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29 Mar 2007 : Column 1674W—continued
Consultation Papers
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 21 March 2007, Official Report, columns 903-4W, on consultation papers, what fee she expects to be paid to the Work Foundation for the creative economy project. [130379]
Mr. Woodward: The agreed cost of the Department's contract with the Work Foundation for their contribution to the creative economy programme is for a sum not exceeding £84,000 (excluding VAT). The terms of the contract will be reviewed in the light of the actual demands of the programme.
Departments: Conferences
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which industry summits her Department has (a) hosted and (b) co-hosted with other Government Departments in each of the last five years; what policy initiative each summit was associated with; and what the cost of each such summit was. [130381]
Mr. Woodward: The Department has an ongoing programme of meetings with industry representatives from across all of its sectors. A relatively small proportion of which have been specifically termed Industry summits’. The most recent examples of these are the events being held to inform the Creative Economy programme and those which were held on ticket touting issues. In these cases, the costs incurred (in addition to those for internal administration) are as set out in the table.
An analysis of all of the industry summit’ events held over the last five years, the policy initiative each was associated with, and the cost of each, could only be provided at disproportionate expense.
| Event | Programme | Date | Cost (£) |
Film
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 21 March 2007, Official Report, columns 904-5W, on film, what the budgets are for the summits on (a) software, (b) games, (c) design, (d) performing arts, (e) advertising and (f) fashion. [130378]
Mr. Woodward: In addition to internal administrative costs, an overall budget of £1,000 has been allocated to cover the incidental costs of the current round of 12 industry summits being held to inform the creative economy programme. Support for these events also forms part of the Department's contract with the Work Foundation.
Summits have been held on broadcasting, film, architecture, music, publishing, software, computer games and design. Further summits are planned on advertising, fashion, the performing arts and arts, antiques and crafts.
Gaming Clubs: Energy Consumption
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the small, large and regional casinos recommended to her by the Casino Advisory Panel will be required to use energy saving light bulbs in and around their premises. [129002]
Mr. Caborn: Any new casino development will be required to comply with relevant planning and building requirements, including relevant requirements designed to protect the environment and promote energy saving.
Hotels: Taxation
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which organisations have made written representations to her Department on taxation on hotel accommodation in the last 12 months. [130580]
Mr. Woodward: DCMS has received 57 written representations on this subject since 1 March 2006. These include four submissions to the Department’s Welcome>Legacy consultation which raised the matter of an accommodation tax. A significant number of proforma letters, written as part of the Caterer and Hotelkeeper’s campaign against an accommodation tax, were sent to the Prime Minister and forwarded to the Department.
These representations were received from tourism and hospitality trade associations, individual businesses, local authorities, representatives of attraction businesses, Members of Parliament and public and private sector partnership organisations.
Since the publication of Sir Michael Lyons’ report on 21 March, the Government have stated there is no intention to introduce a local bed tax.
Internet
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) when she expects a new text-based labelling system for internet sites to be introduced; [129174]
(2) what studies have been commissioned by her Department on the (a) feasibility and (b) cost of introducing a text-based labelling system for internet sites. [129175]
Mr. Woodward: The Department has not commissioned any studies. The independent regulator Ofcom has a duty for media literacy in the Communications Act 2003. In pursuit of the duty Ofcom have been developing proposals for a common labelling framework.
I have asked the Chief Executive of Ofcom to write with more details. Copies of the Chief Executive’s letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Licensed Premises: Safety Measures
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations she has received on the use of plastic glasses in licensed premises. [130127]
Mr. Coaker: I have been asked to reply.
Other than previous debates in the House and representations made by individual MPs on behalf of their constituents, no specific representations have been made by the drinks industry or other stakeholders on the use of plastic in licensed premises. The Licensing Act 2003 already provides for the police to apply for licence reviews and for conditions to be attached to licences. For example, that the licensed premises should use toughened drinks glasses and bottles. The Violent
Crime Reduction Act 2006 will in due course also provide a new fast track alcohol licence review process that could lead to such conditions being applied in cases of serious crime and disorder. We are also committed to reviewing the Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England that was published in March 2004, later this year.
Licensing Laws
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) how many licencees have had their licences revoked since the Licensing Act 2003 came into force; [130384]
(2) how many licences have been (a) challenged and (b) placed under review due to the selling of alcohol to minors. [130383]
Mr. Woodward: We do not hold this information. However, extrapolating from data collected by the Department in November 2006 from a small sample of licensing authorities, we broadly estimate there were around 600 completed licence reviews in the first year of the new regime which resulted in approximately 100 licences being revoked. Sales or attempted sales to persons under 18 would have been a factor in a number of those cases.
Public Libraries
Mrs. Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the percentage of the population that used a public library in each of the last five years. [130405]
Mr. Lammy: The information necessary to estimate the percentage of population using public libraries in England across the whole period sought by my hon. Friend is not held centrally.
The DCMS ‘Taking Part’ cultural participation survey shows that 48.2 per cent. of all adults in this country visited at least one library during 2005-06. However, this was the survey's first reporting year so we do not have comparable information for previous years. Neither does this figure include library usage by children and young people under 16.
The Public Library Statistics, published annually by the Chartered Institute of Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) show that the following percentages of people in England borrowed at least one item from a public library (“active borrowers”) in the period 2001-02 to 2005-06:
| Active borrowers as a percentage of total population | |
The table, although focused on individual users, only reflects the number of people that used the library to borrow an item including books, DVDs and CDs. It does not take account of those people who used a library for other purposes such as reading a book or
newspaper on the library premises, attending a reading or learning group or accessing information (whether in paper or online form). Increasingly, public libraries are becoming wider community resources that offer an increasing range of services.
The following table, shows the average number of visits to libraries in England per head of resident population in England as well the total number of visits overall.
| Average number of visits to libraries in England per head of resident population | Visits overall (000) | |
Tickets: Touting
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with industry on the illegal selling of tickets to events. [130516]
Mr. Woodward: The Department has hosted four separate meetings with key stakeholders from the ticketed events’ industry over the last year to discuss the problems associated with ticket resale, to identify solutions to those problems and work continues. Only the resale of tickets for designated football matches, the resale of tickets for the London 2012 Games and the trading of tickets on the street without a licence are illegal.
Illegal activity is a matter for enforcement agencies to take appropriate action.
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