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20 Oct 2008 : Column 107W—continued
BBC: Finance
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will reduce the level of public funding paid to the BBC to reflect the fine imposed by Ofcom for misleading audiences by fake phone-ins; and if he will make a statement. [227798]
Andy Burnham [holding answer 17 October 2008]: This is a matter for Ofcom and the BBC.
Broadcasting: Manpower
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff in his Department are employed to work on matters relating to broadcasting. [226003]
Andy Burnham [holding answer 13 October 2008]: The number of people employed on matters relating to broadcasting varies depending on requirements. As at 14 October 2008, there were 23.6 full-time equivalent staff working on matters related to broadcasting, not including staff carrying out supporting duties.
Circuses
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make it his policy to include tickets for circuses in his Department's proposed Free Ticket Scheme; and if he will make a statement. [226824]
Andy Burnham: Government funding for the free theatre initiative is open to all theatres offering live arts performances, with priority being given to publicly subsidized venues. If a participating theatre offers a circus-type production, this could be included in the offer.
Arts Council England has been allocated an additional £2.5 million to run the programme on behalf of the Department and has invited venues to submit proposals for inclusion in the programme by 14 November. The initiative will be launched in February 2009 with a week of theatre-based activities and free tickets will be available up to the end of March 2011.
Our aim is to encourage young people up to the age of 26 to enjoy a free theatre performance and in so doing help build the audiences of the future. This initiative complements our policies on free museums and, more recently, free swimming.
Cultural Heritage: Pay
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 8 October 2008, Official Report, columns 696-97W, on cultural heritage: pay, how much his Department spent on salaries for staff working on heritage in each year since 1997 (a) in 2007-08 prices and (b) as a percentage of total expenditure on staff salaries by his Department. [227208]
Barbara Follett:
The table lists the departmental expenditure on salaries of staff responsible for heritage issues such as quality of architectural design and identification and conservation of the historic environment
(a) in 2007-08 prices and (b) as a percentage of the Department's total staff salaries.
| Financial year | Heritage staff salaries in 2007 prices (£) | As a percentage of total salaries |
Culture: Planning
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he expects the Cultural Planning Toolkit training to commence. [225691]
Barbara Follett: Information from Culture East Midlands is that training will commence after the tools and guidance have been launched at the end of March 2009.
Departmental Income
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what his Department's total annual (a) administrative and (b) programme income was in each year since 1997. [225708]
Barbara Follett: The Department's administrative and programme income in each year since 1997 is shown in the table. The latter is analysed by the Department's two funding allocation streams, Request for Resources 1 (RfR1) and Request for Resources 2 (RfR2). RfR1 relates to improving the quality of life through cultural and sporting activities, whereas RfR2 refers to broadening access to a rich and varied cultural and sporting life through home broadcasting and other activities.
| £000 | |||
| Administrative income | Programme income RfR1 | Programme income RfR2 | |
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on net administration costs in each year since 1997; and what percentage of departmental net operating costs this represented in each year. [225680]
Andy Burnham: The Department's actual net administration costs, and these expressed as a percentage of the net operating costs, in each year since 1997 are shown the table.
| Net administration cost (£000) | Percentage of net operating cost | |
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on the (a) Sporting and (b) Cultural Champions initiatives in each of the last three years; and what assessment he has made of the performance of each scheme against its objectives. [225682]
Andy Burnham: Information from Sport England is that it has spent £300,000 on the Sporting Champions programme in each of the last three years (2005-08). In total this has supported 1,350 visits and more than 97 per cent. of visit organisers have rated the work of the Sporting Champion as either excellent or good. The programme has helped to inspire and motivate more than 100,000 children and young people each year.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not fund a Cultural Champions programme, but it does fund a mentoring programme, which uses mentors from sport, music and the media to help young people at risk of social exclusion to engage in positive activities and make positive life choices. The DCMS has allocated £1 million per year to this programme since it was established in 2006-07.
Departmental Public Participation
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many citizens' juries his Department has held since 1 July 2007; what the cost was of each; what issues were discussed at each event; and how many (a) Ministers and (b) members of the public attended each event. [227470]
Barbara Follett: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has held no citizen’s juries since 1 July 2007.
Departmental Sick Leave
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the average duration of single periods of sick leave taken by staff in (a) his Department, (b) its agency and (c) the non-departmental bodies for which it has responsibility was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [216086]
Mr. Sutcliffe: As part of the Department’s Diversity and Health and well-being policies, we have a range of initiatives and programmes in place to support staff and to manage stress, mental health and behavioural issues.
Furthermore, in order to raise awareness of stress and mental health issues we have implemented a range of initiatives and guidance for managers and staff to manage mental health problems in the workplace including an initiative to tackle the stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness.
We regularly monitor sickness absence and reasons for absences as a means to tackle attendance issues and provide support to our staff. This support ranges from a 24 hour employee assistance programme, occupational health referral, rehabilitation programme for staff and reasonable adjustments to work or the working environment.
Our work-life balance and lifestyle programme supports our “stress at work” policy allowing staff to manage stress through achievement of effective work-life balance.
We have robust procedures in place to manage sickness absence within the Department and the policy includes guidance for staff on how to preserve and maintain their own and others mental well-being, this includes information on preventing and identifying stress.
The Department has completed a Stress Audit recently and the overall departmental analysis shows that there are no areas of high risk stress across the Department, and only three areas of medium risk. We are now in the process of drawing up an action plan to address the issues highlighted in the report. We will also be running a health event in November which will aim to raise awareness of health and well-being issues.
The Department’s sick pay policy pays for sickness absence on full pay for up to six months in any period of 12 months absence—followed by half pay for sickness of up to a maximum of 12 months in any period of four years or less.
| Table 1: Department for Culture, Media and Sport | |
| 1 April to 31 March each year | Average duration of single periods of sick leave (days) |
| Note: This table shows the results for DCMS only. DCMS only holds sickness absence data dating back to 2003. | |
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