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26 Nov 2008 : Column 2169W—continued
Coastal Areas
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps his Department has taken to improve its arrangements for co-ordination with other Government departments of policy affecting coastal towns in the last two years. [238653]
Barbara Follett: A cross-Whitehall coastal towns group, led by the Department for Communities and Local Government, is working in partnership with a Regional Development Agency (RDA)-led network to improve knowledge of the challenges and opportunities facing coastal towns in order to inform action at a national and sub-national level. In addition, VisitBritain has been conducting a strategic framework review which, among other things, is examining the better co-ordination of public expenditure and strategic engagement by Government Departments, Regional Development Agencies and Local Authorities in support of tourism in Britain, including the coastal areas. VisitWales and VisitScotland have been involved in the Review, which will report its findings soon.
Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage
Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps his Department has taken to fulfil the Government's commitment to the principles established in the Annex to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. [238465]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 24 November 2008]: As confirmed in the answer given on 24 January 2008, Official Report, column 46, the Government's maritime heritage policy recognises the Annex to the 2001 UNESCO Convention as best practice for underwater archaeology and have advocated adherence to the principles of this where this has been compatible with existing United Kingdom legislation. English Heritage is the Government's statutory adviser on the historic environment of England and English coastal waters. Their new technical guide on assessing risk to English Designated Wreck sites, which was published in November 2008, refers to the Annex, and the fact that the issuing of Licences by the Secretary of State to carry out activities specified in the 1973 Protection of Wrecks Act on designated sites is also carried out with regard to the general principles of the Annex. Although English Heritage's “Protection of Wrecks Act: Guidance for Divers and Archaeologists”, which was published in 2007, does not specifically refer to the Annex, it reflects the principles within it.
Convergence Think Tank
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many more Convergence Think Tank seminars he expects to take place. [239590]
Andy Burnham: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Culture: Community Development
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what events have been planned to share research and best practice from the priority places initiative. [239613]
Barbara Follett: The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council are the lead body for the Priority Places Programme and its parent programme, Living Places. It held a successful event to share research and best practice on Thursday 20th November 2008 and intend to hold a further research and evaluation seminar early in the next financial year. In addition, the new Living Places website (www.living-places.org.uk) acts as a source of research and best practice for those participating.
Culture: Education
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on what date each of the Find Your Talent pilots began; when he expects to report on the findings from the pilots; and if he will make a statement. [239385]
Andy Burnham: The information requested is set out in the table.
| Pilot | Launch date |
Find Your Talent is a three-year programme running to 2011. The first interim report from the independent evaluation of the pilots will be in April 2009. Pilots will also be supplying regular monitoring data to the National Delivery Team throughout the life of the programme and learning and success stories from the pilots will be shared as they develop.
Culture: Sustainable Development
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 20 October 2008, Official Report, column 109W, on culture: planning, what the reason is for the time taken to (a) launch and (b) commence the Cultural Planning Toolkit training. [239395]
Barbara Follett: The Cultural Planning Tools and Guidance (CPTG) was due for completion by Culture East Midlands earlier this year. However, personal circumstances concerning the lead consultant with responsibility for the project resulted in delays and the eventual appointment of new consultants. Training for the product can only commence once the CPTG is fully complete. The new consultants are now taking this work forward, with a projected launch date of March 2009.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the cost to his Department of provision of office facilities to (a) special advisers and (b) press officers (i) was in the last 12 months and (ii) has been since 1997-98. [232803]
Barbara Follett: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many offices (a) his Department, (b) its agency and (c) each of its non-departmental public bodies occupy; what the location of each is; how many staff are employed at each location; and what the floor area of each office is. [238432]
Barbara Follett: The information requested is as follows.
(a) The Department occupies the following offices. Queens Yard includes office space for 15 Government Art Collection staff as well as a gallery, workshop and storage space.
| Office location | Staff | Area sq m |
(b) The Royal Parks occupy the following offices.
| Office location | Staff | Area sq m |
(c) Due to the large number of NDPBs that are sponsored by DCMS it is not possible to provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate cost.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much (a) his Department, (b) its agency and (c) each of its non-departmental public bodies spent on office accommodation from 2005-06 to 2007-08; and what the estimated outturn for 2008-09 is. [238433]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information is as follows:
(a) The Department spent the following on office accommodation:
| £ | |
| (1) Estimated outturn. | |
(b) The Royal Parks aggregate the cost of all buildings (offices, stores, workshops, WC's etc) by park. The information relating to office buildings only could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
(c) Due to the large number of NDPBs that are sponsored by DCMS it is not possible to provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate cost.
Departmental Consultants
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much (a) his Department, (b) its agency and (c) each of his Department’s non-departmental public bodies spent on external consultancy in each year since 1997-98; how much is planned to be spent by each in 2008-09; and if he will make a statement. [238515]
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much (a) his Department, (b) its agency and (c) its non-departmental public bodies spent on external consultancy in each year from 1997-98 to 2007-08; what the estimated outturn of each body is for 2008-09; and if he will make a statement. [238437]
Barbara Follett: Due to the large number of non departmental public bodies that are sponsored by DCMS it is not possible to provide the information requested for part (c) without incurring disproportionate cost.
(a) 1997-98—£465,336; 1998-99—£329,911; 1999-2000—£588,321; 2000-01—£194,075; 2001-02—£318,416; 2002-03—£469,480; 2003-04—£473,785; 2004-05—£643,924; 2005-06—£1,161,306; 2006-07—£852,525; 2007-08—£1,180,354.
(b) 1999-2000—£595,615; 2000-01—£558,030; 2001-02—£495,694; 2002-03—£632,276; 2003-04—£566,314; 2004-05—£625,517; 2005-06—£574,157; 2006-07—£833,722; 2007-08—£1,958,514.
Due to changes at the time in the accounting structure, figures cannot be provided for 1997-98 and 1998-99 without incurring disproportionate cost.
The estimated outturn in 2008-09 for DCMS is £1.3 million and for Royal Parks Agency is £1.7 million, both of which are subject to revision.
Departmental Cost Effectiveness
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when his Department submitted its Value For Money programme progress report to HM Treasury; and if he will place a copy of the report in the Library. [239594]
Andy Burnham: We will publish our assessment of progress towards the Value for Money programme in our upcoming Autumn Performance Report.
This will be laid before Parliament and published on our website no later than 15 December 2008.
Departmental Equality
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he plans to review the progress of his Department’s Diversity Strategy. [239593]
Barbara Follett: My Department is in the process of reviewing progress on our Equality Scheme and will publish our report on progress early in 2009.
Departmental Information Officers
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many press and communications officers are employed by (a) Arts Council England, (b) Sport England, (c) UK Sport, (d) the Museums and Libraries Archive and (e) English Heritage. [224779]
Barbara Follett: The information requested has been provided by the following organisations:
The Arts Council currently employs 49 members of staff as press and communications officers.
Sport England currently employs 14 full-time equivalent members of staff as press and communications officers.
UK Sport currently employs five full-time equivalent members of staff as press and communications officers.
The Museums and Libraries Archive
The Museum and Libraries Archive currently employs one full-time equivalent member of staff on press and communications.
English Heritage currently employs 10 full-time equivalent members of staff as press and communications officers.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many press and communications officers (1) (a) the Heritage Lottery Fund and (b) the Big Lottery Fund employed at the latest date for which figures are available; [224844]
(2) are employed by the National Heritage Memorial Fund. [224847]
Barbara Follett: The information requested has been provided by the following organisations:
The Heritage Lottery Fund currently employs 8.1 full-time equivalent staff as press and communications officers.
The National Heritage Memorial Fund
The National Heritage Memorial Fund is the parent body of the Heritage Lottery Fund and shares their press and communication resource.
The Big Lottery Fund currently employs 13.4 full-time equivalent staff as press and communications officers.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent by (a) Arts Council England, (b) Sport England, (c) UK Sport, (d) the Museums Libraries and Archives Council and (e) English Heritage on employing press and communications officers in each of the last five years. [224864]
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