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12 Dec 2006 : Column 924W—continued
Copyright
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received from members of the music industry in favour of the extension of the 50-year copyright rule. [108386]
Mr. Woodward: Andrew Gowers’s review of intellectual property was announced in December 2005, DCMS has received a range of written and oral representations from the music industry in favour of such an extension. It also received representations from individuals and other organisations against such a move. Although the Department exercises a sponsorship role for the music industry, policy responsibility for intellectual property matters rests with the Patent Office, to which these representations have been passed. In addition, representations on this issue were made by interested parties directly to the Gowers Review team.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the effective date is for annual pay awards to her Department's staff; and what the actual implementation date has been in each of the last five years. [108747]
Mr. Lammy: The effective date for annual pay awards for DCMS staff is 1 August. In each of the last five years they have been made in November.
Furniture
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent by her Department on furniture made by British firms in each year since 2000. [105144]
Mr. Lammy: Since 2000, the DCMS has purchased furniture from both British and non-British firms, but we do not hold information to enable us separately to identify how much was spent on British-made furniture.
Gershon Review
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much efficiency savings she has made in her Department and its associated public bodies; and if she will make a statement. [108357]
Mr. Lammy: Latest interim data returns indicate that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has delivered a total of £158.9 million in efficiency gains as at 30 September 2006. This breaks down as £70.4 million from local authorities and £88.5 million from non-departmental public bodies. Verified data will be included in the Department's Autumn Performance Report, to be published shortly.
Licensing Laws
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress her Department has made in its review of the Guidance issued to Licensing Authorities on the discharge of their functions under the Licensing Act 2003; and if she will make a statement. [108187]
Mr. Woodward: Following representations from local authorities, we have adjusted our timetable for consultation on the draft revised guidance. This is to conform with the statutory requirement for local authorities to review their licensing policies every three years. The Secretary of State now expects to begin the public consultation exercise in January 2007 with a view to issuing the final revised guidance in spring 2007. This should allow licensing authorities to make any necessary changes to their licensing policies and consult on them once before the next three-year licensing policy period begins in January 2008. Earlier consultation may have resulted in licensing authorities having to consult twice before that date.
London Olympics
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of staff in her Department who will spend the majority of their time working on the 2012 Olympics in each year until 2012, broken down by pay band. [105563]
Mr. Caborn: Currently my Department employs 37 full-time equivalent staff who spend all or the majority of their time on work related to the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The breakdown by pay band is shown in the table:
| Number of staff (FTE) | Pay band minimum (£) | Pay band maximum (£) | |
Staffing needs are subject to regular review and the number of staff included in work related to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games will reflect these needs.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of (a) the number of staff who do not fall into the Department's pay band structure which her Department will employ to work predominantly on the 2012 Olympics in each year until 2012 and (b) the total amount that her Department will pay in salaries to these staff. [105564]
Mr. Caborn: There are six external agency employees currently employed by my Department to work predominately on the London 2012 Olympics. Future numbers, duration of employment and cost of such staff will be determined by need.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she plans to take to increase the medal take by British athletics during the 2012 Olympics; and at what estimated cost. [108308]
Mr. Caborn: UK Sport, the Government's high performance sports agency, is closely involved in the development of the sport of athletics as it seeks to increase its medal potential in the lead-up to both Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
UK Sport ensures that the governing body UK Athletics has a dedicated performance plan in place and that it is regularly scrutinised, in particular through a monthly meeting with the performance director and regular contact with key performance staff. UK Sport is also actively involved in senior appointments, including the current recruitment of the new CEO and chair for UK Athletics. In addition it has a member of staff with responsibility for monitoring progress in the sport and intervening where appropriate.
To support this activity, in April this year UK Sport announced a funding increase of £1,591,000 to UK Athletics to cover athlete preparation and training for the period 2006 to 2009. This takes the total investment in athletics in that period to £20,377,000. While the majority of that funding is geared towards supporting athlete success at the Beijing Olympic games, a proportion will also be used to ensure that talented athletes are identified and developed ahead of London 2012. Investment in athletics for the period 2009 to 2013 (the London Olympic ‘cycle') will be determined following the Beijing games in early 2009.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what consultation her Department is undertaking in connection with Olympic training camps. [108628]
Mr. Caborn: My Department has not been directly involved in consultation in connection with Olympic Training Camps.
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is preparing a Pre-Games Training Guide for National Olympic Committees and National Paralympic Committees, in which facilities that it has approved as providing a
suitable training environment in the UK are listed by location and by sport. The development of this guide is being overseen by a steering group which includes non- departmental public bodies, UK Sport and Sport England.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what consultation she has undertaken regarding the proposed Olympic equestrian venue at Greenwich Park; and if she will make a statement. [108629]
Mr. Caborn: The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games has consulted the national governing body for equestrian sport, the British Equestrian Federation, which incorporates 13 equestrian organisations including British Eventing, and the international governing body, the Federation Equestre Internationale, in relation to the Olympic equestrian venue. During the bid to host the Games, the British Equestrian Federation undertook a feasibility study to identify potential sites to host the equestrian events, and selected Greenwich Park as the most suitable venue. Its considerations took into account the required proximity to the Olympic Park site, which was a key factor for the International Olympic Committee.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding the Government has given to each Olympic training camp, broken down by sport. [108630]
Mr. Caborn: Responsibility for co-ordinating training camps lies with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and the British Olympic Association (BOA).
Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) and National Paralympic Committee (NPC) will choose where to base its training camps. To help with their decision-making process, LOCOG is required to provide a ‘Pre Games Training Camp Guide’ where facilities that it has approved as providing a suitable training environment in the UK are listed by location and by sport.
LOCOG has released details on its website, inviting expressions of interest from potential host facilities. Applications can be made on the London 2012 website until 31 January 2006:
www.london2012.com/trainingcamps.
Applications will initially be assessed locally with selection co-ordinated by each nation and region. Part of the criteria for assessment that will be used requires that facilities are already built and will not require funding. Any potential usage for training and preparation camps should be regarded as added value, rather than a core element of the case for funding.
The Organising Committee have however announced the training camp fund to encourage teams to use training camp facilities in the UK in advance of the Games. The contributions will enable all 203 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the 161 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) to apply for a contribution of up to £26,000 towards the cost of preparing their athletes at UK designated pre-Games training camps.
A proposed list of facilities will be submitted to LOCOG for final selection by January 2007, and the guide will be distributed to NOCs and NPCs in July 2008.
National Lottery
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many applications were received for membership of the Big Lottery Board; how many candidates were short-listed; how many were interviewed; and how many were appointed, broken down by declared membership of each political party in each case. [107874]
Tessa Jowell [holding answer 11 December 2006]: A total of 428 applications to the board of the Big Lottery Fund were received; 48 candidates were short-listed; 43 candidates were interviewed; and 12 candidates were appointed.
Details of political affiliation constitute personal information which we have undertaken for the non-appointed candidates to keep confidential, in accordance with the Code of Practice of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA). Under the OCPA Code, candidates are asked to provide details of political activity. They may, but are not required to, produce details about party membership. Details of party membership of the appointed Board members were published in the interest of being open and transparent and with Board members consent. Five of the appointed Board members’ declared themselves to be members of the Labour party.
Decisions on whom to appoint were based on merit, following an open competition which was scrutinised by an OCPA-trained independent assessor. Political activity played no part in the selection process. No information about party affiliations was included in the papers that were submitted to Ministers about the appointments.
Public Opinion Research
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department spent on commissioning public opinion research in each of the last five years. [105449]
Mr. Lammy: Public opinion research is research specifically designed to assess the public's response to policy or services. When projects have a wider aim than this, it is not always possible to identify separately the elements of research that fall into this category. I have therefore included in the estimates in the table the total cost of those studies where opinions were sought, even when this formed only a portion of the research. Our records indicate the following levels of spending for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07. We do not have sufficient information to provide comparable data for earlier years.
| £ | |
UK School Games
Mr. Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what criteria she plans to use to decide the location of the UK school games up to 2012. [108899]
Mr. Caborn: The criteria issued by the Millennium Commission for applications from cities wishing to host the UK school games in 2007 to 2011 were deposited in the Libraries of both Houses on 14 November. Following the winding up of the Millennium Commission on 30 November, the Big Lottery Fund is now responsible for the arrangements for the assessment and final selection of the cities.
Scotland
Devolution
10. Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent devolution matters the Advocate-General has considered. [104877]
David Cairns: Since 4 November 2006, 82 devolution issues have been intimated to the Advocate-General. Of these, 63 related to civil proceedings and 19 related to criminal proceedings.
Ferry Subsidies
11. Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Executive on the cost of ferry subsidies. [104878]
David Cairns: I have regular discussions with Scottish Executive Ministers on a range of matters. However, contracts for ferry subsidies in Scotland are entirely a matter for the Executive.
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