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31 Jan 2008 : Column 527W—continued
ITV: Wales
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will hold discussions with ITV on its provision of news and current affairs programmes for Wales. [180657]
Andy Burnham: The Government are committed to retaining a strong regional dimension to public service broadcasting. That is why the Communications Act 2003 provides safeguards for quality regional programming-making and regional programming and requires Ofcom to set appropriate targets for the provision of news and current affairs programmes.
I have no plans to hold any discussions with ITV on this specific issue as the responsibility for regulating ITV's public service obligations falls to Ofcom. However, I expect these issues to form an important aspect of Ofcom's current PSB review.
National Lottery: Grants
Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much held by each of the national lottery distribution bodies has not been drawn down as at the most recent date for which figures are available. [180636]
Andy Burnham: The following table shows the balance held in the national lottery distribution fund on each lottery distributor's behalf at 31 December 2007.
| Lottery distributor | £ million( 1) |
| (1) To three decimal places | |
In addition £85.533 million was held in the Olympic lottery distribution fund on behalf of the Olympic lottery distributor.
National Lottery: Olympic Games 2012
Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much lottery funding will be allocated to (a) the 2012 London Olympics and (b) the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games over the next five years. [179829]
Andy Burnham
[holding answer 17 January 2008]: The national lottery will contribute £2.175 billion in total to the funding package for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. Of this: £750 million will be raised from dedicated Olympic lottery products, of which well over £200 million has already been
raised; £340 million will be contributed by the five sports lottery distributors, and the remaining £1,085 million will be transferred from non-Olympic lottery proceeds between 2009 and 2012.
I understand that Glasgow's Candidate City File for the 2014 Games set out the various revenue streams that were expected and that this did not include any revenue from the lottery.
Television: Licensing
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what arrangements there are to refund the TV licence fee when people lose their television signals for more than a year. [182125]
Andy Burnham [holding answer 25 January 2008]: Section 365(3) of the Communications Act 2003 gives the BBC a discretionary power to refund payments made in respect of a television licence. I understand the BBC has a policy of allowing refunds under certain circumstances. I have, therefore, asked the BBC's Head of Revenue Management to write direct to the hon. Member with further information.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent assessment his Department has made of the level of public awareness and recognition of (a) the television licence fee and (b) the services paid for by the licence fee. [182802]
Andy Burnham [holding answer 28 January 2008]: These matters were addressed fully in the BBC Charter review, which was completed in 2006. The results can be found on the Charter review website at:
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will change the name of the television licensing fee to the BBC licensing fee. [182952]
Andy Burnham: I have no plans to do so.
Children, Schools and Families
Autism
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what mechanisms his Department has in place to ensure the continuity of local education authority services provided to children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome as they make the transition to adulthood. [183401]
Kevin Brennan: The “Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice” (2001) sets out a statutory transition planning process, beginning in year 9, for all young people with SEN statements, including those with autism and Asperger’s syndrome. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department of Health (DH) have recently published “a transition guide for all services: key information for professionals about the transition process for disabled young people” (2007) to help local authorities and others improve the effectiveness of transition planning.
“Aiming High for Disabled Children” (HM Treasury/DCSF, 2007) announced a £19 million Transition Support Programme over 2008-09 to 2010-11 partly to encourage “joint team working across agencies and with adult services to encourage a holistic approach, and choice and control for young people”. This programme will consider the particular issue of continuity of services as disabled children pass into adulthood.
For young people with autism and Asperger’s syndrome in particular, DCSF and DH published “Autistic Spectrum Disorders: Good Practice Guidance” (2002). This includes pointers to good practice for schools, local authorities, Connexions and the Learning and Skills Council on transitions for these young people.
Learning Disability: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children were on the roll in each moderate learning difficulty school in Essex in each of the last five years. [178836]
Kevin Brennan [ h olding answer 30 January 2008]: The number of children on roll at each moderate learning difficulty school in Essex for the last five years is given in the following table.
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