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25 Nov 2008 : Column 1339W—continued
Gambling Commission: Manpower
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff (a) the Gambling Commission and (b) the National Lottery Commission employs; at what cost; and what budget has been set for each for (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11. [237640]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Gambling Commission have advised that as of 19 November 2008 they employed a total of 230 staff and that the budget for 2008-09 includes provision for a total of 246 staff, at a cost of £9.2 million. The Gambling Commission’s staff budget has not yet been set for 2009-10 and 2010-11.
The National Lottery Commission have advised that they will employ 42 staff at a cost of £2.253 million for 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11.
Gambling: Regulation
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the Answer of 17 November 2008, Official Report, column 11W, on gambling: regulation, how many remote gambling website operators are based in the UK. [238335]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Gambling Commission has advised that 164 operators in Great Britain hold remote operating licences permitting them to operate a gambling website.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 17 November 2008, Official Report, column 11W, on gambling: regulation, how many remote gambling operations failed the mystery shopper tests. [238336]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Gambling Commission has advised that in just over a third of mystery shopper tests, deficiencies have been identified that could, in some circumstances, allow under 18s to gamble.
However, the majority of mystery shopper tests conducted showed that policies and procedures to prevent children from gambling on remote gambling sites are effectively in place, and all of the licensed operators identified as having questions over their procedures in a pilot study undertaken in 2007 were found to have effective measures in place in more recent testing.
Further details of the number of operators with deficiencies will be published in the Gambling Commission's 2008-09 Annual Report.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 17 November 2008, Official Report, column 11W, on gambling: regulations, for what reason the Gambling Commission has not carried out tests of overseas operators since the summer of 2007; and when he expects further tests of overseas operators to be undertaken. [238337]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Since 1 September 2007 the focus of the Gambling Commission's ongoing compliance programme has been on operators licensed in Great Britain.
The tests the Gambling Commission currently plans to undertake in respect of overseas operators are mystery shopping visits, as part of their ongoing compliance and enforcement activities. The Gambling Commission has already made plans to undertake mystery shopper visits to gambling websites located in overseas jurisdictions and expects these visits to form part of its ongoing compliance programme in 2009.
Horse Racing
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what reports he receives on the work of the Horserace Betting Levy Board; how often he receives such reports; and what procedures are in place for making such reports public. [237647]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Horserace Betting Levy Board presents an Annual Report to the Secretary of State, to be laid before Parliament. The Annual Report for 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 was laid before Parliament on 15 July 2008. Copies are available in the House Library. The annual report is also available via the board’s website:
Hotels: Standards
Mr. Hunt:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps he has taken to increase the percentage of visitor accommodation which is
accredited since identifying a target figure in his Department’s report Winning: A Tourism Strategy for 2012 and Beyond. [239461]
Barbara Follett: A number of initiatives have been implemented across the country to help us reach our target figure of increasing National Quality Accreditation Schemes (NQAS) participation to 80 per cent. across Britain by 2010 and to 85 per cent. by 2012. Particular focus has been given to London where the take-up rate is lower than the national average. We continue to work with VisitBritain, Visit London, the regional development agencies, the London Development Agency and local authorities to provide incentives for individual businesses and sectors and tailor business support to increase participation in the NQAS. Progress on NQAS is being monitored by the Tourism Ministerial Advisory Group.
Improvement and Development Agency
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support his Department provided for the Local Government Association's Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) in each of the last five years; and how many local authorities used the cultural and leisure service-specific advice supplied by IDeA. [239587]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The total funding provided by the Department to the Improvement and Development Agency over the last five years is £85,000. A full breakdown is in the following table.
| £ | |
IDeA is co-funded to build capacity in the local government sector and as such, has provided a range of support for councils. An indication of support used by the local authorities is a recent communications survey carried out by IDeA: of the 153 councils that responded, 69.3 per cent. said they used at least one of the self-assessment tools.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support his Department plans to provide to the Improvement and Development Agency in each of the next three years. [239588]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department is currently reviewing its work programme and has yet to formally agree the level of funding it will provide to the Improvement and Development Agency in future.
Olympic Games 2012: Football
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr of 15 October 2008, Official Report, columns 1364-65W, on the Olympic Games 2012: football, what progress has been made in the discussions between the relevant parties on the formation of a Great Britain football team to compete at the London 2012 Olympics. [234079]
Mr. Sutcliffe: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I met with the FIFA General Secretary and Lord Triesman, Chairman of the FA on 11 November to discuss, among other issues, a Great Britain football team at the London 2012 Olympics. Discussions are continuing.
Olympic Games 2012: Transport
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment has been made of the number of people likely to visit the London 2012 Olympics by caravan. [239232]
Barbara Follett: No assessment has currently been made of the number of people likely to visit the London 2012 Olympics by caravan.
Play: Finance
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of progress towards meeting the Government's commitment to provide £200 million for improving children's play opportunities under his Department's review of children's play. [238363]
Mr. Sutcliffe: My Department has not set a target of providing £200 million towards children's play. However, as part of our response to Getting Serious About Play, the review of children's play undertaken by my right hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Frank Dobson) in 2004, my right hon. Friend the right hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Tessa Jowell), stated that she expected £200 million to be provided for children's play through lottery funding by 2012.
That expectation is being met in England through the Big Lottery Fund £155 million play initiative.
Public Libraries: Derbyshire
Mr. Skinner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funding his Department has allocated to public libraries in Derbyshire in each of the last five years. [237907]
Barbara Follett: This information is not held centrally. However, the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) publish figures of total revenue expenditure and total revenue income for each library authority in their report Public library statistics. The figures are provided per thousand population. When used with resident population statistics (also provided in the publication), the amount of core funding allocated by Derbyshire county council to its public libraries can be calculated. The House of Commons Library holds copies of the report, including the most recent edition which contains estimated figures for 2007-08 and actual data for 2006-07.
Tourism
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the change in the UK's ranking in the Anholt Nation Brand Index as part of his work to champion UK tourism in the last three years. [238012]
Barbara Follett: The latest results from the reformed 2008 Anholt GFK Brand Index Survey (under the new methodology) reveal that the UK has moved up one place, from fourth in 2007 to third in 2008, in terms of ‘holistic nation brand’, behind Germany and France. This broadly reconfirms that the UK is still one of the leading visitor destinations in the world.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in which region the tourism satellite accounting pilot took place in 2004; what assessment he has made of the results; and if he will place a copy of the results in the Library. [238151]
Barbara Follett: The pilot ‘UK Tourism Satellite Account (TSA)—First Steps Project (2004)’ was produced for the United Kingdom. A similar pilot was undertaken by Ireland alongside this project, and a separate pilot report for the English regions published in 2005.
Results from the UK pilot are used as the basis for the estimation of tourism’s contribution to the economy. The latest figures estimate that tourism contributed 2.7 per cent. to UK Gross Value Added in 2007.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the Answer of 12 May 2008, Official Report, column 1375W, on tourism, when he expects to publish his Department's report on the elasticities of tourism demand. [238411]
Barbara Follett: “The Drivers of Tourism Demand in the UK” report will be placed in the House Library shortly and published on the DCMS website.
Tourism: Coastal Areas
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what Visit Britain’s national strategy for coastal and seaside tourism is. [238093]
Barbara Follett: Visit Britain has advised that it does not have a national strategy for coastal and seaside tourism. However, the DCMS Tourism Strategy “Winning: A tourism Strategy for 2012 and Beyond”, published in partnership with Visit Britain, covers tourism across the country, including coastal and seaside tourism. In addition, this Department has, made available a funding package of £45 million (£15 million pa over the next three years) through the Sea Change Programme, which aims to help catalyse the regeneration of seaside resorts in England through cultural and heritage projects.
UK Film Council: Information Officers
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent on employing press and communications officers by the UK Film Council in each of the last five years. [224867]
Barbara Follett: The information requested has been supplied by the UK Film Council. Inclusive of NIC and pensions, the total spent in each of the last five years is:
| £ | |
| Note: For consistency, figures are rounded up to the nearest £100 | |
Video Games
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent (a) discussions he has had with and (b) representations he has received from representatives of the computer gaming industry on (i) skills shortages and (ii) levels of taxation in the industry. [238266]
Barbara Follett: My predecessor and I have received a number of representations from, and held regular meetings with, representatives of the computer gaming industry about a range of issues, including skills requirements and taxation issues. For example, discussions were held in July and November with the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) and the right hon. Member for Barking (Margaret Hodge) addressed these issues at a Westminster Media Forum event in July.
Duchy of Lancaster
Census
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the cost of the 2001 census was; and what estimate he has made of the cost of the forthcoming census. [236309]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated November 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the cost of the 2001 Census was; and what estimate has been made of the cost of the forthcoming Census. (236309)
The published figure of £207 million for the 2001 Census covered the base cost. When certain support activities funded by ONS including funding for the disseminations of outputs, initial local authority follow-up studies and the ongoing census support such as customer services are added, the overall cost of the 2001 Census in England and Wales equates to £214 million.
On the basis of present planning assumptions, the estimates of the cost of the 2011 Census in England and Wales over the period 2005-2016 is £482 million. Provision for the later years from 2012/13 will be subject to future spending reviews and will cover the final stages of data and output processing, dissemination and a number of subsequent output services and releases.
In order to compare these figures, inflation, population growth and technical innovations must be taken into account. Innovations for the 2011 Census include online completion of questionnaires and the tracking of each questionnaire from printing to processing through a robust form tracking system. We are also carrying out significant address register development and address checking work for the 2011 Census.
The Censuses in Northern Ireland and Scotland are devolved matters.
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