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22 May 2006 : Column 1405W—continued
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Meriden, of 25 January 2006, Official Report, column 2190W, on the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), whether the VOA has supplied information to Ordnance Survey relating to domestic properties. [70566]
Mr. Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given, to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman), on 25 January 2006, Official Report, column 2190W. The Valuation Office Agency has recently supplied samples of addresses drawn from the council tax valuation list, followed by compilations of similar data covering the whole of England and Wales.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what use the Valuation Office Agency makes of people's panels for (a) business rates and (b) council tax purposes. [70579]
Mr. Woolas: The Valuation Office Agency has not used people's panels for business rates purposes. The Agency has used them for council tax purposes to better understand council taxpayers' understanding and perceptions of the valuation and banding system
and to explore reactions to communications material under development to ensure that this would achieve its objectives of being clear and readily understood.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will list the (a) data and (b) software the Valuation Office Agency uses that is provided by Ordnance Survey. [70650]
Mr. Woolas: The data provided by Ordnance Survey for use by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in its mapping software is: Land Line; MasterMap; 1:10,000 Scale Black and White Raster Map; 1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 Scales Colour Raster Map; Postcode Map; and Boundary-Line. The Ordnance Survey does not provide any software to the VOA.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the guidance that the Valuation Office Agency uses to assess and value composite/mixed hereditaments. [70693]
Mr. Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 19 January 2006, Official Report, column 1546W, and the answers given to him on 26 April 2006, Official Report, column 1203W, and 8 May 2006, Official Report, columns 79W and 96W.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much the Valuation Office Agency has paid in each of the last five years for (a) products and (b) information from Ordnance Survey. [70727]
Mr. Woolas: The Valuation Office Agency pays for access to Ordnance Survey’s digital mapping products. This is the only material purchased by the Agency.
The total amounts paid by the Valuation Office Agency for these products provided by Ordnance Survey in the last five years are as follows:
| £ | |
| (1 )Details not available—could be provided only at disproportionate cost |
Valuebill Project
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what electronic data the Valuation Office Agency will receive from local authorities as a consequence of the rollout of the Valuebill project. [70642]
Mr. Woolas: Electronic data the Valuation Office Agency will receive from local authorities as a consequence of the rollout of the Valuebill project is as follows:
Billing authority name
Billing authority identity code
Process date (of file)
Entry date and time (of file creation)
Number of records
Date sent
The BA transaction
BA identity number
BA report number
Type of tax
Indicated date of change
Property plan reference
Source of update
Remarks
Reason for report
The property address
The current Valuation or Rating List entry
Occupier contact.
Culture, Media and Sport
Advertising
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent on advertising by her Department in each of the last three years. [70483]
Mr. Lammy: The Department's spend on advertising in each of the last three years is as follows:
| Spend (£) | |
Art Theft
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions she has had with the Home Secretary about the theft of stolen works of art from private collections. [72294]
Mr. Lammy: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no recent discussions with the Home Secretary about the theft of stolen works of art from private collections.
Correspondence
Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she will reply to the letter of 24 January from the hon. Member for Aylesbury to the then Under-Secretary on the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on Longwick Village hall. [71169]
Mr. Woodward: I will reply to the hon. Member shortly. I am sorry that there has been a delay in responding.
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Isle of Wight dated 15 April 2006 concerning the Osborne Estates Act 1902. [72494]
Mr. Lammy: I replied to the hon. Member’s letter on 20 May.
Departmental Advisers
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much has been paid in (a) salary, (b) travelling expenses, (c) subsistence allowance and (d) removal expenses to special advisers in her private office in each of the last five years. [69124]
Mr. Lammy: Since 2003, the Government have published on an annual basis the names and overall cost of special advisers and the number in each payband. For information relating to the last financial year I refer the hon. Member to the written ministerial statement made by my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister on 21 July 2005, Official Report, columns 158-61WS. Information on special advisers for this financial year is currently being collected and will be published in the normal way when it is ready.
The following table shows available data on expenditure on travel and subsistence. An analysis by type of expenditure rating is not recorded on the Department's accounting system and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
| Financial year | Travel and subsistence (£) |
| (1 )Subject to final resource accounting. |
All official travel by special advisers is undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Management Code.
Hunting
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether (a) she, (b) Ministers and (c) an official instructed that hunting be omitted from her Department’s sponsored cultural icons survey. [72519]
Mr. Lammy: No Ministers or officials in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has instructed the editorial team at the ICONS project on what to exclude from the list of nominated items. Such decisions are entirely a matter for the project’s editorial team governed by an independent Advisory Board. Fox-hunting as an icon has not been omitted from the ICONS project. Following a meeting of the Advisory Board on 4 May, fox-hunting is still under active consideration and may well feature in a future release.
Information Technology
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the (a) originally estimated, (b) most recently estimated and (c) outturn cost was in each of the five largest information technology contracts agreed with outside suppliers over the last five years. [71802]
Mr. Lammy: My Department has not agreed any information technology contracts of this kind over the last five years.
Ministerial Visits (Accommodation)
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the total cost was of overnight accommodation for (a) civil servants and (b) special advisers in her Department staying overnight in (i) mainland Great Britain, (ii) Northern Ireland, (iii) the Republic of Ireland and (iv) other countries in each of the last three years. [69122]
Mr. Lammy: The following table shows departmental expenditure on travel and subsistence in each of the last three years. An analysis of expenditure by nation and region is not recorded on the Department's accounting system and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
| £ | ||||
| Financial year | Civil servants UK T&S | Civil servants overseas T&S | Special advisers UK T&S | Special advisers overseas T&S |
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discounts are available in relation to hotel accommodation used by (a) civil servants and (b) special advisers in her Department. [69123]
Mr. Lammy: While the Department can obtain Government discounted hotel accommodation rates through the hotel booking agent Expotel, the main criterion is best value for money. An analysis of full and discounted rates is not recorded on the Department's accounting system and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Municipal Sports Facilities
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the effect on municipal sports facilities of increased energy prices; and if she will make a statement. [70981]
Malcolm Wicks: I have been asked to reply.
I take the recent increases in energy prices very seriously and the Government are very concerned about the impact on all sectors in the UK. In the past year global fossil fuel prices have increased and this has fed through to the UK. Over the past decade energy prices in the UK have been amongst the cheapest in the EU, but I do recognise the serious recent difficulties for all sectors. However, I remain optimistic about investment by local authorities in sports facilities, which will amount to some £1 billion over the next three years. In addition, since 1997 Government and lottery distributing bodies between them have invested over£3 billion in physical activity and sport.
The DTI and Ofgem have been holding a number of seminars to educate energy buyers of all types about the options for purchasing gas and electricity in these times of high prices. In addition, Energywatch has set up a Business Services Team to provide information and guidance to small and medium sized enterprises, and runs a joint campaign with the Federation for Small Businesses called “Make the Connection”. For the public sector, the Office for Government Commerce has been developing advice and models for energy purchasing for both local authorities and central government, and these are being rolled out nationally.
Public Service Agreement 2
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department has taken to compensate for slippage on its public service agreement 2 target; and if she will make a statement. [71880]
Mr. Lammy: My Department is working closely with Arts Council England on its Delivery Plan for the current PSA 3 target. This will take account of lessons learned from the experience of work on the previous PSA 2 target.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of the impact of the slippage on its public service agreement 2 target on Exchequer funding for the arts made available by the next Comprehensive Spending Review; and if she will make a statement. [71881]
Mr. Lammy: No decisions have yet been taken on the outcomes of the Comprehensive Spending Review.
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