorities' performance against the newly developed Public Library Impact Measures to create a baseline to be assessed against in future years.

Publication will be on the website of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, and is scheduled for February 2006.

4. Enquiring into attitudes towards gambling—a scoping study": This is a study looking at how quantitative surveys can be used to capture accurate data on public attitudes towards
 

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gambling and gambling behaviour. The work will be completed early in 2006, and will be published on the DCMS website in due course.

5. Enquiring in to expenditure on gambling—a scoping study": A study looking at quantitative surveys can be used to capture accurate data on expenditure on gambling. The project is due for completion at the end of February 2006. Publication will be on the DCMS website in due course.

6. Research into risk and protective factors related to problem gambling": This work is due to report by the end of January 2006. The report will be published on the DCMS website in due course.

7. Economic impact of cultural investment": This research is part of the development of a framework for understanding the impact of cultural investment by Government. It is due for completion in April 2006, and will be published on the DCMS website in due course.

8. Arts and Criminal Justice: feasibility study": This research project looks at the practicalities of assessing the impact of arts interventions in prisons. It is due for completion in January 2006, with publication on the DCMS website soon after.

9. Arts and Mental Health: study of effective practice": This research looks at the effectiveness of arts interventions with people with mental health problems. The research is due for completion in October 2006. A report on the research will be published on the DCMS website in due course.

10. Review of literature on impact on young people of the computer/video games with a 'Violent' content": We commissioned the University of Stirling to investigate whether allegations of a link between playing violent computer games and violent behaviour in real life can be substantiated. The work is complete, and the report will be published on the DCMS website in January 2006.

11. National Lottery, 'Good Causes' research": This projects looks at the views of the general public on how lottery money should be shared between the good causes of arts and film, heritage and sport, and what the policies should be governing how lottery money is spent for each of these good causes. It will support the public consultation currently under way on the DCMS website and is being commissioned now to be carried out by the end of February 2006.

Results will be published on the DCMS website, along with the main consultation results, in late spring 2006.

12. BBC Charter Review": Research exploring public opinion of the Green Paper proposals for the future governance and accountability of the BBC and the collection and enforcement of the licence fee.

This research will be published on the BBC Charter Review website, alongside the White Paper, once it is published in the new year.

13. Access to finance by small and medium sized companies in the music business: This project looks at the barriers to accessing financial investment by small and medium sized music businesses in the UK. The work should be completed in January 2006, and will be published on the DCMS website in due course.

Elite Athletes (Funding)

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by what process the transfer of responsibility for elite sport from Sport England to UK Sport will be effected; how much of the budget will be transferred; and how much of that money will pass straight to (a) the British Olympic Association and (b) Olympic Sport national governing bodies. [38360]

Mr. Caborn [holding answer 19 December 2005]: UK Sport and Sport England are working together to ensure that responsibility for the English Institute of Sport, the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (including 2012 scholarships) and performance pathway programmes
 
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for Olympic and Paralympic sports (for which Sport England is currently responsible), will transfer to UK Sport by 1 April 2006. Furthermore a service level agreement is being drawn up to govern UK Sport's performance advisory role to Sport England for the performance elements of their funded English sports. A project team has been set up to manage the process.

UK Sport and Sport England are working closely to identify the required budgetary transfer in respect of these areas which will—as now—be directed at Governing Body and Institute delivery of services to World Class athletes.

We expect that the National Governing Bodies will benefit from an enhanced relationship with UK Sport. Money will not be passed to the British Olympic Association, as it is not an investment vehicle for World Class funding.

English Heritage

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 21 November 2005, Official Report, column 1619W, on English Heritage, which sites owned and run by English Heritage she has visited in her official capacity as Secretary of State in the last 12 months. [37816]

Mr. Lammy: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, has not been able to visit an English Heritage historic site in the last 12 months in her official capacity. However, since May I have visited in my official capacity Stonehenge, Eltham Palace and Kenilworth Castle and English Heritage's offices in Swindon. I have also visited a number of historic properties owned or managed by other organisations or individuals.

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