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30 Nov 2009 : Column 373W—continued
VAT: Tourism
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will assess the effect on (a) the UK economy and (b) the UK tourist industry of reducing value added tax for businesses in the tourist industry to 7 per cent. [302121]
Mr. Timms: VAT is a broad-based tax on consumer expenditure and reliefs from it have always been strictly limited. EU VAT agreements signed by successive Governments do permit Member States to introduce a number of reduced rates of not less than 5 per cent. on a prescribed list of goods and services. This list does not allow the application of a blanket reduced rate to all tourism-related activities.
The Government keep all taxes under review. Where reduced rates are available, these have only been applied where they provide the most cost-effective and well-targeted support for the Government's policy objectives compared to other measures.
Central Government have allocated over £130 million between 2008-09 and 2010-11 to VisitBritain and VisitEngland. However, that is only one aspect of public funding support for UK tourism. The contributions from the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly, the Regional Development Agencies, and local authorities also need to be taken into account.
Culture, Media and Sport
Arts Council of England: Reorganisation
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he expects the proposed restructuring of Arts Council England to be completed; what his most recent estimate is of the cost to the public purse of the restructuring; and if he will make a statement. [302465]
Margaret Hodge: The proposed restructure of Arts Council England will come into effect at the end of the financial year, so that the new organisation will be in place from the 1 April 2010. The cost of the Organisation Review, which includes recruitment, redundancies and implementing the new work methods, is £4,833,000. However, as a result of these changes we expect to see savings of £6.5million annually from 2010-11 onwards.
Departmental Assets
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assets of his Department are planned to be sold in each year from 2009-10 to 2013-14; what the (a) description and (b) book value of each such asset is; what the expected revenue from each such sale is; and if he will make a statement. [Official Report, 2 December 2009, Vol. 501, c. 17MC.] [300197]
Mr. Simon: The Government have stated their intention to realise £16 billion in asset disposals over the period 2011-14 and will publish further details of opportunities to commercialise business assets in the coming weeks.
The Prime Minister announced on 12 October 2009 that the Government intend to sell the Tote (the Horserace Totalisator Board), which is currently the fifth largest bookmaker in the UK. The sale process is intended to start in summer 2010 and be completed by no later than March 2011.
Departmental Energy
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the energy (a) rating and (b) band of each building occupied by his Department and its agencies was in each of the last three years. [302940]
Mr. Simon: The buildings occupied by the Department and the Royal Parks Agency that qualify for Display Energy Certificates are listed in the table.
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | |
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) page hits and (b) visitors his Department's website received in 2008-09. [301848]
Mr. Simon: Between 1 January and 31 December 2008 the DCMS website received:
(a) Total page views 19,879,767
(b) Unique visitors 996,572
Between 1 January and 31 October 2009 the DCMS website received:
(a) Total page views 18,110,776
(b) Unique visitors 946,943
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the cost was of maintaining his Department's website in the 2008-09 financial year; and what the forecast cost is of maintaining websites within his responsibility in the 2009-10 financial year. [302413]
Mr. Simon: The departmental website is managed in house from existing resources. The additional costs of development, hosting, licences and editorial for 2008-9 were £62,488 running costs and £88,174 capital. The forecast for 2009-10 is running costs of £89,868 and £115,000 capital. These costs cover the main site, the Government Art Collection site and a number of in-house mini-sites.
Departmental Pay
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff in his Department received bonus payments in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09; what proportion of the total workforce they represented in each year; what the total amount of bonuses paid was; what the largest single payment was; and if he will make a statement. [301012]
Mr. Simon: The Department makes non-consolidated performance payments to its employees for two purposes: (a) in-year non-consolidated performance payments to reward outstanding contributions in particularly demanding tasks or situations; and (b) year-end non-consolidated performance payments to reward highly successful performance over a whole year. These figures are exclusive of two key senior staff in the Government Olympic Executive, who were appointed on fixed-term contracts ending in 2012 and whose remuneration reflects extensive relevant experience and the unique challenge of delivering the Olympics to a fixed deadline. Details of their remuneration were published in the departmental annual reports and accounts 2009. The data are set out in the following tables.
| 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
|
Number of staff awarded in year non-consolidated performance payments | ||
| 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
|
Number of staff awarded year end non-consolidated performance payments | ||
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the (a) average and (b) highest non-consolidated performance-related payment was in cash terms for a senior civil servant in his Department in each of the last five years. [301600]
Mr. Simon [holding answer 24 November 2009]: The information requested is set out in the following table. They are exclusive of two key senior staff in the Government Olympic Executive, who were appointed on fixed-term contracts ending in 2012 and whose remuneration reflects extensive relevant experience and the unique challenge of delivering the Olympics to a fixed deadline. Details of their remuneration were published in the departmental annual reports and accounts 2009.
| £ | ||
| Financial year | Average non-consolidated performance related payments | Highest non-consolidated performance related payments |
Elgin Marbles
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with the Board of Trustees of the British Museum about the future management of its Parthenon marble exhibits. [302468]
Margaret Hodge:
Neither my right hon. Friend, nor I have had any recent discussions with the Board of Trustees. However, he has met the Director of the British Museum and discussed the Museum's capital programme. He has also been briefed by the Director
on the issue of the Parthenon Sculptures, whose management, as part of the entire collection, is a matter for the Museum and not for Government.
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with his Greek counterpart on exchange of museum artefacts since the building of the new Acropolis museum. [302469]
Margaret Hodge: Neither my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State nor I have had such discussions.
Immobilisation of Vehicles
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department has paid in vehicle clamping charges incurred on (a) privately-owned and (b) publicly-owned land in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [302741]
Mr. Simon: Vehicles used by the Department's Ministers and previous permanent secretaries are provided by the Government Car Service managed by the Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA). If any clamping charges were payable, they would have been included in archived GCDA invoices to the Department. This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
London 2012 Olympics
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions have taken place with the International Olympic Committee on a potential no-fly zone over (a) the Olympic Village and (b) the surrounding areas during the period of the London 2012 Olympics. [302257]
Tessa Jowell: I have been asked to reply as Minister for the Olympics.
No such discussions have taken place with the International Olympic Committee. Her Majesty's Government are working with the Civil Aviation Authority, NATS (the en-route air navigation services provider), security agencies and other stakeholders to look at all aspects of airspace management for the 2012 games. This work is being developed and no firm decisions have yet been made.
Olympic Games 2012: National Lottery
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much and what proportion of National Lottery grant funding has been provided to the London 2012 Olympics in each year since 2005. [301710]
Mr. Simon: The funding provided to Olympic good causes and non-Olympic good causes, respectively, was as follows:
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much additional revenue the new National Lottery Millionaire Raffle is expected to generate; and what percentage of that revenue will be provided to fund the London 2012 Olympics. [301711]
Mr. Simon: The National Lottery Commission holds forecasts for sales performance of new or enhanced National Lottery games, but is unable to release this publicly as the information is commercially sensitive. However, actual sales figures broken down by individual games are available via the following page on the website of Camelot, the National Lottery operator:
The EuroMillions game, including the new Millionaire Raffle aspect of the game, is not a designated Olympic Lottery game and all proceeds will go to the National Lottery Distribution Fund (NLDF).
The NLDF is providing a total of £1,085 million to the Olympic Lottery Distributor in 15 transfers between 2009 and 2012. It is not possible to attribute the source of these transfers to individual Lottery games.
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