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14 Oct 2008 : Column 1191W—continued
| Name of NDPB | Date funding agreement finalised (2008) |
| (1) Date not known | |
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what additional funding (a) Sport England, (b) Arts Council England, (c) the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and (d) English Heritage will receive in relation to the new regional responsibilities announced by his Department on 2 July 2008. [225473]
Andy Burnham: My Department has allocated £400,000 to these bodies in 2009-10, and a further £200,000 in 2010-11.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate (a) Sport England, (b) Arts Council England, (c) the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and (d) English Heritage have made of the cost of implementing the new regional responsibilities announced by his Department on 2 July 2008. [225474]
Andy Burnham: These bodies are currently developing the new regional arrangements and we do not yet have an estimate of their costs.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he expects each of the new regional culture and sport alliances announced by his Department on 2 July 2008 to come into operation; and when he expects each of the new non-departmental public body alliances to meet for the first time. [225476]
Andy Burnham: Regional partners are currently working on plans for the new regional arrangements which will come into effect by 31 March 2009 at the latest. The chief executives of the four NDPBs leading the new arrangements (Arts Council England, Museums, Libraries and Archives, English Heritage and Sport England) met for the first time on 28 July, and subsequently on 29 September, to review the plans and agree a way forward.
Departmental Property
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent valuation has been made of the property portfolios of (a) his Department, (b) the Royal Parks, (c) English Heritage and (d) Arts Council England. [225687]
Barbara Follett: The information is as follows.
As of 31 March 2008, the net book value of the land and buildings on the core departmental estate was £8.46 million. Freehold land is restated to current value every five years using professional valuations in accordance with FRS15. This was last valued professionally as at 31 March 2006 at £140,000. The remainder of the net book value is leasehold improvements stated at cost.
The legal title of buildings within the Royal Parks remains with the Sovereign, but they are treated as being owned by the Royal Parks and are listed in their accounts as fixed assets. The value of lodges within the parks, which are used as dwellings, is based on their terms of occupation or on their replacement cost if this is lower. The buildings are subject to revaluation under a five-year rolling programme.
During financial year 2007-08, 20 per cent. of the properties within the Royal Parks estate were subject to physical revaluation, in accordance with the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Appraisal and Valuation Manual. At the same time, dwellings were revalued on the basis of actual rent receivable. The result was a net book value of £45.53 million.
All land and buildings held on the balance sheet are subject to a full professional valuation every five years. A full revaluation was undertaken as at 31 March 2006 by professionally qualified internal valuers and external valuers in accordance with Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors guidance. Interim valuations are carried out only where a material change in value is suspected. An interim valuation was completed during the year ended 31 March 2008. The net book value as at 31 March 2008 was £52.59 million.
As of 31 March 2008, the net book value of the Arts Council England property portfolio (both freehold and leasehold) was £7.70 million. This includes one freehold property that was professionally valued in 31 March 2005 in accordance with Art Council accounting procedures giving an open market value of £600,000. The remainder of the net book value relates to leasehold and freehold improvements.
Departmental Public Relations
James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much (a) his Department and (b) its agencies spent on each of the external public relations and marketing companies included in the Central Office of Information's Public Relations Framework in each of the last 36 months. [221956]
Andy Burnham: The Department has spent the following on external public relations and marketing companies included in COI's PR Framework in the last 36 months:
| Company | £ | |
The Royal Parks Agency has spent £23,611 with Barkers over the past 36 months.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he expects his Department to publish its (a) Gambling Study, (b) Scoping Survey of Culture and Sport in the UK, (c) Tourism Productivity Survey, (d) report on World Heritage Status and (e) report on Drivers of Tourism Demand. [224954]
Andy Burnham: The exact date of publication for these documents is still to be confirmed but the Department is committed to releasing them shortly.
Digital Broadcasting
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions he has had with Digital UK on ensuring that work on transmitters and the effect it has on television reception is publicised; and if he will make a statement. [224727]
Andy Burnham: I have had no specific discussions with Digital UK or Ofcom on this issue. However, broadcasters (through Ofcom's code of practice on transition issues) are required to take the necessary steps to keep any potential disruption to viewers to a minimum during the transmitter upgrade programme for digital switchover. Where disruption is unavoidable, broadcasters are required to provide viewers with information about the likely extent of temporary disruption.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made on digital switchover; and if he will make a statement. [225876]
Andy Burnham: Digital switchover is on course, The first full region to switch will be Border, starting with the Selkirk transmitter and its 11 relays, where the process begins on 6 November.
Ofcom's digital television update for the second quarter of 2008 showed that digital TV was in 87.9 per cent. of UK households. In addition, for the same quarter the Ofcom/Digital UK tracker indicated that 89 per cent. of UK households were aware of digital switchover. A successful switch was completed in Copeland almost a year ago.
English Heritage
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many visits there were to English Heritage properties in each year since 1997. [224543]
Barbara Follett: The information requested is outlined in the following table and has been provided by English Heritage. The table relates to visits to staffed properties. In addition to these figures, English Heritage estimates that between 5 million and 6 million visits take place a year to its un-staffed sites.
| Number of visits to staffed English Heritage properties (million) | |
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which meetings (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department have had with representatives of English Heritage in the last 12 months. [224544]
Barbara Follett: The information requested is set out in the following tables.
| Secretary of State | ||
| Date | English Heritage representatives | Purpose |
|
Meeting Minister for the Arts and the Secretary of State (JP) | ||
| JP = James Purnell AB = Andy Burnham | ||
| Minster for the Arts | ||
| Date | English Heritage representatives | Purpose |
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