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11 Mar 2008 : Column 314W—continued
Alliance for the Arts in Criminal Justice
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans he has to establish the Alliance for the Arts in Criminal Justice; what funding he plans to allocate to the body; and if he will make a statement. [192448]
Mr. Hanson: I have been asked to reply.
The Government are supporting the development of an independent Arts Alliance as a representative voice for the arts sector working with offenders to support rehabilitation and reduce re-offending.
An Arts Forum will be also set up to facilitate discussions between the Arts Alliance and other stakeholders such as Government Departments and the Arts Council, in developing the role of arts in supporting offender management.
The Ministry of Justice, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, and the Arts Council have agreed, in principle, to fund the development of the alliance. We are in the process of agreeing the sum of funding available.
Arts Council of England: East Midlands
David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent assessment he has made of the impact of Arts Council England’s regional theatre policy on theatres in the East Midlands; and if he will make a statement. [192578]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 10 March 2008]: My Department has made no recent assessment of the impact of Arts Council England’s regional theatre policy on theatres in the East Midlands.
Arts Council England’s research shows that at least 518,781 people attended performances at ACE funded theatres in the East Midlands in 2006-07, including 61,933 young people. This represents a 38 per cent. increase in total audience figures on the previous year and over 100 per cent. increase in the number of young people accessing performances.
Arts Council of England: Public Appointments
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether (a) national and (b) regional council members of Arts Council England are required to declare recent party political activity prior to appointment. [192165]
Margaret Hodge: National members and regional chairs of ACE are asked to provide details of political activity undertaken in the past five years when applying for appointment. This is in accordance with the Code of Practice of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
There is no written requirement that regional council members should declare recent party political activity prior to appointment, other than the chair of the Council who also sits on the national Arts Council.
Arts: Finance
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding his Department provided for cultural observatories in each English region in each of the last three years. [191888]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 6 March 2008]: My Department has not provided any funding for the regional cultural observatories in the last three years.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding regional cultural consortiums provided to cultural observatories in each English region in each of the last three years. [191890]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 6 March 2008]: The regional cultural consortiums have provided the following funding to the cultural observatories in their regions in each of the last three years.
| Funding (£000) | |||
| Region | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
In some cases, the consortiums have also secured additional funding for the observatories from their regional partners.
British Olympic Association
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what guidance the British Olympic Association has issued to athletes on managing questions on political issues (a) preceding and (b) during the Beijing Olympic games. [192070]
Mr. Sutcliffe [holding answer 6 March 2008]: This is a matter for the British Olympic Association (BOA). The BOA is independent of Government and it is therefore not appropriate for Government to answer on their behalf.
Casinos
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether local authorities will have a role in deciding the opening hours of the casinos they license. [191879]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Under the Gambling Act 2005 (Mandatory and Default Conditions) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007, default conditions attaching to casino premises licences state that no facilities for gambling shall be provided on the premises between the hours of 6 am and noon on any day.
Casino operators can apply to their licensing authority to vary these hours. This is a matter for individual licensing authorities to determine.
Civil Service Appeal Board
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many and what percentage of appeals by employees of (a) his Department and (b) its agencies were (i) heard and (ii) upheld by the Civil Service Appeal Board in each of the last 10 years; how much was awarded in compensation by the Board to each successful appellant in each year; what the reason was for each compensation award; how many appellants were reinstated by the Board in each year; and what the reason was for each (A) dismissal and (B) reinstatement. [192516]
Mr. Sutcliffe: There have been no appeals to the Civil Service Appeal Board by employees of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport or the Royal Parks Agency in the last 10 years.
Convergence Think Tank
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, columns 318-19W, on the Convergence Think Tank, when he intends to send the list of invitees to the Convergence Think Tank seminars to the hon. Member for Wantage, and to deposit the list in the Library. [192268]
Margaret Hodge [holding answer 6 March 2008]: A list of invitees for the first Convergence Think Tank seminar held on 7 February 2008 has now been sent to the hon. Member for Wantage, and deposited in the Library. The Department will send invitee lists for future seminars after they have taken place.
Departmental Correspondence
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the average time taken by his Department was to respond to letters from hon. Members in the latest period for which figures are available. [192741]
Andy Burnham: We do not hold this information in the format requested.
In the 2007 calendar year, DCMS received 4,726 letters that required a response from hon. Members and peers. 76.87 per cent. of these were answered within 20 working days of receipt.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if his Department will (a) follow the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) guidelines and (b) display ICRA's label on the websites for which it is responsible. [191779]
Margaret Hodge: My Department (a) follows the ICRA guidelines for its main website:
and (b) displays the ICRA label on the website.
My Department will review the use of ICRA on its smaller websites.
Departmental Meetings
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many meetings he has held since taking office; and what was discussed at each meeting. [192903]
Andy Burnham [holding answer 10 March 2008]: Ministers meet many people as part of the process of policy development. It is not normal practice to disclose details of such meetings. A list of Ministers meetings with external stakeholders is regularly published on the DCMS website:
Departmental Official Visits
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many official ministerial visits he has made since taking office; and what the purpose was of each such visit. [192742]
Andy Burnham
[holding answer 10 March 2008]: Since taking up office, I have made 21 official
ministerial visits to discuss current issues with people working in the policy areas covered by my Department and to see a range of cultural and sporting events.
Departmental Public Appointments
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many public appointments he has made in the last 12 months; and to which positions those appointments were made. [190137]
Andy Burnham: Together with the ministerial team in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Secretary of State has made 100 public appointments in the 12 months to 25 February 2008. We have also recommended 32 candidates to the Prime Minister, and one to Her Majesty the Queen, for appointment during this period, all of whom have been appointed.
The total number of appointments is 133, including reappointments, and the positions to which the appointments were made are shown in the table.
| Name of public body | Title of role | Appointing authority | Number |
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