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11 Dec 2007 : Column 391W—continued

Culture, Media and Sport

Christmas

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department and its agencies have spent on Christmas (a) cards, (b) parties and (c) decorations in each of the last five years. [171436]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The information is as follows.

(a) Expenditure on Christmas cards
Cost (£)

2002

1,985

2003

3,209

2004

3,235

2005

2,135

2006

1,962


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(b) Expenditure on Christmas receptions for NDPBS
Cost (£)

2002

8,735

2003

10,023

2004

6,596

2005

11,378

2006

14,137


(c) Expenditure on Christmas decorations
Cost (£)

2002

659

2003

685

2004

1,235

2005

814

2006

944


Cost Review Group

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will place in the Library copies of the minutes of the meeting of the Cost Review Group on 9 March 2006. [164780]

Tessa Jowell: I have been asked to reply as Minister for the Olympics.

The meeting of the Cost Review Group on 9 March was not minuted.

The minutes of the other Cost Review Group meetings will not be placed in the House Library as they are being used to inform the development of our ongoing policy for managing the Olympic project.

Departmental Consultants

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was paid in consultancy fees by his Department in each year since 1997. [172076]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The amount paid in consultancy fees by the Department since 1997 are as follows:

£

1997-98

465,336

1998-99

329,911

1999-2000

588,321

2000-01

194,075

2001-02

318,416

2002-03

469,480

2003-04

473,785

2004-05

643,924

2005-06

1,161,306

2006-07

852,525


Tourism: Finance

Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will provide a breakdown of the £350 million spent by Government annually on supporting tourism, with reference to his evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on 25 October 2007. [171956]


11 Dec 2007 : Column 393W

James Purnell: Public sector tourism spending in 2006-07 is estimated as follows:


11 Dec 2007 : Column 394W
Organisation Spend (£ million)

VisitBritain

49.9

VisitScotland

44.0

VisitWales

22.0

Northern Ireland Tourist Board

18.7

Northern Ireland Tourist Board to the joint Northern Ireland/Eire Tourism Ireland marketing body

12.6

London Development Agency

22.0

London Unlimited (additional marketing and promotional funding for London)

6.0

Non-London Regional Development Agencies

29.8

English local authorities

126.0

Scottish local authorities

4.4

Welsh local authorities

13.0

Total

348.4


Tourism: Marketing

Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent by (a) his Department, (b) regional development agencies and (c) local authorities on marketing the UK as a tourist destination in each of the last three years. [171677]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 5 December 2007]: CMS has allocated the following amounts to marketing the UK and its constituent parts:

£ million
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

VisitBritain—Britain marketing

35.50

35.50

35.50

VisitBritain—England marketing

13.40

14.40

15.15

London Development Agency

1.90

1.90

1.90

Total

50.80

51.80

52.55


Regional development agencies are not asked to account specifically for there expenditure on tourism marketing. Their definitions are therefore not consistent and reliable. They have, however, provided us with the following estimates of expenditure:

£ million

2005-06

31.70

2006-07

27.90

2007-08

20.10


The £1.9 million a year in grant in aid from DCMS to the London Development Agency is included in these figures.

An additional £3.6 million a year in DCMS grant in aid was made available to the regional development agencies for each of these years for tourism support These amounts were not earmarked specifically for marketing.

It is not possible to provide figures for local authorities. Most local authorities across the UK support their local tourism industries through marketing and promotional spending. This is not, however, recorded separately from investment in general tourism support.

Defence

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of Taliban commanders who have surrendered in Afghanistan as a result of (a) diplomatic and (b) military action. [172152]

Des Browne: Between 1 May 2005, when the Program-Tachim-e Sol’ scheme was begun by the Government of Afghanistan, and 1 November 2007, some 4,600 former insurgents have sought reconciliation. No breakdown is available of the past status of these individuals or whether they entered the scheme as a result of diplomatic or military means.

Armed Forces: Deployment

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what length of time he expects to elapse before the 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment is sent on its next operational tour; [172167]

(2) what the peace establishment was of the 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment before deployment to Afghanistan; what the strength was of the Battalion; how many reinforcements to the Battalion were received from (a) the regular Army, (b) the Territorial Army and (c) the regular Army Reserves; how many of all ranks were (i) left behind on recruitment duties, (ii) physically unfit to deploy and (iii) left behind in barracks to form a rear party; and what the Battalions Battle casualty replacement policy is. [172168]

Mr. Bob Ainsworth [holding answer 10 December 2007]: Prior to their recent deployment to Afghanistan, the peace time establishment of the 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment was 600; the Battalion’s strength was 500; it received additional reinforcements of 200 Regular Army, fewer than 100 Territorial Army personnel and none from the Regular Army Reserves. Fewer than 100 soldiers remained in the United Kingdom on recruitment duties or were physically unfit to deploy. The rear party is made up of approximately 200 personnel, including a number of appropriately trained theatre reserve soldiers who can be deployed immediately if required.


11 Dec 2007 : Column 395W

The policy on battle casualty replacement is to use rear party deployable personnel. Should this not suffice to rectify a deficiency in a specific skill, replacements would be requested from other units in theatre.

As disclosure of exact numbers would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness and security of our armed forces. I have rounded all numbers to the nearest 100.

The force package for each operational tour is announced once it has been finalised. I cannot comment at this stage on the timing of the battalion’s next operational tour.

Armed Forces: Housing

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many emergency maintenance requests were made for properties occupied by service personnel and their families in each of the last 12 months; and what the average length of time taken to carry out the maintenance was in each month. [170452]

Derek Twigg: The actual length of time taken to carry out the maintenance for individual requests is not recorded. Two areas within Northern Ireland routinely categorise all calls as urgent and have therefore not been included in this response. For the other three areas, the pro rata number of emergency requests made by service personnel and their families during the last 12 months was:

Number of emergency requests made

November 2006

22

December 2006

13

January 2007

19

February 2007

16

March 2007

21

April 2007

8

May 2007

4

June 2007

2

July 2007

4

August 2007

1

September 2007

2

October 2007

7


Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what account is taken of the standards of accommodation for serving military personnel in the Government’s overall policy for the armed forces; and if he will make a statement. [170999]

Derek Twigg: The Government recognise that decent accommodation is a fundamental part of the package we give to our armed forces personnel and their families. We are taking a targeted and long-term approach to investing in accommodation, taking account of defence priorities across the board and the need to ensure value from public money.


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