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3 July 2008 : Column 1053W—continued
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of Sport England's Community Projects Fund has been spent in areas of deprivation since 1999. [212999]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Sport England have advised that the “Community Projects Fund” is a generic term for a series of funding streams including Sports Action Zones and Priority Area Initiatives, and not a single funding stream for which such information is centrally held. Since 1997 Sport England have funded a number of community initiatives designed to help combat low levels of participation in sport in communities that experience the effects of poverty and deprivation. However, Sport England do not record the award or amount of grants according to whether or not projects fall within areas of deprivation, as defined by Government Indices of Deprivation.
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding his Department provided to (a) amateur sports clubs and (b) sport in schools in (i) Enfield North constituency and (ii) London in each year since 1997. [213803]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Departmental and lottery funding to promote and invest in grassroots and community sport is allocated via Sport England. Sport England has advised that in each year since 1997 funding in Enfield North for (a) amateur sports clubs and (b) sport in schools was as follows:
| £ | ||
| Financial year | Amateur sports clubs | Sport in schools |
However, Sport England have advised that the only way to provide a similar breakdown (amateur clubs and school sports) for the whole of London would be to manually gather the information from the thousands of grants which have been awarded during the period. This could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Sports: Handguns
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the compliance of the UK with the Olympic Charter with regard to pistol practice; and if he will make a statement. [215073]
Mr. Sutcliffe:
The “Olympic Charter” is a constitutional document of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and it sets out the governing principles and rules of the IOC. Neither the UK, nor any other country is a signatory or party to it. Its terms bind national Olympic committees and the other parties to the Host City
Contract to organise the games in a manner consistent with the charter. The UK Government have given written guarantees to respect and, where appropriate, abide by the charter in the context of the 2012 games.
Sports: Tamworth
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding his Department has provided to (a) amateur sports clubs and (b) sport in schools in Tamworth constituency in each year since 1997. [215776]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Departmental and Lottery funding to promote and invest in grassroots and community sport is allocated via Sport England. Sport England has advised that one within the Tamworth constituency was awarded Lottery funding of £403,780 on 17 November 1997. The award was made to Tamworth borough council for the development of the Anker Valley Sports Ground.
In addition, three projects in the Tamworth area have received awards totalling £30,000 for sport projects from the Awards for All scheme. The following table sets out details.
| Awards For All | |||
| Awarded to: | Project | A mount (£) | |
|
A project to extend the clubs facilities and purchase new equipment. | |||
Television: Advertising
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what the regulatory framework is affecting product placements in television broadcasts; and if he will make a statement; [215089]
(2) what his policy is on implementation of European Commission proposals on product placement on UK television; and if he will make a statement. [215090]
Andy Burnham: Product placement has been prohibited in UK commercial broadcasting since it began. It is currently prohibited by section 10.5 of Ofcom’s broadcasting code, which gives effect to the present European directive.
Ofcom’s code exempts from this prohibition references to products which have been acquired at no cost, or less than their full cost, where their inclusion is justified editorially. It also exempts product placement in cinema films and in programmes acquired from outside the UK, so long as the broadcaster has not directly benefited from the product placement.
However, no undue prominence may be given in a programme to a product or service.
The EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive, adopted in December 2007, requires member states to impose an overall ban on product placement in television and video-on-demand services. But it allows member states to permit it, if they wish, in ‘cinematographic works, films and series, sports programmes and light, entertainment programmes’, subject to certain conditions.
My Department will shortly be consulting on product placement as part of its overall consultation on implementing this directive in the United Kingdom. As I have made clear, my instinctive view is that product placement would reduce public trust in broadcasters. There would be a danger that commercial marketing interests could exert an inappropriate influence over editorial decisions. The line between advertising and programmes, the ‘separation principle’, could become blurred.
The DCMS consultation will last for at least 12 weeks and will provide the chance for those on both sides of the argument to put forward their views and evidence. At the end of the consultation process, the Government will make a judgement based upon those views and evidence.
The UK and other member states must implement the directive by 19 December 2009.
Tourism
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent estimate he has made of the number of UK residents taking (a) day trips, (b) short breaks and (c) holidays in the UK in each year since 1997. [210187]
Margaret Hodge: Regular surveys of day trips by UK residents are not undertaken. However we have data from two surveys completed in the last 10 years. The Leisure Day Visits Survey’s estimate for the total number of British adults that had taken a tourism day trip in Great Britain was just under 1.3 billion in 1998 and just under 1.1 billion in 2002-03. People living in England accounted for 87 per cent. (934 million) of those tourism day trips taken in 2002-03.
In 2005, there were an estimated 870 million Tourism Day Visits taken by English residents within England. The 1998 and 2002-03 surveys were funded by a consortium including DCMS. The 2005 survey was led by Natural England but funded collectively by 12 different agencies including DEFRA and the Environment Agency.
The number of domestic short breaks taken in the UK is shown in the following table.
The number of domestic holidays taken in the UK is shown in the following table.
| Domestic h oliday trips in the UK | |
| Number (million) | |
| (1) The methodology for the UKTS changed in 2005 meaning that comparisons with previous years should be treated with caution. Note: Figures for 1998 are not available. Source: UK Tourism Survey (National Tourist Boards) | |
Communities and Local Government
Aerials: Planning Permission
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will take steps to encourage mobile phone operators to share masts through the planning process. [215062]
Mr. Iain Wright: “Planning Policy Guidance Note 8: Telecommunications” outlines the Government’s policy of facilitating the growth of new and existing telecommunication systems while keeping the environmental impact to a minimum.
Our guidance makes clear that we attach considerable importance to keeping the number of radio and telecommunications masts to the minimum consistent with the efficient operation of the network.
The sharing of masts and sites is, therefore, strongly encouraged where that represents the optimum environmental solution to a particular case.
Our guidance should be taken into account by local planning authorities as they prepare their plans for their area, and may be material to decisions on individual applications for planning permission, prior approval or appeals.
Allotments: Waiting Lists
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she has had recent discussions with those local authorities which have a waiting list for allotments on their provision of allotments. [214936]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Secretary of State has not had recent discussions with local authorities about waiting lists for allotments.
The provision of allotments is the responsibility of local authorities. Section 23 of the Small Holdings and Allotments Act 1908 places a duty on local authorities (except for inner London boroughs) to provide allotments where they perceive a demand for them in their area.
Council Housing: Greater London
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average change in (a) rent and (b) service charges for council tenants in each London borough was in each of the last five years for which figures are available, expressed in (i) cash and (ii) percentage terms; and if she will make a statement. [211277]
Mr. Iain Wright: The table has been deposited in the Library of the House showing per week figures for actual rents and service charges which indicate the cash and percentage increases for the years 2003-04 to 2007-08 for each London borough. These figures are as reported to Communities and Local Government for those years. Comparable per week service charge figures are not available for the years prior to 2003-04.
Setting service charges is a matter for local authorities themselves. They have been encouraged to identify service charges separately from rents, based on the actual cost of services to individual properties, which helps tenants to assess the reasonableness of the charges. The figures in the table reflect this ‘depooling’. Service charges are not eligible for HRA subsidy and as such data are not collected on the pre-audit subsidy forms. Audited data for 2007-08 are not yet available.
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