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23 Feb 2009 : Column 422W—continued
Culture, Media and Sport
Arts: Young People
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what projects his Department funds to encourage participation in the arts by young people; and what the cost of those projects was in the last 12 months, broken down by region. [253080]
Barbara Follett: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport provides financial support for the arts through Arts Council England, which makes funding decisions independently of Government. Children and young people are one of the four priorities Arts Council England will be focusing on over the next three years. Much of the support given by Arts Council England through its Grants for the Arts and Regularly Funded Organisation schemes will encourage participation in the arts by young people.
As well as these general grants, Arts Council England is currently involved with six specific projects and organisations which aim to encourage the participation of young people in the arts. The funding allocated for the last 12 months is set out as follows. A breakdown of funding by region is not possible for projects which are funded on a national basis.
| Project/organisation | Allocated funding in 2008-09 (£) |
| (1) Divided equally across the nine English regions. | |
Broadband
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make it his policy to ensure that consumers seeking to purchase home broadband services have the option of purchasing such services without voice services; and if he will make a statement. [253209]
Mr. McFadden: [ h olding answer 2 February 2009]: I have been asked to reply.
There are no regulatory barriers preventing the development of broadband services without a voice service (‘naked DSL’) and nothing therefore preventing a commercial operator offering the service, indeed Virgin Media offer a broadband only service (‘naked cable’).
While some ADSL broadband customers may not want a traditional voice telephone service, they may still require the telephone line to deliver their broadband. Although a subscriber may no longer require a traditional voice telephone service there remains a cost to be met for the provision, maintenance and operation of the line. The majority of the line rental charge covers these costs.
Ofcom reports that over the past five years several operators have considered offering a broadband-only service. However, such a service has never been launched. Given the level of competition in this market and the fact that several operators have considered offering a broadband-only service it would appear that no operator has identified a commercial case for such a product.
Crown Lands and Estates
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what his policy is on the upkeep from the public purse of properties owned by the royal family. [248136]
Barbara Follett: Grant in aid is not provided by the Department for the upkeep of properties owned by members of the royal family in a private capacity. Grant in aid is provided to the royal household annually only to meet the costs of property maintenance, and of utilities telephones and related services at the Occupied Royal Palaces in England, as these are held in trust for the nation by the Queen as sovereign and are used in fulfilling the role and functions of the Head of State. The Occupied Royal Palaces are Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Palace, Clarence House, Marlborough House Mews, the residential and office areas of Kensington Palace, the Royal Mews and Royal Paddocks at Hampton Court, and Windsor Castle and buildings in the Home and Great Parks at Windsor.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will publish a copy of his Department's website accessibility plan. [257237]
Andy Burnham: The Department has not produced a separate website accessibility plan. This has been incorporated into our Equality Scheme 2007-10 which is published on the Department website:
In addition we have published an accessibility statement on our website:
This specified our commitment to high standards of website accessibility and the methodology used to achieve our targets.
Digital Broadcasting: Elderly
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assistance his Department is giving to the elderly to help them with the digital television switchover; and if he will make a statement. [257079]
Andy Burnham: The Government and the BBC have set up a digital switchover help scheme. The scheme covers households where one person is aged 75 or over, or has a severe disability, or is registered blind or partially sighted and anyone who is normally resident in a care home.
The scheme provides easy-to-use equipment that suits a person's needs and help with installing the equipment, including where necessary a new dish or aerial and an easy-to-understand demonstration of how everything works. The scheme also ensures that there will be someone that people can call for help while they are getting used to digital television.
English Heritage: Grants
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much English Heritage has spent per capita for each region in each of the last five years. [255193]
Barbara Follett: English Heritage advises that approximately half its expenditure is allocated directly to its regions. The following table sets out the spend per capita for regionally managed expenditure.
These figures do not include centrally managed expenditure although a considerable proportion delivers activities in the regions, for example, education, outreach, the Property Investment Programme and some grants programmes. The proportion of centrally managed expenditure allocated to each region cannot be established without disproportionate cost. This is because many activities are categorised thematically rather than geographically, for example, research into seaside towns, aerial survey programmes or spend on interpretation at English Heritage properties.
Exercise
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the number of (a) men, (b) women and (c) those over the age of 16 years who have participated in at least 30 minutes a day of moderate intensity physical activity on five or more days of the week in each of the last three years (i) in total and (ii) broken down by region. [256362]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The ‘Taking Part’ survey is a continuous household survey providing national data on participation in culture, leisure and sport.
The following table shows the percentage of men and women aged 16 and over who have participated in at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity level sport on at least five separate days in the past week. The data are presented by region for each of the last three years. Data are also provided for the total adult population.
| Participation in moderate intensity sport on at least five days in the past week, by adults aged 16 and over | |||||||||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |||||||
| Men | Women | All adults | Men | Women | All adults | Men | Women | All adults | |
| Note: These figures are survey estimates which will contain a margin of error. For further information about the methodology, a full definition of moderate intensity sport and the confidence intervals around these estimates, see the final assessment of SR04 PSA3 at http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/5653.aspx | |||||||||
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