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14 Nov 2007 : Column 238W—continued

Museums and Galleries: Graduates

Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) how many placements have been granted under the Young Graduates for Museums and Galleries programme; and which institutions have provided these placements; [163515]

(2) what (a) financial and (b) administrative support his Department and its agencies provided for the Young Graduates for Museums and Galleries programme in each of the last four years. [163516]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 12 November 2007]: Young Graduates for Museums and Galleries (YGMG) is an internship programme run by the
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British Museum for gifted and talented students from non-traditional and diverse backgrounds aged 16 to 18 years old. 30 young people participated in the programme in 2005, 25 young people participated in 2006 and 40 young people participated in 2007. Six institutions are involved: the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, National Portrait Gallery, the Petrie Museum, Tate and Royal Air Force Museum. The Natural History Museum has also recently joined the programme for 2008.

My Department provided £7,000 towards the publication of a research report in 2005. No other financial or administrative support has been provided to the Young Graduates for Museums and Galleries programme.

Olympic Games 2012: Scholarships

Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many 2012 scholarships were awarded in each of the last three years; and what the average award value has been. [164239]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The number of TASS 2012 Scholarships awarded in each of the last three academic years and the average award value is shown in the following table.

Number of awards Award value

2004-05

0

2005-06

118

57 awards at £10,000

61 awards at £5,000

2006-07

114

86 awards at £10,000

10 awards at £5,000

18 awards ranging from £1,000 to £2,500


Sports: Facilities

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people who regularly use sports facilities in England live in Wales. [164074]

Mr. Sutcliffe: Information on the number of people living in Wales but using sports facilities in England is not collected centrally.

Travel Information: Greater London

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourist information centres there were in London on (a) 1 June 1992, (b) 1 June 1997, (c) 1 June 2002 and (d) 1 June 2007; and if he will make a statement. [162577]

Margaret Hodge: Information is not kept for the precise dates requested. There are currently 14 recognised tourist information centres (TICs) in London, including Swanley. Additionally, the new City of London Centre opening this month hopes to be recognised next year. There were 20 recognised TICs in 1998 and 14 in 2002.


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UK Sport: Finance

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport with reference to the answer of 18 October 2007, Official Report, column 1217W, on UK Sport’s overseas conferences, what UK Sport’s involvement is with the Legacy Lives 2008 Conference taking place in Barbados in January 2008; and what the cost to the public purse of its involvement is estimated to be. [163747]

Mr. Sutcliffe: UK Sport is an International Partner of the Legacy Lives 2008 Conference. As the UK agency for World Class Events UK Sport is providing £30,000 to support the 2008 Conference.

Supporting Legacy Lives is part of an ongoing strategy to promote greater knowledge and debate about the legacy benefits that arise from public investment in major sporting events.

Video Games

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether he has had any discussions with the BBFC on the criteria used by video games manufacturers to select the video games submitted to the BBFC for classification. [164068]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 13 November 2007]: No. The criteria are set out in the Video Recordings Act. It is for the publishers and the Pan European Games Information system to ensure that games which lose their exemption are referred to the BBFC.

Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether he has had any discussions with his European counterparts on the adoption of a compulsory system for the classification of video games. [164069]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 13 November 2007]: I have had no such discussions. However, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, Lord Falconer of Thoroton and my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, North (Joan Ryan) represented the UK at the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union held on 12 and 13 June where violent video games were discussed. A statement setting out the outcome of the council's discussions was laid in Parliament on 27 June.

In the UK, there is a statutory system in place for games that feature gross violence and/or material of a sexual nature.

Women and Equality

Females: Voluntary Organisations

Ms Abbott: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what steps she is taking to ensure that Government funding for voluntary women's groups is provided on a long-term basis; and if she will make a statement. [162232]


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Barbara Follett: The Third Sector Review, published in July by the Office of the Third Sector in the Cabinet Office, outlines the commitment by Government to pass on the flexibility and certainty of three year funding to third sector organisations they fund as the norm rather than the exception. Additionally the Office funds a number of Third Sector organisations to represent their voice to Government and one of those is the Women's Resource Centre; which provides voice and advocacy on behalf of the women's voluntary and community sector.

I recognise this is an issue for many smaller organisations who often struggle to provide much needed support.

Olympics

Olympic Games 2012: Finance

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Olympics (1) whether (a) an up-to-date budget, (b) the monthly cashflow and (c) a breakdown of contingency funds allocated to specific projects is made available to members of the Olympic Board at each board meeting; [162085]

(2) what budgetary information is brought before every meeting of the Olympic Board. [163717]

Tessa Jowell [holding answers 12 and 13 November 2007]: The Olympic Board has received monthly updates on (a) the budget and (b) cashflow of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), and will continue to do so.

Contingency (c) is a matter for the Ministerial Funders Group. However, the Olympic Board has been given details of the £360 million contingency allocated to the ODA in June 2007.

The Olympic Board will receive further details of the ODA’s budget and scope, within the £9.3 billion funding package, once it has been considered by the Ministerial Funders Group. I expect to provide Parliament with a more detailed breakdown of the budget and scope early in the new year.

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Minister for the Olympics when she expects to be able to provide estimated overall costs for the planned (a) Spitalbrook site and (b) alternative site for Olympic canoeing facilities, with reference to the answer of 24 October 2007, Official Report, column 369W, on Olympic Games: Greater London. [162274]

Tessa Jowell [holding answer 12 November 2007]: The overall cost for the Olympic canoeing facilities will be announced once contractual negotiations have concluded, which we expect to be in early 2009 as planned. In the meantime, both sites continue to be considered as a venue for Games events, with a formal announcement on the site decision expected in early 2008. The project remains on track to complete the venue for test events in 2011.


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Treasury

Departmental Conferences

Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent by his Department and its agencies on organising conferences to be held by his Department and its agencies that were subsequently cancelled in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [164231]

Angela Eagle: I refer to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) on 30 October 2007, Official Report, column 1183W.

Manpower: Government Departments

Mr. Walker: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the full-time equivalent headcount in his Department is; what the forecast full-time equivalent headcount for his Department is for (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10; and if he will make a statement. [163971]

Angela Eagle: The latest information of full-time equivalent headcount and plans for 2008-09 is published in the HM Treasury Annual Report and Accounts 2006-07 and is available at:

There is no set target for 2009-10 at present.

Suicide

Andrew George: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of deaths in (a) the West Cornwall and Isles of Scilly constituency of St. Ives, (b) Cornwall and (c) the UK were suicides in each of the last 10 years. [163279]

Angela Eagle: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 14 November 2007:


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Table 1: Percentage of deaths where suicide was the underlying cause of death( 1) , (a) St. Ives parliamentary constituency, (b) Cornwall county, and (c) the UK( 2,3) , 1997-2006( 4)
Percentage
St. Ives Cornwall UK

1997

1

1

1

1998

1

1

1

1999

1

1

1

2000

0

1

1

2001

1

1

1

2002

1

1

1

2003

1

1

1

2004

2

1

1

2005

2

1

1

2006

1

1

1

(1 )Suicide was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes E950-E959 and E980-E989. excluding E988.8 for the years 1997 to 2000 for England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and for the years 1997 to 1999 for Scotland, and the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes X60-X84 and Y10-Y34, excluding Y33.9 (where the Coroner’s verdict was pending) for the years 2001 to 2006 for England and Wales and Northern Ireland, and for the years 2000 to 2006 for Scotland. Verdicts of suicide and undetermined intent are not returned for children under the age of 15 years.
(2 )Based on boundaries as of 2007.
(3) Figures for the UK include data provided by the Registrars General for Scotland and Northern Ireland.
(4 )Figures are for deaths registered in each calendar year.

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Departmental Expenditure

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what efficiency savings his Department was required to make as part of its Spending Review 2004 (SR04) targets; what efficiency projects have been undertaken in the Department in pursuit of those targets; on what date each was initiated; and how much each was predicted to contribute to the SR04 target. [162319]

Jonathan Shaw: The projects that comprised DEFRA's efficiency portfolio are set out in our Efficiency Technical Note. This was published on the HM Treasury website in December 2005 at:

Progress against our SR04 targets is reported in our departmental report. The most recent (2007) is at:

We laid a copy of our departmental report before Parliament on 17 May 2007, Official Report, column 45WS and placed copies in the House Library.


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