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31 Mar 2009 : Column 1053W—continued
Departmental Empty Property
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the change in the annual cost to his Department of maintaining the empty public buildings owned by his Department as a result of the April 2008 changes to empty property rate relief. [267141]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The buildings occupied by the Department are leased not owned.
Departmental Internet
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what expenditure his Department has incurred on its Second Life website in the last 12 months. [267022]
Mr. Sutcliffe: My Department does not have a Second Life website.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which campaigns his Department has officially supported in the last 12 months. [261006]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department regularly listens to views from a wide range of stakeholders, including the public. A list of campaigns that have been formally or informally supported by the Department is not held in the manner requested.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what capital funding his Department has brought forward from its (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11 budgets for use in (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10; and to what ends this funding has been allocated. [266208]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 27 January 2009, Official Report, column 356W.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the (a) production and printing and (b) other costs to his Department of producing its most recent (i) departmental annual report and (ii) autumn performance report. [266696]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The costs of the departmental annual report and autumn performance report for 2008 were as follows:
(i) Departmental annual report—£26,600 for production and £6,736 for printing
(ii) Autumn performance report—£1,694 for production and £661 for printing
Departmental Recycling
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much and what proportion of its waste his Department recycled in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008. [266775]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The following proportion of waste was recycled by the Department:
2007: 54 per cent.
2008: 69 per cent.
Departmental Scientists
Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what his Department’s budget for scientific advice and research is in 2008-09; for what purposes the equivalent budget for 2007-08 was used; and how many people employed in his Department have a science or engineering degree. [260771]
Barbara Follett: The DCMS budget for scientific advice and research in 2008-09 is £1,000,000. The equivalent budget in 2007-08 was used to fund a variety of projects ranging from demand for culture, attitudes to the Olympic legacy to climate change impacts on our sectors and purchasing tourism statistics.
We do not keep staff records based on degree content or classification so cannot say how many staff have a science or engineering degree.
Departmental Standards
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of measuring compliance with its targets under its public service agreements in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [266569]
Mr. Sutcliffe: In the last 12 months, DCMS has not incurred any costs in measuring compliance with its targets.
Data are drawn from a number of sources, none of which are collected solely for the purpose of measuring compliance. In a number of cases, the data sources are funded by other Departments or organisations.
Furthermore, the information used to measure the Department’s PSA targets would be compiled regardless
of PSA reporting requirements, as they relate to key areas of departmental performance which we monitor on an ongoing basis.
Summary information for each PSA is provided in the table.
Digital Broadcasting
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department has spent on advertising and communications relating to the digital switchover to date. [267036]
Andy Burnham: The public information campaign for digital TV switchover is being handled by Digital UK, an independent, not-for-profit organisation, established by the broadcasting industry to lead the switchover programme. I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Carmichael) on 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 324W, which are the most recently available figures.
eBay: Antiquities
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the British Museum's monitoring of potential treasure finds on eBay; and if he will make a statement. [267307]
Barbara Follett: No formal assessment has been made of the British Museum's monitoring of potential treasure finds on eBay. However, I welcome the fact that, since the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the British Museum concluded an agreement with eBay in October 2006 to monitor the site for cases of unreported treasure, the number of instances of potential treasure identified for sale on the site by the British Museum has decreased.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions the Government has had with representatives of eBay to prevent antiquities being sold unlawfully through eBay; and if he will make a statement. [267308]
Barbara Follett: The Government have not held any recent discussions with eBay on this issue. In October 2006 the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) and the British Museum (BM) concluded an agreement with eBay for the BM to monitor the site for cases of unreported treasure. The British Museum has continued to do so since that date.
Gambling Commission
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent consideration the Government has given to a change in the regulatory powers of the Gambling Commission. [267075]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government have not given any recent consideration to any specific change in the regulatory powers of the Gambling Commission. However, the regulatory framework is kept under regular review to ensure that the Commission has the necessary powers to regulate gambling in Great Britain effectively.
Goldman Sachs
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer of 17 March 2009, Official Report, column 974W, on departmental bank services, what the monetary value is of the contract between his Department and Goldman Sachs. [268305]
Mr. Sutcliffe: In relation to this contract between the Department and Goldman Sachs the monetary value was £43,573.
Horserace Totalisator Board
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the gross gaming yield was for the Tote in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [267093]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Tote have advised that gambling machine yearly revenue totals from its UK licensed betting offices (LBOs) were:
| Amount in £ millions | |
The totals show all revenue from gambling machines in LBOs. This revenue is not limited to that derived from category B2 gambling machine play, but includes other types of gambling machines/play previously and currently utilised in LBOs.
The totals are also shown before payment of value added tax (gross profits tax before December 2005), amusement machine license duty and operating costs.
Regional Ministers: Travel
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether the Permanent Secretary of his Department has authorised expenditure on travel costs for the parliamentary assistant to the Minister for the East of England in accordance with the circumstances envisaged in the Cabinet Secretary's letter to Permanent Secretaries of 2 December 2008. [267155]
Mr. Sutcliffe: No claims have been made.
Royal National Lifeboat Institution: Radio
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations his Department has received on the effect of radio licensing fees on the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. [261972]
Mr. McFadden: I have been asked to reply.
This Department receives representations on many issues, a small number of these expressed concern about the level of radio licensing fees that the RNLI pays.
I understand that the RNLI pays fees for the radio channels it uses in its own right on the same basis as other maritime users such as ports and marinas but, as a charity, the RNLI receives a 50 per cent. discount. Under proposals of the Office of Communications (Ofcom), the RNLI and other charities will continue to benefit from the 50 per cent. discount. It will also be possible under the proposals for large, geographically spread users to save costs by getting a ‘volume discount’, and taking out UK-wide licences. Since the initial
consultation opened, Ofcom clarified that the proposals they were consulting on would actually see the level of fees that the RNLI pays, halved.
No fees are payable by RNLI, or other charities, for channels specifically intended for search and rescue. The licences for these channels are held by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).
Ofcom expect to consult again on this subject before any changes are implemented.
St. George’s Day
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to the answer given on 22 January 2009, Official Report, columns 1584-5W, on St. George's Day (1) what recent representations he has received on the promotion of St. George's Day; and which (a) groups and (b) individuals submitted such representations; [267016]
(2) how many items of correspondence his Department has received regarding St. George's Day since 13 January 2009. [267017]
Barbara Follett: As at 24 March the Department had received four items of correspondence with St. George's Day as its main subject since 13 January.
All four letters were from Members of Parliament. The Department holds no records of further representations on this subject during this time period.
As I stated in my response of 22 January to the hon. Member, it is possible that further correspondence could mention St. George's Day as a secondary issue, but this correspondence could be identified only at disproportionate cost.
Television: Concessions
Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many pensioners over the age of 75 resident in Bolton received a free television licence in 2008. [261790]
Andy Burnham: This is a matter for the BBC and my Department does not hold this information. We normally estimate this on a constituency basis, but this would not be appropriate to answer this question. I have, therefore, asked the BBC’s head of revenue management to consider the question raised by the hon. Member and to write to him direct.
Copies of the reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
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