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9 Feb 2006 : Column 1382W—continued
Looted Works of Art (Nazis)
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what estimate she has made of the number of works of art in public collections which are thought to have been looted by the Nazis; [50067]
(2) what estimate she has made of the number of objects in museums or galleries for which her Department has responsibility that are considered to be objects stolen by the Nazis. [50330]
Mr. Lammy: The National Museums Directors' Conference, which is funded by Government to represent national UK museums, maintains a database on its website of items held in national collections which may be of uncertain provenance during the 1933–45 period. It has made no estimate of the number which are thought to have been looted by the Nazis.
Parliamentary Questions
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many parliamentary questions tabled in the last 12 months for answer by her on a named day (a) were transferred and (b) received a substantive answer (i) on the day named and (ii) after the day named. [49885]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport aims to ensure that hon. Members receive a substantive response to their named day questions on the named day. However, as my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House said at business questions on 2 February 2006, Official Report, column 475, it is also important that Departments have the opportunity to produce accurate and detailed responses to such questions. From time to time, that necessitates the issuing of a holding answer. DCMS does make every effort to meet the deadline requested.
314 parliamentary questions were tabled to DCMS for answer on a named day during the last 12 months—1 February 2005 to 31 January 2006. 184 (58.6 per cent.) received a substantive answer on the day named with 130 (41.4 per cent.) receiving an answer after the day named.
Information on questions transferred to other Government Departments could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many ordinary written parliamentary questions tabled for answer by her in the last 12 months have been answered (a) within 14 days, (b) between 14 and 28 days, (c) between 28 days and two months and (d) in excess of two months after the date of tabling; and if she will make a statement. [49908]
Mr. Lammy:
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport aims to answer Ordinary Written questions within a working week of being tabled. Unfortunately, this is not always possible but DCMS does make every effort to achieve these timescales.
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The following table provides details of the response times for those Ordinary Written parliamentary questions received and answered by the department in the last 12 months.
| Number | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Answered within 14 days | 1,177 | 84.0 |
| Between 14 and 28 days | 142 | 10.1 |
| Between 28 days and 2 months | 27 | 1.9 |
| In excess of 2 months after the date of tabling | 56 | (7)4.0 |
(7) 54 of the 56 questions were tabled just prior to the summer recess. These questions were formally answered and printed in the Official Report when the House returned in October. Answers to the majority of these questions were issued to hon. Members during the recess period. The parliamentary questions database however only records the date that a question is formally answered.
Source:
Information derived from the DCMS parliamentary questions database.
Public Relations
Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent on her Department's public relations and information services in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [48963]
Mr. Lammy: The Department's public relations spend in the last five years only occurred in 2004–05 and 2005–06 and both relate to the digital campaign. They are:
| Spend (£) | |
|---|---|
| 2004–05 | 100,000 |
| 2005–06 | 250,000 |
With regard to the spend on information services (web services and phone lines set up as part of advertising campaigns) no costs were involved in the development of either the digital campaign or the BBC Charter Review websites as they were built internally. Neither campaigns had an associated phone line.
The only spend on a phone line associated with a campaign was for licensing in 2005–06 at a cost of £40,000. The licensing campaign did not have a specific website and all related information is currently available on the DCMS website.
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Bolivia
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance the UK has provided to Bolivia following the recent flooding; and if he will make a statement. [49596]
Mr. Thomas:
Initial assessment findings from joint missions involving the Government of Bolivia, United Nations agencies, the Red Cross and non-governmental organisations report that 12,000 families have been affected by the recent floods in Bolivia, brought on by heavy rainfall over the last few weeks. Heavy rains are expected to continue in parts of the country before
9 Feb 2006 : Column 1384W
slowing down towards the end of this week. A total of 2,3000 families are reported to be displaced and in temporary shelters across the affected areas (largely in the departments of Santa Cruz and Beni). 2,400 houses have been damaged or destroyed. The immediate relief needs identified are food (for up to 7,000 families), water (for 4,645 families, temporary shelter, mosquito nets and mattresses (for approximately 3,500 families).
The United States Agency for International Development has already provided $300,000 of relief assistance including sufficient plastic sheeting for 1,000 tents, seven water bladders of 10–12,000 litres capacity and 3,000 wool blankets. It has also provided 100 tons of food and is considering additional funding. The United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs has allocated an emergency grant of $30,000 for the purchase of relief items. The European Commission's humanitarian office is also considering a response.
The early response of traditional donors in the region indicates that the immediate emergency needs of affected people appear to have been or will soon be met. However, DFID is continuing to monitor the evolving situation in Bolivia closely.
Public Relations
Mr. Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much was spent on the Department's public relations and information services in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [48956]
Mr. Thomas: DFID expenditure on public relations is through the Press Office in the following table are the figures available:
| Financial year | Amount £ |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | (8)148, 000 |
| 2002–03 | (8)191,000 |
| 2003–04 | 404,000 |
| 2004–05 | 682,000 |
| 2005–06(9) | 600,500 |
(8) staff costs only
(9) to 7 February 2006
DFID's information services are through the DFID website and the public inquiry point.
The public inquiry point is an integral part of the larger building support for development team, and as such, the costs have never been held separately and would incur disproportionate costs to disaggregate them.
| Financial year | Amount £ |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 122,504 |
| 2002–03 | 64,677 |
| 2003–04 | 147,958 |
| 2004–05 | (10)130,370 |
| 2005–06(11) | 121,983 |
(10) estimated
(11) to date
Please note that the figure for financial year 2004–05 is an estimate because of structural re-organisation within DFID, which has made costs difficult to disaggregate.
Economic Partnership Agreements
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the UK position is on (a) investment, (b) public procurement and (c) competition policy within the economic partnership agreements between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific countries; and if he will make a statement on the progress made in negotiations of these issues during the UK presidency of the EU. [49221]
Mr. Thomas: The UK position on investment, public procurement and competition policy in the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), as published in March 2005, is that these issues should be removed from the negotiations, unless specifically requested by any of the regional groups in the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP). It is for the ACP regional groups to judge the development benefits of any agreements on these issues and the EU should not push for them to be discussed. In addition, we believe that if included, any negotiations on Government procurement should be limited to transparency.
During the time of the UK presidency in 2005, the European Commission and the ACP did not negotiate on these issues. Some regions have requested to negotiate some of these issues. For example, the Pacific has requested to negotiate investment, while the Caribbean has requested to negotiate all three of the issues. However, while on their jointly agreed agendas, the negotiations on these issues are only just beginning.
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