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CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Places of Worship (Listed Buildings)

24. Tony Baldry: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners what estimate the Commissioners have made of the amount required to maintain and repair listed places of worship in England; and what discussions they have had with English Heritage and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on this issue. [64565]

Sir Stuart Bell: In 2003, around £101 million was spent on major repairs to churches (a substantial proportion of them listed) and a further £11 million on
 
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Church of England Cathedrals. We are working with English Heritage to identify the areas in greatest need of assistance with repair costs; the results of this exercise will inform our discussions with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about better State funding arrangements.

Investments

David T.C. Davies: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners what steps the Commissioners take to ensure they obtain the best possible return on the investment portfolios which they are responsible for managing. [64561]

Sir Stuart Bell: In the first instance, Her Majesty appoints a Second Church Estates Commissioner.

In the second instance, the aim is to achieve the best possible long-term returns by investing in assets such as equities and property, which generally offer higher long-term returns than bonds and cash deposits. There is a wide spread of assets in the UK and overseas.

Octavia Hill Estate

Simon Hughes: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners what sale price was agreed for the Octavia Hill Estate in South London. [64560]

Sir Stuart Bell: The Church Commissioners received £166.967 million for the sale of the properties to Grainger Geninvest on 20th March 2006

Pipe Organs

Steve Webb: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the Church Commissioners what representations the Commissioners have made to the Department of Trade and Industry on the potential impact of forthcoming EU regulations affecting the replacement of pipe organs. [64181]

Sir Stuart Bell: The Churches Main Committee (the body representing the Christian Churches and the Jewish community in their dealings with Government) have written to express our concerns over the possible adverse impact of on church and cathedral pipe organs of the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2005, due to come into force on 1 July 2006.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Departmental Websites

Norman Baker: To ask the Leader of the House if he will list (a) the websites operated by his Office and (b) the reports placed on the internet in March 2006, indicating in each case whether paper copies were also made available. [65215]

Mr. Hoon: The website www.CommonsLeader.gov.uk is operated by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons and managed by the private office staff.

The Office has not published any reports.
 
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CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Independent Broadcasting

1. Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps the Government are taking to ensure a continued public service commitment in the independent broadcasting sector. [64568]

Tessa Jowell: The Government are committed to maintaining strong Public Service Broadcasting provision from both the BBC and other public service broadcasters. That is why, through the Communications Act, we placed on Ofcom a specific duty relating to public service television broadcasting and an obligation to undertake periodic reviews with a view to maintaining and strengthening the quality of public service television broadcasting in the United Kingdom.

Tote

13. Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on her plans to privatise the Tote. [64581]

Mr. Caborn: The Government's objective remains to sell the Tote to a racing trust.

We continue to work closely with the Tote, the Racing Trust and the European Commission to achieve this objective.

Peepul Centre (Leicester)

14. Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on support by the Millennium Commission for the Peepul Centre in Leicester. [64582]

Mr. Lammy: Detailed issues relating to Millennium Commission funding of the Peepul Centre in Leicester are primarily a matter for the Commission and I will therefore ask my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Sport, in his capacity as Chair of the Commission, to write to my hon. Friend and arrange for copies of his reply to be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Visitor Attractions

15. Mr. Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support her Department is giving to visitor attractions in the UK. [64583]

James Purnell: My Department works closely in support of the attractions sector which attract nearly 500 million visits a year. Visitor attractions are key to British tourism and will be fully reflected in the upcoming DCMS Tourism 2012 Strategy consultation document, which will be issued shortly.

Sport Participation

16. Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department is taking to increase participation in sport. [64586]

Mr. Caborn: The Department is committed to its public service agreement target of increasing levels of participation in sport by priority groups by 3 per cent. by 2008. Working through Sport England, we are implementing a range of measures to achieve this.
 
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BBC

17. Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she expects to be in a position to bring forward a Bill providing for the proposed increase in the BBC's licence fee and the length of the next BBC charter. [64587]

James Purnell: Neither of these issues will be subject to a Bill. TV licence fees are set in regulations laid before both Houses of Parliament and are subject to negative resolution procedure. The Government are currently conducting a funding review to determine the future level of the licence fee to apply from April 2007. An announcement will be made in due course. As set out in the White Paper, A public service for all: the BBC in the digital age", the BBC will continue to be constituted by Royal Charter. The new Royal Charter will run for a period of 10 years until 31 December 2016.

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she expects to publish the analysis by consultants Pannell Kerr Forster of the BBC's licence fee; and if she will ensure that the publication date provides adequate time to enable interested parties to express views on the proposals before the level of the licence fee is determined. [63797]

Tessa Jowell: We intend to publish PKF's findings subject only to proper consideration of commercial confidentiality and in advance of the seminar on 5 May.

Contracts (Voluntary Sector)

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many contracts are let by her Department to voluntary sector organisations; how many of those are let on an annual basis; and how many of those had received finalised contracts for 2006–07 by 31 March. [63215]

Mr. Lammy: DCMS has one contract within the voluntary sector and this is with YMCA. This is a three-year contract which expires in October 2007.

Correspondence

Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she will reply to the letter of 30 January from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire about Stanbrook Abbey (Reference 34865). [64810]

Mr. Lammy: I wrote to the hon. Member on 20 April 2006.

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