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29 Jun 2009 : Column 32W—continued
UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 8 June 2009, Official Report, columns 27-28WS, on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, whether the optional protocol to the convention will be designated a European Community Treaty. [282744]
Jonathan Shaw: No, the Government's view is that this is not necessary.
Culture, Media and Sport
Departmental Pay
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which (a) sections of his Department and (b) non-departmental public bodies for which his Department is responsible have requested money saved from efficiency savings to be used for increased pay in their 2009 pay offers to staff. [282537]
Mr. Bradshaw [holding answer 26 June 2009]: Neither DCMS nor the non-departmental public bodies it is responsible for have made any such requests.
Mass Media: Competition
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will assess the likely effects of limiting each media company to single proprietor or group ownership in the media industry; and if he will make a statement. [281776]
Mr. Simon: The Communications Act 2003 requires Ofcom to conduct a statutory review of the media ownership rules every three years. Ofcom are now undertaking such a review and are expected to report back later in the year.
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of moving the acquisitions, export and loans unit of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council from London to Birmingham. [282534]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 26 June 2009]: The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has advised that the costs of moving its acquisitions, export and loans unit to Birmingham are estimated to be in the region of £350,000-£400,000. This figure includes the costs of redundancies, recruitment and retention costs, some additional staffing and travel costs during the transitional period, and a small amount for physical infrastructure for the new unit.
MLA has advised that these costs will be met from within its existing budget and that full details of expenditure will be published in its annual report and accounts.
National Lottery: Essex
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much Lottery funding has been awarded to sport-related groups in (a) Essex and (b) Castle Point in each of the last five years. [282078]
Mr. Simon: The information in the following table gives details of national lottery funding awarded to sport-related groups in Essex and Castle Point in each of the last five years.
| £ | ||
| Financial year | Essex | Castle Point |
The information comes from the DCMS’s lottery grants database, with additional detail from the Big Lottery Fund. The database is searchable at:
and uses information on lottery grants supplied by the lottery distributors.
Radio
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate his Department has made of the number of analogue radios in use in the UK. [282621]
Mr. Simon: Ofcom’s research in September 2008 showed that about 45.9 million analogue radio devices were in use in the UK at least once a week. In addition their research showed that there were about 22.5 million cars with an analogue radio.
Tourism
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what guidance his Department and its agencies provide to local authorities on the provision of events to attract tourists and visitors. [281270]
Barbara Follett: My Department has been working with the Tourism Alliance, the Department for Communities and Local Government, and the local authorities to ensure that tourism-related issues and activities have a more central place in planning guidance.
In addition, my Department has developed, in partnership with the regional development agencies, the Local Government Association, and various local authorities, a document entitled “Place Making: A Charter for Destination Management”, which provides best practice guidance to local authorities on the support and promotion of the visitor economy.
VisitBritain provides guidance in the form of its eventBritain programme, and maintains a dedicated website at:
that outlines its areas of support for UK bidding partners on international events.
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what mechanisms are in place to ensure the co-ordination of tourism marketing between regional development agencies and Visit Britain. [281570]
Barbara Follett: DCMS and VisitBritain work closely with partners in the regions. The chair of the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) (the lead RDA for tourism) sits as an observer on the board of VisitBritain; and representatives of VisitBritain and DCMS participate in regular meetings of the RDA Tourism Leads Group. DCMS and VisitBritain also work with the Local Government Association, and with destination management bodies such as the British Resorts and Destinations Association and Destination Performance UK.
The “Partners for England” initiative, (led by SWRDA and Visit England, and supported by DCMS), is working to develop better resource and policy co-ordination at national, regional and local levels, bringing together stakeholders to address better local authority engagement and performance; improved marketing co-ordination and coherence; improved tourism data and intelligence; and strengthened leadership and co-ordination structures.
The British Tourism Framework Review led by VisitBritain sets a new agenda for tourism, including better co-ordination of the funding invested in tourism and to identify ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector support for tourism. The review was published by VisitBritain on 11 February and set out recommendations aimed at better co-ordination of the significant public investment being made centrally, regionally and locally. The review’s proposals also involve the restructuring of VisitBritain and developing the role of Visit England, which will market England within a more focused partnership at national, regional and local levels.
Tourism: East of England
Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding his Department allocated for the development of the tourism sector in (a) Mid Bedfordshire constituency and (b) the East of England in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [280101]
Barbara Follett: Responsibility for tourism in the regions was taken over by the regional development agencies (RDAs) in 2003. Funding for the RDAs is not ring-fenced for particular economic sectors, such as tourism. In each year between 2003-04 and 2007-08, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) contributed £3.6 million to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) single programme budget (the “Single Pot”) in respect of regional tourism responsibilities. The Single Pot, which will total approximately £2.2 billion, £2.2 billion and £2.1 billion in 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively, is allocated amongst the RDAs by BIS. DCMS’s contribution will be £3.5 million, £3.4 million and £3.3 million in these years.
The reported tourism investment of the East of England Development Agency (in £ million) was as follows:
| The reported tourism investment of the East of England development agency | |
| Amount (£ million ) | |
| Source: Visit Britain—British Tourism Framework Review, 2009 | |
Tourism: Regulation
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what his Department’s latest assessment is of the size of the regulatory burden on the tourism industry; and what steps he is taking to reduce that burden. [281250]
Barbara Follett: My Department works with others across Whitehall to reduce the regulatory burden on the tourism industry. Following this January’s National Tourism Summit, Government and the industry have been working together to try and resolve concerns about existing, and future, regulatory burdens. These have been discussed by the newly formed Tourism Advisory Council and with tourism leads from the nations and regions.
Following these discussions, I covered the first meeting of the inter-ministerial group on tourism, whose members are drawn from the main regulatory Departments, and asked them to take the economic importance of tourism into account when formulating new, or re-formulating old, regulatory proposals.
Some of my Department’s regulatory responsibilities concern the tourism and leisure sectors but, so far, it has achieved a 43 per cent. reduction in administrative burdens against a baseline established in May 2005. These savings in the cost of red tape are derived mainly from the reform of the licensing and gambling regimes.
Youth Culture Trust
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) how much has been spent on preparing for the establishment of the Youth Culture Trust; and how much he expects to be spent on the Trust in each year to 2011; [277979]
(2) when he expects the Youth Culture Trust to be established. [277980]
Barbara Follett: The aim of the proposed Youth Culture Trust is to deliver the vision of the “Find Your Talent” programme, which we are investing almost £24 million in between now and 2011.
However, until the work of the pathfinders has been assessed, the scale and purpose of the future programme cannot be agreed. The timing and precise arrangements for the establishment of the proposed Youth Culture Trust will be included in these discussions on the scale, purpose, and funding of the future “Find Your Talent” programme.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 19 May 2009, Official Report, column 1273W, on Afghanistan: peacekeeping operations, when the rules of engagement in Afghanistan were last reviewed; and what changes were made to them as a result. [281677]
Bill Rammell: The UK rules of engagement profile for Operation Herrick was last amended on 5 February 2008. The UK rules of engagement profiles for UK forces deployed in Afghanistan are kept under constant scrutiny with a procedure in place for amendment requests to be sent from theatre to MOD for consideration. In addition, MOD keeps these profiles under constant review to ensure they reflect current legal and policy direction. The ISAF rules of engagement directives are regularly reviewed by Commander ISAF.
I am withholding information on what changes were made on operational rules of engagement as its disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.
Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 24 June 2009, Official Report, columns 58-9WS, on Afghanistan air support, whether the Tornado GR4s are at full operational capability with the urgent operational requirement enhancements which have been delivered. [283005]
Bill Rammell: I can confirm that the Tornado GR4 aircraft deployed to Afghanistan were at full operational capability on initial deployment.
Armed Forces: Equipment
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent steps his Department has taken to improve equipment for Army personnel. [282463]
Mr. Quentin Davies: In the past year, we have introduced a number of significant improvements to our equipment for Army personnel. The majority of the improvements relate to force protection including increasing the numbers of existing Electronic Countermeasure (ECM) equipment and an enhancement to the ECM capability.
Improvements to existing vehicles, either complete or under way, include enhanced mine blast protection for the Viking all-terrain vehicle, a series of modifications to enhance Snatch's mobility and protection, and modifications to the Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) (CVR(T)) to enable the vehicles to perform better in the harsh Afghan conditions.
We have also continued to acquire new vehicles to meet the evolving threat. New vehicles delivered in the last year, or in the process of being delivered, include Mastiff 2, Ridgback and Panther. In addition, we have placed contracts for a number of new vehicles which include the three tactical support vehicles (Coyote, Husky and Wolfhound), Jackal 2, and Warthog. We intend that the tactical support vehicles will replace unprotected vehicles such as the General Service Land Rover and the RB44 operating outside our protected camps.
Viking has now reached its limit to carry extra weight and protection and Warthog will replace Viking on operations.
There have also been recent improvements in the personal equipment issued to our armed forces. These include the purchase of Underslung Grenade Launchers, combat shotguns and the 60mm mortar and improved night vision devices. We have also introduced enhancements to the fit of Osprey body armour which have improved user manoeuvrability. Additionally, a system which allows troops to wear front and back Osprey plates without the soft armour jacket has just been introduced. This system is used by troops who require extra mobility or are operating in confined spaces.
To help counter the significant mine threat in Afghanistan, a system for searching and clearing of mines and improvised explosive devices from roads and predictable routes, Project Talisman, has been ordered. Talisman includes the Buffalo and Mastiff armoured vehicles, a small unmanned air vehicle and the high mobility engineer excavators. Also, additional Vallon hand held mine detectors have been purchased. The Vallon provides a significantly enhanced performance to the detector which it has replaced.
Finally, a range of logistics vehicles such as the support vehicle and the heavy equipment transporter have been modified to ‘Theatre Entry Standard’ with, among others, improvements to air conditioning, dust filtration, night vision and additional armour. Protected plant equipment such as wheeled tractors have been delivered to operations with a second tranche now on order.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent steps his Department has taken to improve equipment for Royal Air Force personnel. [282464]
Bill Rammell: In the past year, we have introduced a number of significant improvements to our equipment for Royal Air Force personnel.
During 2008, we enhanced our strategic air lift capability by taking delivery of two more C-17s, taking our total C-17 fleet to six aircraft.
We continue to improve our fast jet capabilities with significant enhancements to our Harrier and Tornado fleets. These improvements include our new Paveway IV Precision Guided Bomb, which entered service in December 2008, and which provides the RAF with a state of the art all-weather, day and night, precision bombing capability. The Dual Mode Seeker Brimstone also entered service in December 2008 providing increased target accuracy and reduced risk of collateral damage. We are making good progress on Typhoon too. On 1 July 2008, Typhoon was declared operational in the air to ground role, and on 21 October 2008, deliveries of our Tranche 2 Typhoon aircraft commenced.
We have also increased our surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities with the introduction of the Airborne Stand off Radar, which achieved its in-service date in November 2008.
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