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22 Oct 2007 : Column 37Wcontinued
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will take steps to promote English folk dance and song; and if he will make a statement. [157782]
Margaret Hodge: Government support for English folk dance and song is primarily channelled through Arts Council England, which funds a number of organisations who promote and develop these art forms.
Levels of financial support for music and dance through Arts Council England are at their highest ever, with the music sector receiving over £100 million and the dance sector over £34 million during 2006-07. This funding includes support for folk dance and song.
Overall arts funding has increased in real terms by 73 per cent. since 1998 and in 2007-08, Arts Council England will receive £412 million.
The Arts Council will receive an above-inflation increase over the next three-year spending review period. This means an extra £12 million in 2008-09,
£26.5 million in 2009-10 and £50 million in 2010-11. This is a real year-on-year increase of 1.1 per cent. and will enable the arts to continue to thrive and grow.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff are seconded to his Department from outside Government; from which outside body each has been seconded; and what the length is of each secondment. [157888]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has eight staff on secondment from outside Government currently. Details of the outside bodies and the lengths of the secondments involved are listed as follows.
English Heritage (2 staff)one for 2 years, the other for 3 years
British Library3 years
The Royal Parks2 years
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council3 years
Manchester International Festival7 months
The French Government2 years
The Japanese Government3 months
Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many English Heritage staff were located at Bunhill Row, London in each year since 2004. [159538]
Margaret Hodge: These figures are set out in the following table:
Number | |
Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many English Heritage staff were located at 1 Waterhouse Square, London in each year since 2004. [159540]
Margaret Hodge: These figures are as follows:
Number | |
Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was received by English Heritage from Legal and General in respect of the break made in their lease on offices at 23 Savile Row, London. [159543]
Margaret Hodge: The lease under which English Heritage occupied Savile Row was due to end in 2010. English Heritage agreed to vacate early at Legal and General's request on terms which are the subject of a commercially confidential agreement.
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate has been made of the cost of repairing flood damaged (a) cricket pitches and (b) other sports facilities; and what funding is available to help affected clubs. [158228]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 15 October 2007]: National Sports Foundation funding may support repairs to flood damaged sports facilities. It is managed by Sport England and will take into account all proceeds from insurance cover. To date, two applications of this nature have been received. In addition, Sport Englands Yorkshire and West Midlands regions are providing advice and guidance to support sports provision provided by clubs and others affected by the floods. A full picture of the estimated costs of repairing flood damaged sports facilities, including cricket pitches, has not been collected centrally.
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many press officers are employed by English Heritage. [154127]
Margaret Hodge: English Heritage employees seven full-time press officers and three part-time press officers. The full-time equivalent is 8.8 posts. They provide a range of services to the organisation including stakeholder relations work, campaigning, event management and they also give strategic advice. They support English Heritages headquarters and its nine regional offices.
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress is being made on the implementation of recommendation 39 of the Gowers Review, on internet service providers responsibility for copyright theft; and if he will make a statement. [158204]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
Industry associations representing the interests of internet service providers and copyright holders have been discussing development of a voluntary protocol to address misuse of content and copyright theft. We are monitoring progress closely and would need to see agreement before the end of the year on a protocol to be trialled in order to forestall the need for any regulatory intervention.
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether he plans to ensure that internet service providers share responsibility with rights holders for combating online copyright theft. [158205]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
The Government agreed to take forward implementation of recommendation 39 of the Gowers Review on internet service providers responsibility for copyright theft. We are monitoring closely the progress of discussions between the internet service providers and rights holders towards negotiating a voluntary protocol by the end of the year. We will also consider what regulatory measures we may need to take should such a voluntary agreement not prove satisfactory.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many times and on what dates the Tourism 2012 Group has met to discuss its Tourism 2012 Strategy. [159705]
James Purnell: The Ministerial Advisory Group (formally known as the Tourism 2012 Group) has met seven times, on the 18 January and 15 June 2006, and on the 23 January, 19 February, 27 March, 9 May and 21 June 2007. The new Tourism Minister also met group members on 17, 18, 19 and 25 July.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what targets were set by his Department for income generation by the Royal Parks Agency for each year since 2001; and what targets have been set for (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09. [158297]
Margaret Hodge: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has set the Royal Parks the following targets for income generation since 2001:
We are discussing with the Royal Parks targets for the next spending review, period.
Lorely Burt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make it his policy to require UK tour operators to (a) check that staff employed in hotels abroad are screened to ensure that it is suitable for them to work with children and (b) inform customers if staff working hotels abroad, including those that have been franchised, have been
convicted of any sexual offences involving minors. [154637]
Margaret Hodge: UK nationals working with children in overseas hotels used by UK tour operators which are members of the Association of British Travel Agents are subject to UK police checks before appointment.
Police checks or screening of the criminal records of foreign nationals either working for UK tour operators abroad, or working in hotels used by those operators, are matters for the law of the destination country and the local enforcement of that law.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what percentage of treasure finds were reported via a finds liaison officer in 2006; and if he will make a statement. [156843]
Margaret Hodge: In 2006, out of 673 treasure finds reported to coroners, 97 per cent. were reported via a Finds Liaison Officer. This serves to highlight the excellent work the network of FLOs are doing to encourage and support the reporting of treasure.
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding his Department provided to (a) Visit Britain and (b) Visit London in each of the last five years. [155651]
Margaret Hodge: VisitBritains grant in aid funding for the last five years was as follows:
£ million | |
DCMS has provided an additional £1.9 million a year to the Greater London authority since 2002-03, to support the Mayors statutory tourism duties. This funding supports Londons important role as a gateway to the rest of the country for international visitors.
DCMS also provides £3.6 million a year in grant in aid to regional development agencies for their tourism support work. That funding forms part of the agencies total support for the sector, which totalled £43.5 million in 2006-07.
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many people were employed by his Department on 1 January in each of the last five years; and how many of these staff were (a) permanent employees, (b) temporary staff and (c) contractors. [158324]
Mr. Malik: Over the past five years the Department for International Development employed the following numbers of permanent staff:
Number | |
The Department does not hold central records of temporary staff or contractors (i.e. staff engaged but not paid directly from the Departments payroll).
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what value of additional aid has been provided to Indonesia following the recent series of earthquakes in the region. [159186]
Mr. Malik: The Government of Indonesia have not requested international assistance following the recent earthquakes. DFID has been monitoring events, co-ordinating with the Government of Indonesia, UN, NGOs and other donors, and has been prepared to respond if necessary.
Given the frequency of natural disasters in Indonesia, its national systems and resources are well prepared and largely able to cope. We are providing £4.4 million through the United Nations Development Programme for a major new disaster risk reduction programme in Indonesia, which will help the Government to implement their new action plan and lessen the impact of natural disasters.
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