Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 20 June 2007
Culture, Media and Sport
National Lottery
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what criteria are used to decide whether to grant funds to organisations or projects which apply to the National Lottery Fund; what weight is given to each criterion; and if she will make a statement. [144163]
Mr. Caborn: Lottery distributors are required to take into account National Lottery legislation and policy directions issued by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Policy Directions set out the framework for the wider aims of lottery funding and do not specify detailed criteria. Distributors are required to publish policy directions in their annual reports and accounts (copies are available in the Library of the House).
Distributors also determine their own published criteria for funding programmes. These will be informed by consultation and take into account regional funding priorities and the need to promote access for people from all sections of society. Any weighting is a matter for the distributor.
Olympic Games: Greater London 2012
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will place in the Library a copy of the minutes of the brain-storming session scheduled by KPMG, referred to in note 3 of the minutes of the Olympic cost review steering group of 28 November 2005. [133641]
Tessa Jowell: I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made to the House on 15 March 2007, Official Report, column 450, in which I provided full details of the budget for the Olympic Delivery Authority and a number of issues including wider security, tax and contingency provision.
The specific advice relating to the brainstorming session remains pertinent to the formulation of government policy, and I cannot therefore place the minutes in the Library of the House.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will place in the Library a copy of the assessment of total costs made by KPMG, referred to in note 2 of the minutes of the Olympic cost review steering group of 28 November 2005. [133642]
Tessa Jowell:
I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave to him on 18 December 2006, Official Report, column 1588W, and to that of 14 May 2007, Official Report, column 533W. In addition I gave Parliament a full explanation of the Olympic costs and funding in my statement of 15 March 2007, Official Report, column 450. KPMG’s role was changed to one of providing ongoing advice on Olympic costs, and the
report referred to in note 2 of the minutes of the Olympic cost steering group was therefore not produced.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when and for what reason KPMG was commissioned to provide ongoing advice on the cost of the Olympic Games in 2012; when the final report on the cost of the Olympics commissioned from KPMG for delivery by the end of November 2005 was provided to her Department; and if she will make a statement. [141375]
Tessa Jowell: I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave to him on 18 December 2006, Official Report, column 1588W, and to that of 14 May 2007, Official Report, column 533W.
KPMG were commissioned in October 2005 in order to provide advice to inform the development of cost plans and budgets for the Games. No report was produced, as KPMG’s role was changed at the time to one of providing ongoing advice to the Department, as part of the more detailed cost review that we were undertaking.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what (a) reports, (b) other documents and (c) electronic presentations KPMG has produced for her Department in connection with that company’s role in providing advice on the Olympics cost review; and on what date each was (i) submitted or presented and (ii) produced. [141382]
Tessa Jowell: I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made to the House on 15 March 2007, Official Report, column 450, in which I provided full details of the budget for the Olympic Delivery Authority and a number of issues including wider security, tax and contingency provision. This was informed by the thorough cost review I instituted after the bid win, for which KPMG provided advice on an ongoing basis. KPMG's advice will also inform the development of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s Corporate Plan, which is due to be published later this year.
Advice provided by KPMG on the cost of the Olympic Games is being used on an ongoing basis in the management of the Olympic budget. This is pertinent to and informs the current formulation of government policy, and cannot therefore be provided.
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of the land acquired for the Olympics 2012 Park has been decontaminated in situ; where the contaminated soils unsuitable for in situ treatment have been removed to; what quantities of contaminated soils have been removed; and whether the removal of Japanese knotweed from the site has been completed. [143309]
Mr. Caborn: Site investigation work on the Olympic Park has been focusing on the level of contamination and the required treatment. Initial on-site decontamination work will commence in late July 2007.
Treatment of Japanese knotweed has commenced and the range of treatments will take approximately three years to complete.
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will hold a London 2012: Your Games, Your Say question and answer session in Wales. [143782]
Mr. Caborn: In partnership with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), we have committed to conducting regular public meetings to give local people across the United Kingdom the opportunity to question those responsible for delivering the games about all aspects of preparations for 2012. I will be talking to Welsh Assembly Ministers about holding such an event in Wales.
Additionally, Lord Coe, as the Chairman of the London Organising Committee, visited Wales on 8 June and met with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and spoke at the Welsh Local Government Association conference. This is part of regular engagement through the Nations and Regions Group.
Slavery Abolition: Bicentenary
Ms Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support her Department has allocated to events marking the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade; and if she will make a statement. [144545]
Mr. Lammy: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, together with the Department for Education and Skills, has given £925,000 to the Understanding Slavery Initiative, a partnership between the National Maritime Museum and a number of other cultural institutions which has been running since 2003-04, helping teachers to deal with the sensitive issue of slavery in the classroom.
The Department has also announced a £500,000 capital grant for the new International Slavery Museum (ISM) in Liverpool being developed by National Museums Liverpool. This funding builds on the £250,000 annual contribution to the ISM's running costs which the DCMS has already pledged. The ISM will replace the groundbreaking Transatlantic Slavery Gallery in the Merseyside Maritime Museum and will prove to be a magnificent new national institution and a worthy legacy of 2007.
The Department is principally working through the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) to promote sector engagement in activities happening in 2007 and beyond.
MLA's Strategic Commissioning programme has supported a number of regional projects in 2007 between schools and museums and archives across the country. Organisations have worked with the MLA regional agencies to produce new learning resources’ including exhibitions and websites that draw on local stories about the impact of slavery.
All 41 Renaissance Hub museums have engaged in events and exhibitions to mark the bicentenary. For example, in October 2007 the museum in Docklands will open the only permanent gallery in London that examines the city's involvement in transatlantic slavery and its legacy in the capital.
The MLA Partnership will also be supporting sector and community engagement with the visit of the Amistad replica to England: London (1-12 August 2007), Liverpool (20-26 August 2007) and Bristol (29 August to 6 September 2007).
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded over £13 million to more than 140 projects related to the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade and the slave trade generally. In addition, HLF have given a grant of £10 million to Bristol city council for the Museum of Bristol: The People's Story, which will include a new gallery on Bristol and the slave trade.
Arts Council England has funded 44 projects related to the bicentenary, making grants totalling £1,234,549 so far this year.
The Big Lottery Fund (BLF) has so far committed £647,945 to projects looking at the bicentenary and modern forms of slavery. BLF has also set up the Abolition 200 website designed to let communities know about what is going on around the bicentenary, to develop project ideas, and to make links and look for funding.
The Department is also committed to ensuring a legacy from the bicentenary commemorations. We are working with MLA, ACE, HLF and the rest of the sector to improve the diversity of the staff employed by our museums and galleries, along with the audiences they reach.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Floods: Radioactive Wastes
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what consideration is given to the potential vulnerability to sea ingress from sea level rise or flooding inundation due to climate change of a site being considered for the suitability of its geology for a subterranean repository for long-lived radioactive waste; [143768]
(2) what progress has been made in deciding the scientific criteria for the initial screening out of areas unsuitable for a geological repository for long-lived radioactive waste. [143772]
Ian Pearson [holding answer 18 June 2007]: The Criteria Proposals Group (CPG) and the Criteria Review Panel (CRP) were established to develop draft criteria for the initial screening out of areas unsuitable for geological disposal of the UK's higher activity radioactive waste. These criteria will be included in the forthcoming Managing Radioactive Waste Safely consultation document. CPG and CRP have now completed their work. A joint report will be published on the DEFRA website later in summer 2007.
The potential impact of rising sea levels on coastal areas as a result of climate change was considered by CPG and CRP. Sea level rise could affect the location of repository access points and of surface facilities sited in coastal areas during the repository construction, operational and pre-closure phases. CPG and CRP concluded that, because of the potential to protect surface facilities from coastal flooding, for example by engineered means or, where possible, by
relocating facilities to higher ground, risk of coastal flooding was not a general exclusion criterion. However, it would need to form part of the future process of site specific consideration.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Africa: Peace Keeping Operations
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she is making to members of the African Union to send troops to join the joint African Union and United Nations peacekeeping force. [143233]
Mr. McCartney: The UK is a strong supporter of the proposed UN/African Union (AU) hybrid force and of AMIS, the current AU force in Sudan. We have been encouraging key troop contributing countries in Africa to contribute to peacekeeping in general and to AMIS in particular. Although the AU and UN have not yet issued any formal requests for troop generation for the hybrid force, we will urge them to contribute forces. The UK also helps several African nations—through provision of military training—to allow them to send forces to join UN and AU peacekeeping missions.
China: Human Rights
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions she has had with China on its human rights record. [143447]
Mr. McCartney: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Dunfermline and West Fife (Willie Rennie) on 5 June 2007, Official Report, column 450W.
Departments: Foreign Relations
Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Memoranda of Understanding are in force as a result of agreements with foreign governments entered into by Ministers in her Department; and what executive actions each entails. [144475]
Dr. Howells: Records of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) are not held centrally. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has only maintained a collection of MoUs since 1997. The FCO database contains records of 352 MoUs, including both MoUs originating with the FCO and MoUs concluded by other Government Departments. However this record is not complete; although there is a widespread practice of other Departments depositing copies of MoUs with the FCO, it is not possible to confirm whether they have done so in every case. To produce a complete record of the MoUs entered into by the FCO and other Government Departments would require lengthy research and would be disproportionally costly. In some circumstances MoUs are deposited in the Library of the House, where hon. Members can consult them. This is a matter for the Department concerned.
Moldova: EU Enlargement
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has held with the Government of Moldova on the possibility of accession to the European Union. [144086]
Mr. Hoon: During my visit to Moldova in February, I made clear that the UK will continue to support Moldova’s European aspirations and encouraged them to fully implement the measures set out in the jointly agreed EU-Moldova Action Plan, launched in February 2005. The European Neighbourhood Policy offers many opportunities for Moldova to move closer to the EU. We do not see the European Neighbourhood Policy as an alternative to full EU membership, but as a path towards accession. We will continue to work closely with Moldova and help focus their efforts on implementing the Action Plan and its successor. Successful implementation will be important for Moldova in pressing their case for a closer relationship with the EU.
The Government welcome Moldova’s European aspirations and strongly support efforts to promote economic and political reforms, aimed at bringing Moldova closer in line with EU standards. The Re-uniting Europe Programme of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Global Opportunities Fund supports a number of capacity building projects to support these reforms, as do the Department for International Development through a £2.6 million assistance programme.
Palestinians Security Forces
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the UK will be taking additional steps to strengthen the Palestinian Security Forces following the formation of a new government in the West Bank; and if she will make a statement. [144327]
Dr. Howells: We remain committed to security sector reform and will continue to work with Palestinian President Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad to strengthen the Palestinian security forces. We are currently considering how best to do this, given recent events.
Somalia
Ms Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the effect on the humanitarian situation in Somalia of the continued presence of Ethiopian troops. [143516]
Mr. McCartney: The humanitarian situation in Somalia is primarily the product of 16 years of failed governance and is the prime responsibility of individuals in Somalia.
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