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20 Apr 2009 : Column 28W—continued
USA
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Prime Minister what the cost to the public purse was of his recent visit to the United States of America. [267078]
The Prime Minister: Since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. Copies of these lists are available in the Library of the House. Information for the financial year 2008-09 will be published in the usual manner.
USA: Ballistic Missile Defence
Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Prime Minister what recent discussions he has had with the US administration on missile defence (a) facilities in the UK and (b) deployment in the EU; if he will hold discussions on these matters when he next meets President Obama; and if he will make a statement. [264918]
The Prime Minister: I discussed a wide range of issues with President Obama during our recent meetings. I refer my hon. Friend to the joint press conferences I held with President Obama on 5 March 2009 and 1 April 2009. Transcripts of these are available on the No. 10 website:
Copies have also been placed in the Library of the House.
Culture, Media and Sport
Regional Community Sport
14. Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in Sport England regional budgets on revenue and capital funding for regional community sport projects up to 2012; and if he will make a statement. [269396]
Mr. Sutcliffe: England has streamlined its funding process, so funding will no longer be allocated regionally. These changes will help to realise savings of approximately £20 million over the next four years, which will allow reinvestment in community sport projects.
The vast majority of Sport England's funding—nearly half a billion pounds over the next four years—will be allocated to national governing bodies. This represents a significant change towards investment in grassroots sport, and NGBs will be funded on the basis of their potential to deliver against the strategic outcomes of grow, sustain and excel. Investment will in turn be directed by NGBs into areas where they believe it will best achieve their, and our, strategic outcomes. NGBs are currently taking decisions on where best to invest their money, and we are unable to provide a regional breakdown of this investment for 2009-10.
This complements the huge amount of funding—£780 million nationally over the next three years—that is being invested in school sport. This will largely be channelled through local School Sport and County Sport Partnerships, and will deliver a real difference in the amount and quality of sport for children and young people across the country.
Tourism
15. Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding his Department provided for the promotion of England as a tourism destination in 2008-09. [269397]
Barbara Follett: In 2008-09 my Department gave VisitBritain £47.9 million, of which, £8.46 million went on England marketing.
However this does not fully reflect the funding for all England activities because of ‘shared services’ like IT, HR and the fact that expenditure for improving the quality of our tourist accommodation and facilities counts as an industry service and not England marketing. In this exceptional year of restructuring it is not possible to give a detailed split between Britain and England spending for 2008-09.
In 2008-09 the combined VisitBritain/VisitEngland corporate services budget was £6.25 million.
Laura Moffatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues on policy to provide support for the tourism industry. [269388]
Andy Burnham: We have held a number of discussions with ministerial colleagues, including a recent meeting with my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Employment Relations at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, to discuss business support measures for the tourism industry, and with my hon. Friend the Minister for Borders and Immigration at the Home Office to review the effect of visa processes on inbound tourism.
We will also be convening a joint meeting of ministerial colleagues shortly to discuss cross-cutting issues relevant to promoting the visitor economy.
Mr. Flello: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the contribution of heritage in attracting tourists from overseas. [269394]
Barbara Follett: Market research carried out by VisitBritain indicates that heritage is one of the key motivators for those considering a visit to Britain. In the 2008 National Brand Index survey Britain is ranked as the 4th best nation (behind Egypt, Italy, and France) for built heritage which is therefore a real strength in our tourism offer.
Sport: North East England
16. Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding he plans to provide for sport in the north-east in 2009-10. [269398]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Sport England has streamlined its funding process, so funding will no longer be allocated regionally. These changes will help to realise savings of approximately £20 million over the next four years, which will allow reinvestment in community sport projects.
The vast majority of Sport England’s funding—nearly half a billion pounds over the next four years—will be allocated to national governing bodies. This represents a significant change towards investment in grass roots sport, and NGBs will be funded on the basis of their potential to deliver against the strategic outcomes of grow, sustain and excel. Investment will in turn be directed by NGBs into areas where they believe it will best achieve their, and our, strategic outcomes. NGBs are currently taking decisions on where best to invest their money, and we are unable to provide a regional breakdown of this investment for 2009-10.
This complements the huge amount of funding—£780 million nationally over the next three years—that is being invested in school sport. This will largely be channelled through local school sport and county sport partnerships, and will deliver a real difference in the amount and quality of sport for children and young people across the country.
Local News Media
17. Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether he plans to provide support for local news organisations. [269399]
20. Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps he plans to take to support the provision of local news services. [269402]
Andy Burnham: I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave earlier to the hon. Member for Congleton (Ann Winterton).
Apprenticeships
18. Mr. Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills on provision of apprenticeships in the tourism sector. [269400]
Barbara Follett: High quality provision of apprenticeships is an important part of the national skills strategy for the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism sector. My Department has received detailed recommendations from the industry, through People 1st, on how to achieve this.
I chair the Monitoring and Implementation Group for this strategy, and a senior official from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills is represented on that group.
In addition, I will shortly be convening a meeting of ministerial colleagues to discuss issues relevant to the tourism industry, and a DIUS Minister is being invited.
Newspaper Advertising
19. Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions he has had with representatives of the newspaper industry on advertisements for sexual services in local newspapers. [269401]
Barbara Follett: The Minister for Women and Equality convened a meeting with the Newspaper Society on 1 November 2007 to talk about how to combat sex trafficking. The Minister for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism attended that meeting.
Subsequently, the Newspaper Society updated and strengthened the legal advice and guidance it provides to publishers on accepting personal ads. Among other things, this warns publishers to be wary of ads, such as for massage parlours, which may disguise sexual services.
Regional Theatres
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to support regional theatres. [269386]
Barbara Follett: Arts Council England plan to invest £318 million in theatre across England between 2008-09 and 2010-11.
The recently launched A Night Less Ordinary scheme will provide 618 000 free theatre tickets to under-26-year-olds over the next two years.
My Department is supporting this initiative, which will help theatres fill their seats while building the audience of the future.
London Olympics
Mr. McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what opportunities his Department is making available to local authorities to encourage sporting and cultural activities in connection with the London 2012 Olympics; and if he will make a statement. [269392]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Sport and culture play a significant role in plans for the Olympic and Paralympic games and Olympic Legacy.
As part of wider Government plans for getting two million people more active for 2012, we will get one million more people playing sport. 80 local authorities have signed up to having National Indicator 8 on Sport and Active Recreation, and nearly 300 are participating in the Government's Free Swimming Programme. In addition, Sport England will be having several themed (e.g. the first round recently targeted at rural communities) rounds of funding over the next four years, up to £30 million per year, which will be open to local authorities to bid for.
Local authorities have also already played a role in the delivery of the Cultural Olympiad, which aims to provide opportunities for a variety of organisations involved in culture to be part of the cultural celebrations linked to the games, and we expect they will continue to do so.
Following the success of ‘Open Weekend' last year to celebrate the launch of the Cultural Olympiad, July 24 to 26 2009 will see the ‘London 2012 Open Weekend' taking place across the country, and I encourage local authorities to get involved with local cultural, sporting and sustainability-related events over the weekend to celebrate London 2012 in the heart of our communities.
Alcoholic Drinks: Licensing
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many licensees have had their licence revoked for selling alcohol to an under-age person in each of the last five years. [269254]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Statistical bulletins on licences to sell alcohol include the number of premises licences and club premises certificates revoked, but do not indicate the reason why. Licences and certificates may be revoked on review for one or more reasons relating to the four licensing objectives, including sales of alcohol to children.
The first DCMS Statistical Bulletin on Alcohol, Entertainment and Late Night Refreshment, under the provisions of the Licensing Act 2003 reported that there were 675 completed reviews between April 2006 and March 2007(1). Following which, 91 licences or certificates were suspended, 92 licences were revoked or club premises certificates withdrawn, and 52 Designated Premises Supervisors were removed (Premises Licences only). It is not known which of these suspensions, revocations, withdrawals or removals related to underage sales.
The second statistical bulletin, covering the period between April 2007 and March 2008, reported that there were 1,008 completed reviews for England and Wales(2). 396 of these completed reviews were carried out for reasons relating to the protection of children from harm (based on 91 per cent. of returns), but it is unknown if they relate to a one-off case of selling alcohol to children or the persistent selling of alcohol to children. The number of suspensions, revocations, withdrawals or removals following these completed reviews is unknown. However, following all completed reviews 167 licences or certificates were suspended, 155 licences were revoked or club premises certificates withdrawn and 102 designated premises supervisors were removed(3).
Since 6 April 2007, in addition to actions following reviews, 18 premises licences were suspended by a court under Section 147B(1) of the Licensing Act 2003 (as amended by the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006) for the sale or supply of alcohol, following an offence of persistently selling to underage children.
Prior to the implementation of the Licensing Act 2003, data on the number of alcohol licences revoked in England and Wales were collected by petty sessional division (magistrates court areas), on a triennial basis. Between July 2003 to June 2004, there were a total of 354 revocations of on and off-licences. Again, it is not known how many revocations related to underage sales.
(1 )Based on returns from 85 per cent. of licensing authorities in England and Wales.
(2 )Based on 97 per cent. of returns.
(3 )Based on around 94 per cent. of returns.
Bookmakers: Licensing
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans he has to regulate the use of betting exchanges as a means of avoiding requirements on bookmakers in relation to licensing and levy contributions. [268213]
Mr. Sutcliffe
[holding answer 1 April 2009]: The operators of betting exchanges located in Great Britain are regulated by, and require a licence from, the Gambling
Commission, and are required to contribute to the Horserace Betting Levy. Any person providing facilities for gambling in Great Britain who uses betting exchanges in the course of business requires a remote operating licence from the commission, and any bookmaker who carries on a business which includes horse race betting transactions is required to contribute to the Horserace Betting Levy.
I am aware of some concerns around compliance in this area and my officials are exploring these issues with relevant bodies and licensed operators.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport for how long his Department has followed the Carbon Trust's Carbon Management programme. [269282]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department has been following the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Management programme for three years.
Departmental Energy
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much (a) electricity, (b) gas and (c) other fuel was used by (i) his Department and (ii) each of its agencies in each of the last 10 years. [267338]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The electricity, gas and other fuel used by the Department and The Royal Parks on its office estate is detailed as follows.
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