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31 Mar 2008 : Column 462W—continued
Total creative industries exports include exports of services in the following sectors: ‘advertising’, ‘architecture’, ‘art and antiques’, ‘design’, ‘video, film and photography’, ‘music and the visual and performing arts’, ‘publishing’, ‘software, computer games and electronic publishing’ and ‘radio and TV’. Exports for the ‘crafts’ and ‘designer fashion’ sectors are excluded as consistent data are not available.
The ‘software, computer games and electronic publishing’ sector comprises all firms classified in official business data under ‘publishing of software’, ‘other software consultancy and supply’ or ‘reproduction of computer media’ (only 25 per cent. of this class is included). Games development firms likely represent only a small proportion of this sector.
The ‘radio and TV’ sector comprises firms classified in official business data under ‘radio and television activities’.
The ‘video, film and photography’ sector comprises firms classified in official business data under ’reproduction of video recording’ (25 per cent. only), ‘photographic activities’ (25 per cent. only), ‘motion picture and video production’, ‘motion picture and video distribution’ or ‘motion picture projection’.
The UK Film Council also produces figures for the value of exports of services specifically by the film industry—as opposed to the wider ‘video, film and photography’ sector. Also based on ONS data, they estimate that these exports totalled £967million in 2005.
Post Offices: Closures
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform for how long the outreach provision provided by his Department to the eight post offices in the Cotswolds will be maintained. [196994]
Mr. McFadden: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, managing director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how postmasters whose post offices have been closed are reimbursed for the length of their leases; and if he will make a statement. [197112]
Mr. McFadden: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, managing director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform which post office branches have (a) closed and (b) opened in the City of Edinburgh local authority area since 1997. [197360]
Mr. McFadden: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, managing director, of POL to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Post Offices: York
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many transactions per week, on average, there were across post office counters in York in each of the last three years. [197136]
Mr. McFadden: This is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. (POL). I have therefore asked Alan Cook, managing director of POL, to reply direct to the hon. Member.
Copies of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Video Games
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the value was of exports by the UK games development sector in each year since 1997. [196976]
Margaret Hodge: I have been asked to reply.
Information on the value of exports specifically by the UK games development sector is not available.
The value of UK exports of services in the ‘software, computer games and electronic publishing’ sector is published in the annual DCMS Creative Industries Economic Estimates statistical bulletin. Games development firms likely represent only a small proportion of this sector.
The software, computer games and electronic publishing sector comprises all firms classified in official business data under ‘publishing of software’, ‘other software consultancy and supply’ or ‘reproduction of computer media’ (only 25 per cent. of this class is included).
Winter Fuel Payments: South Yorkshire
Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform how many people received the winter fuel payment in (a) Barnsley, East and Mexborough constituency, (b) Barnsley Metropolitan Borough and (c) Doncaster Metropolitan Borough in the most recent period for which figures are available. [195759]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: I have been asked to reply.
The information is in the following table. We expect the numbers to be similar for winter 2007-08.
| Winter fuel payments made in winter 2006-07 | |
| Number | |
| Notes: 1. Figures rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Parliamentary constituencies and local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory. Source: Information directorate 100 per cent. data. | |
Transport
A14: Kettering
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reasons the Highway Agency intends to restrict local vehicular access to the A14 around Kettering. [196701]
Mr. Tom Harris: The Highways Agency is working with Northamptonshire county council to identify a package of transport measures to minimise and manage traffic generated by the proposed growth in North Northamptonshire and ensure the smooth running of the existing A14 around Kettering.
This includes investigating a number of new and proven techniques which could be introduced in the short to medium term and which are designed to make the most of the existing A14 around Kettering. One such technique, involving installing traffic signals on slip roads, is designed to regulate and improve flow on the A14. A decision on its implementation would follow the results of the current feasibility study.
Aviation: Railways
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information she has obtained as part of her assessment of the potential for high-speed rail on the number and percentage of passengers switching from air to rail services where high-speed rail lines have been opened in France. [197542]
Mr. Tom Harris: The Department for Transport has made no specific assessment of the shift from air to rail services where high-speed rail lines have been opened in France.
Bus Services: Concessions
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which (a) local authorities, (b) local transport authorities and (c) passenger transport executives have made representations to her Department on the national concessionary bus fares scheme in the last 12 months. [195643]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 25 March 2008]: The Department for Transport has received representations on the new England-wide statutory minimum concession to be introduced on 1 April from all tiers of local government, including the Local Government Association, London Councils, Transport for London and the Passenger Transport Executive Group, as well as individual authorities.
Over 200 responses were received to the Department's consultation last autumn on the formula distribution for the special grant for the new England-wide concession from 1 April. A list of those who responded was included in the Department's Consultation Response Document: Local Authority special grant funding for the 2008 national bus concession in England, available on its website.
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether local authorities will receive changes to their special grant for concessionary bus fares following representations made since the publication of the draft funding settlement; and if she will make a statement. [196273]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 25 March 2008]: The Local Government Finance Special Grant Report (No. 129) was laid before the House on 19 February 2008 and approved following a parliamentary debate on 25 March. The grant distribution reflects the likely burden of cost and is designed to direct funding towards visitor "hotspots" such as coastal towns, urban areas and others likely to experience an increase in concessionary bus journeys as a result of the new England-wide concession from 1 April.
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost was of her Department’s recent advertising campaign on the change in rules for the national concessionary bus fare scheme. [196826]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The total communications budget for our concessionary fares publicity campaign is £1.3 million, of which media spend on advertising is £809,600 covering press, magazine and outdoor poster advertising.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the reasons were for giving the responsibility for and finance of national concessionary bus fare schemes to district councils; and whether she plans to alter this arrangement. [196996]
Ms Rosie Winterton [holding answer 27 March 2008]: District councils have been responsible for the statutory concessionary travel scheme since its introduction in 2000. This is consistent with their historic role in licensing bus services prior to deregulation, and their work in other areas such as taxi licensing.
The Concessionary Bus Travel Act 2007 contains powers allowing Ministers, subject to future consultation and parliamentary scrutiny, to make secondary legislation which would transfer concessionary travel responsibilities from lower tier (district councils) to higher tier authorities (county councils). It would not have been prudent to make such a radical change less than a year before the introduction of the new England-wide statutory minimum concession from 1 April, particularly when those with existing responsibility for concessionary travel were in the process of issuing over six million new passes to a tight timetable.
David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if she will make an estimate of the annual cost of providing a free bus pass for pensioners which could be used for travel across local authority boundaries on a national basis. [197531]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Our assessment of the likely cost impact of the new England-wide concession is based on generous assumptions about pass take-up, fares and increased patronage. On this basis, for 2008-09 we have allocated an additional £212 million (rising to £217 million and £223 million in the following years) to travel concession authorities in England from 1 April, enough to fund around an extra 200 million bus journeys in local authorities across England.
Our current focus remains on ensuring the successful introduction of the new England-wide concession on 1 April and at this stage we have made no detailed assessment of the cost of introducing mutual recognition of concessionary bus passes between Scotland, Wales and England.
Bus Services: Finance
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much the Government contributed to the cost of running bus services in York from (a) 1987 to 1997 and (b) 1997 to 2007. [197182]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Rural Bus Subsidy Grant (RBSG) was introduced in 1998 to help local authorities provide support for bus services. The City of York has to date received a total of £1,046,716 in RBSG from the Department.
York has also received a total of £415,000 in support under the Rural Bus Challenge competition, also introduced in 1998.
Local authorities may also use funding from the Government’s unhypothecated Revenue Support Grant to support local bus services.
Bus companies operating in and around York also receive Bus Service Operators Grant from the Department. This is a payment equivalent to about 80 per cent. of the fuel duty operators incur in providing local bus services. However, as BSOG is a payment direct to operators, statistics are not kept of payments by local authority or geographical area.
Bus Services: York
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate she has made of the number of passengers carried by buses in York in each year since 1987. [197184]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not available from the DFT annual survey of bus operators. Local authority estimates of bus passenger journeys are published by the Audit Commission.
Cycleways
Mrs. Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many new cycle lanes and tracks have been created in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area. [191692]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Data are available only from 2001-02. We do not have comprehensive audited returns which give reliable figures at local authority level. In addition, some authorities are no longer required to submit returns.
Cycling: Finance
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what sources of funding are made available by (a) her Department and (b) organisations which report to her Department for the development of national cycle routes. [197737]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department announced in January a £140 million investment for its cycling delivery body, Cycling England, over the next three years to complement local authority spend. This has a number of programmes including new routes to around 500 schools, building on the successful Links to Schools programme. In addition, £18.4 million of Government funding since 2005 has provided 295 Links to Schools which link over 600 schools and form part of the National Cycle Network (NCN).
£47 million has also been allocated on extending the Cycling Demonstration Towns (CDT) programme to up to 17 towns including a large city. The outcome of the bidding process for new CDTs is due to be announced later this year. Until the new CDTs and six existing ones develop their future programmes, it is not possible to say what the precise funding will be for increasing the cycle network in the CDTs.
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