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14 Oct 2009 : Column 914W—continued
Digital Broadcasting
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many households have been affected by the loss of ITV3 and ITV4 following the digital television re-tune of 30 September 2009; and who took the decision to remove ITV3 and ITV4 from the areas so affected. [292937]
Mr. Bradshaw: We believe that up to 1 million households could have been affected by the loss of ITV3 and ITV4 after the digital television re-tune. In some cases the services will be restored at digital switchover.
The decision to move one ITV service was approved as part of The Television Multiplex Services (Reservation of Digital Capacity) Order 2008, which paved the way for new services, including up to four High Definition services, on Freeview. ITV plc decided which channel to move to meet this requirement. The company also decided for commercial reasons to move another ITV channel to make way for other future channel developments as part of the re-tune process.
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of licence fee receipts has been used to facilitate digital switchover; what proportion of the digital switchover help scheme budget remains unspent; and if his Department will make an assessment of the merits of using money from that scheme to upgrade relay transmitters. [292938]
Mr. Bradshaw: £803 million was set aside in the 2007-13 TV licence fee settlement to facilitate digital switchover. We expect there to be an under-spend on the £603 million provided for the Digital Switchover Help Scheme but it is too early to estimate the level of under-spend with any precision. However, as set out in the Digital Britain White Paper, a number of ways the under-spend might be redeployed have been identified. These include contributing to the roll-out of universal broadband; the maintenance of plurality of news in the nations, locally and in the regions; and the roll out of Digital Audio Broadcasting. There are no plans to use the under-spend to increase the coverage of the three commercial digital terrestrial television multiplexes.
There is a licence requirement that the three Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) digital multiplexes, which carry the public service broadcasting channels, should reach 98.5 per cent. of UK households after Digital Switchover. Since the national re-tune, ITV3 and ITV4, which are not PSB channels, have been carried on commercial multiplexes where the licence post-Switchover requirement is that 90 per cent. of household coverage is achieved. Any decision to build out beyond 90 per cent. coverage would be a commercial decision for the multiplex operators.
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport for what reasons the digital television re-tune of 30 September 2009 resulted in the loss of channels ITV3 and ITV4 by many viewers in the UK. [292940]
Mr. Bradshaw:
The digital re-tune was undertaken by broadcasters to facilitate the move of Five to a Public Service Broadcasting multiplex and to make way for
future channel developments, including the introduction of High Definition services on the digital terrestrial television (or Freeview) platform.
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether his Department was informed of the loss of ITV3 and ITV4 to many television viewers by (a) Freeview and (b) ITV prior to the digital television re-tune of 30 September 2009. [292941]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Television Multiplex Services (Reservation of Digital Capacity) Order 2008 required the transfer of one non-public service channel operated by Channel 3 license holders from a public service broadcasting (PSB) multiplex to a commercial multiplex. The aim of this measure was to facilitate the transfer of Five, a PSB channel, to a PSB multiplex in order to ensure universal coverage of Five , equivalent to the other public service channels at switchover, as well as further developments of the digital terrestrial television platform, including the introduction of high definition services.
I was also informed that ITV intended to move another ITV service to one of the commercial multiplexes, which have more restricted coverage, to make way for future channel developments. The decision on which channels to move was a commercial matter for ITV plc.
Digital Technology: Legal Deposit
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether he plans to introduce regulations to permit or require delivery of publications to legal deposit libraries by electronic means under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003. [292904]
Mr. Bradshaw: The Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003 allows for regulations to be made to widen the existing system of legal deposit to cover non-print publications. We are currently considering the Legal Deposit Advisory Panel's recommendations on the "Collection and Preservation of UK Offline and Microforms Publications" and the "Collection and Preservation of UK Online Publications, free of charge and without access Restrictions". Policy formulated in response to these recommendations will be published for public consultation in due course. In the event that draft regulations result, they would be subject to affirmative resolution in both Houses.
Freeview Service
Mr. Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what statutory obligations apply to Freeview to ensure that all national free-to-air broadcasts from free-to-air broadcasters are equally available to all licence fee payers. [292939]
Mr. Bradshaw:
There are no such statutory obligations. The Communications Act 2003 requires that the coverage of the digital terrestrial television multiplexes carrying the public service channels(1) should substantially match the coverage of the comparable analogue services, which is estimated to be 98.5 per cent. of UK households.
Ofcom has included this condition in broadcasters' digital replacement licences and multiplex licences.
(1) All BBC channels, ITV1, Channel Four (main channel only), Five (main channel only) and S4C.
Horse Racing: Betting
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to assist the Horserace Betting Levy Board to collect Levy payments arising from bets placed with betting operators registered overseas. [291815]
Mr. Sutcliffe: We support the Levy Board's aim of securing contributions from gambling operators to ensure the continued health of racing.
The Department is currently conducting a review of remote gaming, which is examining this issue along with others. The review will report to Ministers by the end of the year, and Ministers will report findings to Parliament.
Publications: Sight Impairment
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what guidance his Department provides to public libraries on the proportion of books which should be made available for people with visual impairments; and if he will make a statement. [293057]
Margaret Hodge:
Decisions on stock purchasing remain with local library authorities and there are no national guidelines for the proportion of stock which should be held in accessible formats in individual libraries. However, public libraries recognise the special needs of visually impaired people in obtaining various suitable formats including large print books and spoken word material. The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
Public Library Statistics 2007-08 show 7,557,494 adult and 1,692,573 children's talking books issued on loan. Public libraries will also often refer visually impaired people to the RNIB National Library Service where a wide variety of book formats are available, including Braille titles.
Sports: Cambridgeshire
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding his Department allocated to sport-related groups in North West Cambridgeshire in each of the last 10 years. [291485]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Sport England have advised that they are unable to detail Exchequer funding for sport-related groups in North West Cambridgeshire as these type of data are not collated on a constituency basis.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport allocated Sport England over £480 million of Exchequer funding in the last five years, to invest in community sport both through national governing bodies and more specific local initiatives.
In addition, in 2009-10, the Department has allocated Sport England £135.7 million of Exchequer funding. Sport England has targets to get one million people doing more sport by 2012-13, and to make a major contribution to the delivery of the five hour sports offer for children and young people. North West Cambridgeshire will benefit, alongside every area of England, from Exchequer and lottery investment by Sport England in 2009-10 in support of these targets.
Although non-departmental funding, Sport England have advised that the following initiatives have received lottery funding to support participation in sport in North West Cambridgeshire in each of the last financial years.
Projects relating to 'Living Sport' are delivered through the County Sports Partnership, and as a result this funding will have been spent across all of Cambridgeshire.
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