| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
15 Oct 2008 : Column 1297W—continued
Sports: Finance
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much unallocated sports grant-in-aid there is in his Department's budget; and what plans he has to make the money available for grassroots sports initiatives. [225334]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department has no unallocated sports grant in aid.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding his Department provided for the Physical Education, School Sport and Club Link Strategy in each of the last five years. [225685]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Physical Education, School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL) strategy has now evolved into the Physical Education and Sport Strategy for Young People (PESSYP).
The following table shows DCMS investment to support PESSCL/PESSYP over 2003-08:
| Financial year | £ million |
Sports: Leeds
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much Lottery funding was awarded to sport-related groups in Leeds in each of the last five years. [226381]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Sport England has advised that it has made the following relevant Lottery awards in Leeds:
| Total (£) | |
In addition, some grants made by the Big Lottery Fund may have benefited groups related to sport in Leeds.
Sports: Private Sector
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on what date Fast Track presented him with a business case for raising private sector support for elite sport; and on what date he approved the business case. [225707]
Andy Burnham: Fast Track Sales were appointed as the Department's official adviser in July this year. Fast Track are working with DCMS and UK Sport on the detail of the ‘Medal Hopes’ funding scheme which I hope will attract sponsorship from national, regional and local businesses to help realise the potential of those athletes on UK Sport's World Class Performance Programme. Further details of the scheme will be announced in due course.
State Visits: Expenditure
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department has spent on each state visit to the UK since 2003. [225461]
Andy Burnham: The costs recorded as being directly attributable to state visits in each financial year were as follows:
| Costs (£) | |
Information is not held in the Department's accounting system on the costs of individual visits.
Taking Part Survey
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of expenditure incurred in conducting the most recent Taking Part survey; and what proportion of this expenditure was met by his Department’s non-departmental public bodies. [225522]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 9 October 2008]: The Taking Part survey contract was renewed in May 2008 to extend the survey until 2010-11. Fieldwork under the new contract began in July.
The estimated cost across the three-year period (2008-09 to 2010-11) is £5.5 million. In addition to supporting core running costs of the survey, this total includes other costs such as additional analysis, piloting and questionnaire reviews.
The participating non-departmental public bodies make the following proportionate contributions to the total cost:
| Contributions from NDPBs to Taking Part, 2008-09 to 2010-11 | |
| Percentage | |
Wembley Stadium: Construction
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on monitoring progress in the construction of Wembley Stadium in each of the last three years; and if he will break down the costs by category. [225282]
Mr. Sutcliffe: DCMS engaged Sport England to monitor the contract for the demolition and rebuilding of Wembley Stadium and provide confirmation that work relating to milestones had been satisfactorily completed and payment could be made by the Department. The cost of this monitoring in the last three years is as follows:
| £000 | |
As the monitoring only related to confirming that work had been satisfactorily completed there is no breakdown of costs into categories.
Treasury
Banks: Republic of Ireland
Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment has been made of the consequences for UK-owned and based financial institutions of the decision by the Irish government to underwrite all deposits held by Irish banks. [226210]
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the implications for the competitiveness of United Kingdom banks of the decision on 29 September of the Irish Government to place an unlimited two year guarantee on all deposits and some debts in six Irish banks. [225953]
Ian Pearson: A number of EU member states have recently increased the compensation limits of their deposit-guarantee schemes. Member states have now agreed to coordinate their actions and to take account of the cross-border effects of national decisions. The European Commission is bringing forward a proposal to promote convergence of deposit-guarantee schemes.
The competitiveness of UK banks should not be adversely affected by these moves As set out in the Chancellor's statement on financial markets to the House of Commons of 13 October, the Government are bringing forward specific and comprehensive measures to ensure the stability of the financial system and to protect ordinary savers, depositors, businesses and borrowers.
Child Trust Fund
John Battle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families on low incomes in Leeds West constituency have not claimed the Child Trust Fund initial payment since its introduction. [226325]
Ian Pearson: Eligibility to the Child Trust Fund is not subject to a claim. Where parents do not use the Government voucher to open an account themselves, HMRC opens an account for the child instead. All UK resident children in a Child Benefit award, who are born on or after 1 September 2002 and who are not subject to immigration control, will have a Child Trust Fund.
Credit Unions
John Battle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to promote saving with credit unions in the current financial circumstances. [226608]
Ian Pearson: The Government recognise the role that credit unions together with other mutual societies play in encouraging a savings culture among its members as well as the contribution they make in providing for greater choice and diversity in the financial services sector.
Government are currently consulting on proposals to amend credit union legislation The proposed changes, which include reform of the membership criteria and the ability to pay interest on members' savings, will serve to increase public awareness of the services provided by credit unions and to encourage their use.
Departmental Research
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of his Department's budget was used for research within its areas of responsibility in each of the last 10 years. [218072]
Angela Eagle: Details of the Treasury’s administration budgets and spending on research and development are shown in the annual resource accounts.
Departmental Written Questions
Mr. Harper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of written questions for answer on a named day his Department has answered on the due date in the current session of Parliament to date. [226815]
Angela Eagle: Treasury Ministers endeavour to answer written parliamentary questions promptly wherever possible. Of the 948 named day questions tabled to the Treasury in the current parliamentary session, 613 (64.7 per cent.) were answered on the day nominated by questioners.
Drugs: Smuggling
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the monetary value was of illegal drugs seized by HM Revenue and Customs in 2007-08. [227242]
Mr. Timms: In the financial year 2007-08 HMRC seized controlled drugs to the monetary value of approximately £292 million.
Economic Situation: Families
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what steps his Department has taken to assist families in the current economic climate; [226332]
(2) what recent steps his Department has taken to assist families in reducing their household bills. [226333]
Mr. Timms: On 11 September the Government announced a £1 billion package of energy efficiency measures, including at least 50 per cent. off a range of energy saving measures for all households, with 11 million of the most vulnerable households qualifying for these free of charge.
In addition, extra help for the vulnerable this winter will be provided by an increase in cold weather payments, which will triple from £8.50 to £25 for this winter.
On 2 September the Government announced reforms to the support for mortgage interest (SMI) system—which is paid to people on income support, pension credit and income-based jobseeker's allowance to help meet the interest payments on their mortgage—to more accurately reflect the value of people's property and reduce the waiting time before help from SMI is available. The Government will keep this system of support under review.
I also refer the hon. Member to the answer given to his question on 14 July 2008 by the Exchequer Secretary, Official Report, column 140W, and to the answer my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave to the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland (Dr. Kumar) on 17 July 2008, Official Report, column 631W.
Taxation: Aviation
Justine Greening:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate his Department has made of (a) the carbon dioxide and (b) the nitrogen oxide emissions output for all fleet models of aircraft (i)
currently using and (ii) predicted to use UK airports as part of its formulation of aviation duty policy; [224854]
(2) what estimate his Department has made of (a) the carbon dioxide emissions output during the landing and take off cycle and (b) the maximum take off weight of all fleet models of aircraft (i) using and (ii) predicted to use UK airports as part of its formulation of aviation duty policy; [224855]
(3) what recent discussions his Department has had with the Department for Transport on the use of (a) carbon dioxide emissions output during the landing and take off cycle and (b) the maximum take off weight as a basis for a per aeroplane aviation duty. [224856]
Angela Eagle: A formal consultation on aviation duty was published on 31 January 2008 and dosed on 24 April 2008. This consultation considered all aspects of the operation of the duty including the basis, for which Maximum Take-Off Weight was the lead option. Two alternatives were also discussed and these were the CO2 emissions and NOx emissions in the landing and take-off cycle (LTO).
170 consultation responses were received and these have been considered in the policy development process. Further analysis of the suitability of CO2 emissions or NOx emissions in the LTO and of Maximum Take-Off Weight as the basis of the tax has been ongoing. DFT along with other Government Departments has been involved in the development of the duty. The details of the duty have not yet been set. The Chancellor plans to make an announcement in the autumn.
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment he has made of the effect of the rate of duty to apply to waste derived fuel oil from 1 November 2008 on (a) the volume of hazardous waste oil recovered and re-processed, (b) investment in the collection and re-processing of hazardous waste oil, (c) the manufacturing of secondary fuel product, (d) the volume of hazardous waste oil sent to landfill and (e) the volume of hazardous waste oil incinerated; [226448]
(2) what consideration he has given to exercise the discretion provided under the Energy Products Directive to observe differentiation in the application of hydrocarbon oil duty to reflect the quality and environmental impact of different waste derived fuel oils; [226449]
(3) if the Government will delay the introduction of hydrocarbon oil duty until the Waste Protocols Project is complete; [226450]
(4) if the Government will review its decision not to exercise the discretion provided under the Energy Products Directive to observe differentiation in the application of hydrocarbon oil duty to reflect the quality and environmental impact of different waste derived fuel oils once the Waste Protocols Project is complete; [226451]
(5) what consideration the Government has given to applying the 15 euro per kilogramme minimum required under the Energy Products Directive to duty on Waste Derived Fuel Oils. [226452]
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |