| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
18 Feb 2008 : Column 335W—continued
The active sport indicator is defined as at least one occasion of participation in an active sport during the past four weeks.
| Percentage | ||
| Priority group | Year 1 | Year 2 |
Sports: Finance
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what financial support his Department provided to promote (a) sport and (b) the arts in the North East in each of the last five years. [185394]
Mr. Sutcliffe: DCMS has provided the following financial support to promote (a) Sport and (b) the Arts in the North East in each of the last five years through Sport England and the Arts Council respectively.
| (a) Sport | |
| Funding (£) | |
In addition, in 2003, DCMS contributed £2.863 million of PFI Credits to the Boldon Colliery Community Theatre and Swimming Pool PFI scheme which is being led by DCSF.
| (b) The Arts in the North East | |
| Funding (£) | |
Sports: Greater London
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many sports clubs are registered in each London borough. [185971]
Mr. Sutcliffe: DCMS does not hold the information requested and there is no central register for such clubs.
Sports: Young People
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what mechanisms are in place to provide support to outstanding young athletes in relation to elite sport. [185320]
Andy Burnham: For our most talented athletes, UK Sport, the Government’s high performance sports agency, operates a World Class Performance Programme supporting our aspiring Olympic and Paralympic athletes at podium, development and talent levels.
The Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) and TASS 2012 Scholarships aim to bridge the gap between junior representative sport and world class levels for athletes typically aged between 12 and 25. This provides funding to meet the costs of providing talented athletes with a package of support services, including coaching, sports medicine, conditioning and lifestyle management.
Telephone Calls: Ofcom
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he expects Ofcom to issue its review of charges of calls made to 0870 numbers; what the reasons are for the time taken to complete the review; and if he will make a statement. [184308]
Malcolm Wicks: I have been asked to reply.
The matter raised is the responsibility of the independent regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which is accountable to Parliament rather than Ministers. Accordingly, I have asked the chief executive of Ofcom to reply directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the chief executive’s letter will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Television: Disability Aids
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will take steps to encourage digital television (a) broadcasters and (b) equipment providers to incorporate talking menus and programme guides in digital television (i) broadcasts and (ii) receivers for blind and partially sighted people. [185540]
Andy Burnham: Ofcom is responsible for promoting the development of electronic programme guides (EPGs) accessible to people with visual impairments. Ofcom’s codes of practice on access services and EPGs already require broadcasters to supply relevant data, and EPG providers to make their EPGs usable by people with visual and hearing impairments, so far as practicable.
There is already one specialised digital receiver available that uses broadcast EPG data to provide a speaking EPG. Ofcom continues to encourage equipment manufacturers and service providers to make available mainstream digital receivers with speaking EPGs.
Tourism: East of England
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the average expenditure per head by overseas tourists visiting (a) the Eastern region and (b) Peterborough city council area in each of the last five years. [186193]
Margaret Hodge: The table shows the average expenditure per visit by overseas residents visiting the (a) East of England and (b) Peterborough in the last five years for which data is available.
| Average expenditure ( 1) per visit by overseas residents | |||||
| £ | |||||
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| (1 )Expenditure excludes fares for travel to and from the UK. (2) Government Office Region. (3) Figures are based on small sample sizes and as such should be treated with extreme caution, and used solely as an indicative estimate. Source: International Passenger Survey (ONS). | |||||
Tourism: Historic Buildings
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps the Government has taken to encourage the public to visit historic buildings since 1997. [181579]
Mr. Sutcliffe: This Department and its sponsored bodies have been working with other historic environment organisations, including the National Trust, the Historic Houses Association and Civic Trust to encourage the public to visit historic buildings in the following ways:
Heritage Open Days—over a million people now participate in this annual English Heritage funded scheme run by the Civic Trust. A record 3,500 properties across the country opened their doors for free as part of Heritage Open Days last September. In
2006, Heritage Open Days attracted more than 1 million visitors with support from an army of 30,000 volunteers, making Heritage Open Days England’s largest voluntary cultural event. Evaluation shows that this free access event significantly increases access to the historic environment by people on lower incomes.
Festival of History—this is the UK’s biggest historical event, and is organised by English Heritage. It brings together the country’s leading performers, interpreters and historians in a celebration of over 2,000 years of England’s history. This annual event attracted over 20,000 people in 2007.
Great British Heritage Pass—English Heritage and VisitBritain are partners in this scheme which is marketed by VisitBritain to inbound visitors.
Property Development Programme—English Heritage manages over 400 properties that attract around 11 million visitors every year. 665,000 people have demonstrated their commitment to caring for these historic buildings by becoming members of English Heritage. Since 2005 English Heritage has invested approximately £21 million in improving visitor facilities at its properties and in creating new interpretation schemes. 5.3 million people visited English Heritage staffed properties in 2006-07.
Free Access—in 2003 English Heritage introduced free access for children and young people under 19 with an accompanying adult who is a member. Members can take up to six children under 19 into its 400 properties without charge, and entry is free to all children under five.
Learning—English Heritage hosted 481,000 free educational visits in 2006-07 and, in response to market demand, hosted facilitated visits, known as Discovery Visits, at 70 sites across the country. The scheme was marketed to every school in England and 10,400 children took part in the first year. Additionally, 418 events were staged at English Heritage sites designed to attract and entertain all sections of the community. English Heritage has also expanded its events programme, ‘Tours Through Time’, which is aimed at adult learners.
Outreach work—English Heritage outreach programmes demonstrate the potential of the historic environment for supporting social inclusion, and projects are developed with communities and groups all around the country. In 2006-07, 85 outreach projects were held attracting nearly 49,500 people who had never participated before. English Heritage has also allocated £400,000 per annum in National Capacity Building Grants for the period 2006-08 for historic environment organisations to develop their ability to engage with under-represented groups.
Television—research has shown that television programmes play a strong role in attracting visitors to English Heritage sites. English Heritage experts have been involved in the Time Team programme for many years and continue to contribute to new programming as appropriate. In particular, English Heritage has partnered the BBC TV Restoration series with website links, point launch promotion, publishing collaborations and, where appropriate, English Heritage has grant-aided eligible properties featured in the series.
Film—since 1997 English Heritage has positioned its buildings as a first port of call for the film and television industry both across the world and within the UK. English Heritage’s success has brought well publicised associations with feature films such as Mrs. Brown, Notting Hill, and Elizabeth: The Golden Years. It has been proven that working proactively with this industry cannot only bring more visitors through the doors but also allows a large audience to become more familiar with the properties overall.
Access Conditions for English Heritage Grants—in most cases English Heritage grants are offered on condition that a guaranteed level of public access is provided for a minimum of 10 years after the grant-aided work has been completed.
English Heritage commissioned research in 2003 which indicated that 29 per cent. of people from ethnic minorities had visited a historic building or garden in the last 12 months compared to the national average of 40 per cent. We have set a target for heritage organisations to increase the number of adults and
young people aged 16 and above from priority groups visiting designated historic environment sites by 3 per cent. by 2008. We expect to report on whether this has been achieved in December 2008.
Tourist Attractions: Essex
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the 10 most popular tourist attractions in Essex were in each of the last three years. [186405]
Margaret Hodge: The information requested is contained in the table.
| Top 10 tourist attractions in Essex( 1) | |||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| (1) Participation within the Visitor Attraction survey is voluntary and so there may be attractions that choose not to participate or to remain anonymous. Source: Visitor Attraction Trends survey, England (Visit Britain) | |||
Tourist Attractions: Greater London
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the 10 most popular tourist attractions in the (a) City of London and (b) rest of London were in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [186409]
Margaret Hodge: The information requested is contained in the following tables.
| Top 10 tourist attractions( 1) to the City of London( 2) | |||
| 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| (1) Participation within the Visitor Attraction survey is voluntary and so there may be attractions that choose not to participate or to remain anonymous. (2) There have been less than 10 respondents in each of the last three years from the City of London. Source: Visitor Attraction Trends survey, England (Visit Britain) | |||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |