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4 Mar 2009 : Column 1590W—continued
Sports: Disabled
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent steps the Government are taking to promote sport for people with a disability. [260167]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Sport England has advised that it gave the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) £1.1 million of core funding in 2008-09 for the organisation to promote inclusion and achieve equality of sporting opportunities for disabled people.
Sport England has been a key partner in the development of the Playground to Podium framework which supports the identification and development of disabled players and athletes. As part of this framework Sport England has recently given £3,066,821 of funding to six National Governing Bodies (NGBs): Athletics (£604,100), Boccia (£56,532), Football (£521,200), Swimming (£721,989), Table Tennis (£569,900), and Wheelchair Basketball (£593,100).
Sport England is now working with all of the London 2012 Paralympics sports including Boccia, Wheelchair Rugby, and Goal ball to support the recognition of NGBs and the development of stronger infrastructure within these sports. Boccia, Wheelchair Rugby, and Goal ball have been allocated over £1.65 million for the 2009-13 period.
Each of the 46 sports that have submitted funding applications to Sport England for the 2009-13 period had their submissions assessed on commitment of the sport to developing opportunities for under-represented groups including people with a disability.
Theatre: Concessions
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent steps the Government are taking to promote the free theatre tickets initiative. [260168]
Barbara Follett: The Free Theatre Ticket for under 26s Scheme, known as A Night Less Ordinary, which has received widespread media coverage, is managed by Arts Council England. It went ‘live’ across the country on 16 February 2009 to coincide with spring half-term. Individual theatres participating in the scheme are responsible for marketing their own free theatre ticket offer.
Arts Council England has agreed a partnership with Metro to help promote the A Night Less Ordinary scheme in newspapers and online.
where users can find details of local participating theatres and sign up to receive a newsletter providing regular information about the scheme. Between the website’s first day of operation on 10 February and 26 February 2009, the website had received over 170,000 visits. 4,500 people had signed up to receive the newsletter. There is also an A Night Less Ordinary Facebook group.
Tourism: South West
Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the contribution made by tourism to the economies of (a) South West England, (b) Cornwall and (c) South East Cornwall in the last five years. [259416]
Barbara Follett: The South West Regional Development Agency have advised that their estimate of the contribution made by tourism to the economies of (a) South West England, (b) Cornwall and (c) South East Cornwall for 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2006, based on the Value of Tourism reports for those years is as follows:
| £000 | ||||
| Region | 2006 | 2005 | 2003 | 2001 |
2007 district data are being worked on at the moment and should be available shortly.
Value of Tourism reports were produced every two years up until 2005.
Video Games
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many video games were sold in the UK in each of the last five years. [260344]
Barbara Follett: I am advised by the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), who hold this information, of the following numbers of video games sold in the UK in the last five years:
| Number | |
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many video games presented to the British Board of Film Classification have been refused a classification in each of the last five years. [260345]
Barbara Follett: In 2007 the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) rejected the full version of the video game Manhunt 2. This game remains banned in the UK. The BBFC also rejected a toned down version of Manhunt 2 but this ban was overturned on appeal to the Video Appeals Committee and this modified version is on sale in the UK. No other games were refused a classification in this period.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many video games consoles were sold in the UK in the latest (a) week, (b) month and (c) year for which information is available. [260346]
Barbara Follett: I am advised by GfK Chart-Track, the UK charts authority responsible for monitoring retail sales of video games in the UK, of the following available figures:
(a) 106,000 consoles sold in week 8 of 2009
(b) 444,000 consoles sold in February 2009
(c) 9.3 million consoles sold in 2008.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what research his Department has conducted on the average age at which children begin (a) playing video games and (b) using the internet. [260348]
Barbara Follett: The Byron Review: “Safer Children in a Digital World” report reviewed a comprehensive range of available research looking at how children interact with video games and the internet. However, no specific research has been undertaken by my Department to determine the age children begin playing video games or using the internet.
Olympics
Departmental Plants
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how much her Department spent on (a) pot plants and (b) cut flowers in each of the last three years. [256172]
Tessa Jowell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office (Mr. Watson) on 11 March 2008, Official Report, column 324W.
Departmental Sick Leave
Norman Lamb: To ask the Minister for the Olympics what the average number of days sick leave per member of staff per year in her Office has been since the Office was established. [256387]
Tessa Jowell: Annual sick leave statistics, including average number of sick leave days per member of staff, are published on the Cabinet Office website at:
and in the “Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service”, a copy of which has been placed in the Library.
Olympic Games 2012: Expenditure
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister for the Olympics how much had been spent on the aquatics venue at the latest date for which figures are available; and what the estimated final cost of the venue is. [256583]
Tessa Jowell: At the end of December 2008, £33 million had been spent on the aquatics centre project.
The original November 2007 budget for the project was £214 million. This was increased to £246 million due to the transfer of £28 million to the aquatics centre budget from that of the F10 Bridge—the land bridge that will form part of the roof of the venue—and increases in scope to allow for enhanced community use of the venue in legacy. There is a potential cost pressure relating to a possible scope change for additional athlete facilities, which may or may not arise, estimated at £5 million.
House of Commons Commission
Administration
Jo Swinson: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2009, Official Report, column 935W, what assessment the House of Commons Commission has made of the merits of the (a) accounting and administration systems for and (b) systems for provision of information to the public on hon. Members' expenses in place in the (i) Scottish Parliament and (ii) National Assembly for Wales; and whether the Commission has considered adopting elements of those systems for use by the House authorities. [260603]
Nick Harvey: The Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales operate systems of allowances and governance that differ from those that apply in the House of Commons. In the case of the provision of information, the Scottish Parliament is subject to separate access to information legislation and associated scrutiny. In reaching its own decisions in relation both to the administration of Members' allowances and publication of information about them the Members Estimate Committee has drawn on a range of sources including the other UK legislatures and Assemblies. For example the Committee drew extensively on the experience of the Scottish Parliament in its Review of Allowances (HC 578) published in June 2008.
Medical Examinations
Dr. Gibson: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission if the House of Commons Commission will make provision for the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Service to offer voluntary annual medical checks to all (a) hon. Members, (b) staff of hon. Members and (c) staff of the House. [260208]
Nick Harvey:
Currently, the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Service offer medical checks for Members of both Houses (every three years but Members
can request an earlier appointment if they wish) and staff of the House (over 55s only). There is no provision for health checks for staff of hon. Members. There are no plans to increase the frequency of health checks or to extend the eligibility to other groups. Although the formal screening programme is not open to staff of hon. Members, there is provision for them to make use of the minor treatment facility and the physiotherapist.
Members’ Allowances
Mr. Doran: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission what arrangements are being made for the House to publish further information about Members’ allowances [261408]
Nick Harvey: Annual totals for 2007-08, using the 10 main headings of previous annual publications, will shortly be sent to Members for checking, and will be published before the Easter recess.
Work is continuing on preparing for publication scans of receipts and forms for the years 2004-05 to 2007-08.
Snow and Ice
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission pursuant to the answer of 5 February 2009, Official Report, column 1391W, on snow and ice, if he will assess the merits of issuing all hon. Members with snow shovels. [260618]
Nick Harvey: No. As I said in my reply to the hon. Member on 5 April, the cleaning contractor, who has responsibility for snow clearance, has increased the number of snow shovels held on the parliamentary estate to 20.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Mr. Ancram: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the Government of Pakistan on their agreement with the Taliban in Swat province. [259987]
Bill Rammell: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary's last discussions with the Government of Pakistan were with President Zardari on 9 February 2009. He has not discussed Pakistan Government's announcement of a halt to military operations in Swat.
Binyam Mohamed
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received on the use by Moroccan intelligence services of intelligence gathered by (a) UK and (b) US authorities during the interrogation of Binyam Mohamed; whether he authorised the release of such information to the Moroccan intelligence services; what discussions he has had with the US Administration on the release of such information (i) prior and (ii) subsequent to its release; and if he will make a statement. [259028]
Bill Rammell: It is the long-standing policy of the Government not to comment on intelligence matters. The Intelligence Security Committee’s 2007 Report on Rendition stated that
“there is a reasonable probability that intelligence passed to the Americans was used in relation to Mr. Mohamed’s subsequent interrogation.”
Colombia: Drugs
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 358W, on Colombia: armed forces, what consideration his Department has given to the merits of providing counter-narcotics assistance to Colombia through the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. [260544]
Gillian Merron: We support a number of projects on counter narcotics in Colombia and elsewhere in the Latin American region that are implemented by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office supports the following recent or ongoing UNODC projects in Colombia:
(i) Expanding regional legal assistance programmes (multi-year 2007-10)
(ii) Training against money laundering (2007-08)
(iii) Best practices in trials and investigation (multi-year 2007-09)
(iv) Colombia/Venezuela border (multi-year 2008-09)
(v) Risk of money laundering in Commerce and Trade (multi-year 2009-11)
(vi) Regional criminal justice sector reform (multi-year 2009-12)
(vii) Implementation of Best Practices in Civil Asset Forfeiture (Colombia/Peru) (2009)
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