---

8 Feb 2007 : Column 1154W—continued

Culture, Media and Sport

BBC: Finance

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the purpose was of the grant in aid arts awards made to the BBC in 2005-06; and if she will make a statement. [120221]

Mr. Lammy: In 2005-06, Arts Council England awarded a total of £269,040 to the BBC from its grant in aid funding. The majority of this was for the Roots project, aimed at raising the profile of arts and artists from culturally diverse backgrounds, profiling new artists and encouraging participation from BBC local radio audiences and wider communities. More details of the individual awards are in the table.

BBC client	Title	Summary	Amount (£)
BBC Pebblemill	Roots	Eleven cultural workers based in BBC local radio stations in England. Developing Black and Minority Ethnic talent producing and researching pieces for BBC programmes and supporting diverse arts events within communities.	199,000
BBC	Open Tales	Researching and creating digital storytelling pieces with several Creative Partnerships Coventry schools.	25,000
BBC Radio Kent	Arts Audiences Coordinator	Developing audiences for contemporary arts and culture within the BBC Radio Kent broadcast area.	15,000
BBC Sheffield	Trimedia Test Station	A pilot partnership project to produce radio, video and web content with young reporters aged 14-17.	13,500
BBC Hull	Exploring Multi-Media Rich English	Investigating views of young people, teachers and creative practitioners as they participate in creative learning through the added value of an intense multi media rich English curriculum. To build capacity of schools and teacher to work effectively and creatively.	11,000
BBC East	Every Picture Tells a Story	A collaboration exploring questions about children’s understanding of the media and what children learn from visual representation of themselves and their world.	3,540
BBC Home Service	Roots Leicestershire	The continuation of Roots work in Leicestershire until March 2006.	2,000

British Antarctic Survey: Finance

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the purpose was of the grant in aid arts award of £10,000 to the British Antarctic Survey; and if she will make a statement. [120222]

Mr. Lammy: Arts Council England provides a grant of £10,000 (which increased to £12,000 this year) annually to the British Antarctic Survey to cover a stipend award to the artists participating in the Artists and Writers in Antarctica Programme. The aim of this BAS programme is to raise awareness and understanding of the extensive scientific research it undertakes in Antarctica. This award covers the costs of travel to and from the Falklands, accommodation, medical examinations and support for the artists towards exhibitions and outreach work.

8 Feb 2007 : Column 1155W

Casino Advisory Panel

Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in which locations the Casino Advisory Panel held its last five meetings. [119902]

Mr. Caborn: The information requested is provided in the minutes of the relevant Casino Advisory Panel meetings, which are available on the panel’s website (www.culture.gov.uk/cap/). The locations for the meetings were as follows:

	Location
29 August 2006	London
25 September 2006	London
8 November 2006	Rye(1)
6 December 2006	Manchester(2)
19 January 2007	London
(1) Meeting continued on 15 November 2006 in Manchester. (2) Meeting continued on 8 December 2006 at the Birmingham NEC.

Casinos: Construction

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department has taken to ensure that newly proposed casinos are constructed in an environmentally friendly manner. [120537]

Mr. Caborn: Any new casino development will be required to comply with relevant planning and building regulations, including those designed to protect the environment.

Cultural Heritage: Grants

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much public money has been spent on (a) libraries, (b) archives and (c) museums and galleries in each year since 1997, broken down into grant in aid and lottery funding. [118991]

Mr. Lammy [holding answer 5 February 2007]: The information is in the following tables:

8 Feb 2007 : Column 1156W

Grant in aid( 1, 2)
£ million
	Museums and Galleries( 3)	Libraries( 4)	Archives( 4, 5)
1997-98	216.7	106.7	1.0
1998-99	211.2	90.6	1.0
1999-2000	215.3	113.3	1.1
2000-01	227.5	105.8	1.2
2001-02	239.7	122.6	1.3
2002-03	265.8	123.9	1.4
2003-04	279.9	129.4	0.1
2004-05	283.2	138.7	0.1
2005-06	344.3	112.1	0.1
(1) Museums, Libraries and Archives Council spend that cannot be directly attributed to one of the three domains is excluded from the table. (2) The table does not include Local Government public expenditure on the three domains. (3) Arts Council England also provides some funding for galleries. However these figures are not held in the format required. (4 )The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) does not record data separately for libraries and archives and hence these figures are excluded In total, the NHMF has awarded £8.3 million to libraries and archives between 1997 and 2006. (5) The Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts became part of The National Archives from 1 April 2003, reporting to Ministers in the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Lottery awards
£ million
	Museums and Galleries( 1, 2, 3)	Libraries and archives( 2, 3, 4)
1997-98	117.2	12.3
1998-99	116.9	29.2
1999-2000	79.4	13.4
2000-01	78.3	31.9
2001-02	90.6	35.5
2002-03	99.9	75.8
2003-04	93.7	86.6
2004-05	121.4	48.5
2005-06	103.8	13.4
(1) Arts Council England also provides some funding for galleries. However these figures are not held in the format required. (2) The Millennium Commission also provided funding for museums and galleries, libraries and archives. However these figures are not available in the format required. (3) Heritage Lottery Fund, New Opportunities Fund and Big Lottery Fund programmes, where spend can be directly attributed to these three domains (museums, libraries and archives) is included. (4 )The Heritage Lottery Fund does not record data separately for libraries and archives.

Digital Broadcasting

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on what basis her Department calculated that £600 million will be needed from the licence fee for digital switch-over; and if she will place the calculations in the Library. [118832]

Mr. Woodward [holding answer 5 February 2007]: DCMS has developed a model for costing the digital switchover help scheme with the BBC and HMT. The costings make a number of assumptions including: household growth for people over 75; DWP forecasts of numbers receiving underlying benefits; equipment costs; level of help required and scheme take up rates.

This information is currently commercially confidential but a paper will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses once all the necessary contractual arrangements for the delivery of the help scheme have been finalised.

Digital Broadcasting: Eastbourne

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what provisions have been made to facilitate digital switchover in Eastbourne. [120565]

8 Feb 2007 : Column 1157W

Mr. Woodward: Currently, the vast majority of households in the constituency should be able to receive digital TV services via either digital satellite or digital terrestrial (Freeview).

Ofcom estimate that from switchover (which will take place during 2012 for the region), coverage of digital terrestrial television will be increased to match substantially that currently achieved by analogue services (this is taken to equate to 98.5 per cent. of UK households).

Digital Broadcasting: Shropshire

Mr. Dunne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what (a) television and (b) radio coverage is provided by each transmitter in Shropshire; and when each is planned to be upgraded to digital. [119586]

Mr. Woodward: This is the responsibility of the Office of Communications (Ofcom) as independent regulator for the communications sector. Accordingly, I have asked the Chief Executive of Ofcom to reply directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the Chief Executive’s letter will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Football: Sportsgrounds

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of the merits of introducing small, limited sections of safe standing areas at football grounds; and if she will make a statement. [119580]

Mr. Caborn: My Department considers all new evidence about the safety of spectators in sports grounds including any relating to the all-seater requirement. No new evidence has been presented to suggest that there is a single more effective way of achieving safety as well as public order than all seater stadia. The Government therefore remains fully committed to the current policy.

The football authorities have also made it clear they have no wish to re-introduce any standing areas at grounds in the top two divisions.

Gambling: International Summit

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much the recent international summit on remote gambling cost; and if she will place details of the costs incurred in the Library. [118678]

Mr. Caborn: The total cost of the International Summit on Remote Gambling was £50,576, covering the venue, catering, technical and production facilities, interpreters, delegate materials and event management.

Golf: Royal Parks

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received on the proposals to end the provision of golf in Regent’s park; what process the Royal Parks adopted before GOALS were appointed; when she last met the
8 Feb 2007 : Column 1158W
chief executive officer of the Royal Parks; and what consultation was undertaken before the change of use from golf to football in Regent’s park. [119214]

Mr. Lammy: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has received representations from local residents, hon. Members, the Friends of Regent’s park and Primrose Hill and users of the golf and tennis school.

Following a consultation process and development of a sports masterplan, The Royal Parks tendered the contract for a new sports facility in accordance with standard government procurement procedures.

My right hon. Friend has not met the chief executive of the Royal Parks recently. However, I met Mark Camley, the chief executive of the Royal Parks, on 17 January 2007.

In 2002 the Royal Parks consulted individuals and organisations regarding the Regent’s Park Sports Strategy, which included the proposal to relocate the sports facility on the golf and tennis school site. An outline proposal establishing the physical parameters of a new facility and the suggested provision of sports was submitted to Westminster city council for planning permission in August 2004. This was subjected to full public consultation. Park users were also consulted between the end of September and 17 November 2006 about the additional sports that could be made available at the new site. As the proposal has now been submitted for planning permission there will be a further opportunity for individuals to comment on the new facility.

---