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9 Dec 2009 : Column 370W—continued
Departmental Freedom of Information
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 his Department received in 2008; and how many of these received a substantive response within 20 days. [305496]
Mr. Simon: The information is published regularly by Government, and can be found on the Ministry of Justice website at:
Departmental Public Relations
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what payments the Heritage Lottery Fund has made to (a) Blue Rubican, (b) Greenhause Communications and (c) Strategem in the last 12 months; for what purpose; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the contracts under which such payments have been made. [305139]
Mr. Simon: The information requested is not held centrally and is an operational matter for the Heritage Lottery Fund, who have been unable to provide the information requested to the timescales dictated by parliamentary convention.
Accordingly, I have asked the chief executive to write to the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood. Copies of the reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what payments the Gambling Commission has made to Grayling Political Strategy in the last 12 months; for what purpose; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the contracts under which such payments have been made. [305140]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The information the hon. Member has requested is not held centrally and is a matter for the Gambling Commission.
Accordingly, I have asked the responsible director to write to the hon. Member. Copies of the reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Departmental Scientists
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) scientific advisers and (b) civil servants in scientific posts there are in his Department. [302027]
Mr. Simon: DCMS has one chief scientific adviser who is a Senior Civil Servant, Director, and Board member. The chief scientific adviser leads a team of 15 civil servants working in a variety of scientific or research posts across the disciplines of economics, statistics, social or operational research.
Departmental Travel
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on what date he last travelled by (a) bus and (b) taxi in the course of his official duties. [302722]
Mr. Bradshaw: 26 November and 8 November respectively.
Edelman UK: Public Relations
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what payments his Department has made to Edelman in the last 12 months; for what purpose; and if he will place in the Library copy of the contract under which such payments have been made. [305133]
Mr. Simon: No direct payments have been made to Edelman by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in the last 12 months. However, Edelman was engaged through Central Office of Information to provide brand and event development support to the Creativity and Business International Network.
Fishburn Hedges: Public Relations
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what payments the Digital Switchover Help Scheme has made to Fishburn Hedges in the last 12 months; for what purpose; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the contract under which such payments have been made. [305132]
Mr. Simon: The BBC is responsible for administering the Digital Switchover Help Scheme.
Accordingly I have asked the chief executive of the scheme to write to the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood. Copies of the reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Gambling Commission: Birmingham
Philip Davies:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the operating costs of the Gambling Commission were in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09; and
what proportion of the change in costs is accounted for by the relocation of the Commission in Birmingham. [305119]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Gambling Commission completed its move to Birmingham in July 2006. The total operating costs of the Commission were £6.645 million in 2007-08 falling to £5.027 million in 2008-09.
Gambling Commission: Finance
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what value for money objectives his Department has set for the Gambling Commission. [305121]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Gambling Commission's performance is primarily assessed through a funding agreement with the Department which includes their agreed strategic objectives, together with funding and performance indicators/targets. They were set a target of achieving 3 per cent. value for money efficiency savings, year on year, over the period of the funding agreement 2008-09 to 2010-11.
Gambling Commission: Reviews
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the operation of the Gambling Commission with the recommendations of the Hampton Review of Regulation. [305118]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Gambling Commission was the subject of a Hampton Implementation Review earlier this year which suggested that, if the Commission's plans were implemented, it would be in a strong position to demonstrate the Hampton principles throughout its work. The implementation of those plans is a strategic objective in the Commission's 2009 business plan and my officials and I meet the Commission on a regular basis to consider progress against all of the objectives in that plan. The Commission is making good progress on these measures.
Hotels
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on hotel accommodation for (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) civil servants in each of the last five years. [305665]
Mr. Simon: All travel is conducted in accordance with rules set out in the Department's staff guide under travel and subsistence and is consistent with the civil service management code. Travel by Ministers is made in pursuance of their ministerial duties and complies with guidance set out in the Ministerial Code.
Expenditure on hotels is included within travel and subsistence claims made by Ministers and officials. The information is not held separately or analysed by the categories requested in the Department's accounting system. It can be obtained by retrieving and manually analysing a large number of travel, subsistence and incidental expense claims only at disproportionate cost.
Licensed Premises: Statistics
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will place in the Library a copy of each response received to the licensing questionnaire which formed the basis for the Licensing Statistical Bulletin 2009. [304706]
Mr. Sutcliffe: Responses received to the licensing questionnaire which formed the basis for the Licensing Statistical Bulletin 2009 are available on the DCMS website:
National Lottery: Grants
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the funds to be distributed from the National Lottery to good causes in each year to 2015; and if he will make a statement. [305356]
Mr. Simon: DCMS does not forecast future Lottery income, but we do issue projections of what income might be if total sales stay at approximately the last year's level. The latest income projection issued to non-Olympic Lottery distributors in September 2009 was as follows:
| £ million | ||
| Total income | Transfer to Olympics | |
The total income column is gross income, i.e. before the Olympic transfers are taken into account.
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much has been distributed by the Big Lottery Fund to statutory bodies in each of the last five years. [305357]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Big Lottery Fund has distributed funding to statutory bodies where they are best placed to deliver outcomes for communities and people most in need. The Big Lottery Fund does not fund statutory bodies' core work nor does it substitute or replace statutory funding. Where BIG distributes funding to statutory bodies it is often on the precondition that they work in partnership with voluntary and community sector organisations.
The following table shows the amount awarded to statutory bodies across the UK by the Big Lottery Fund each full financial year since its inception on 1 June 2004.
| Financial year ending 31 March | Number of awards | Total awarded (£) |
Funding made through statutory bodies as third party award partners where the voluntary and community sector organisations are the direct beneficiary have not been included in these figures.
Amounts retained by the statutory third party award partner for administrative costs have been included.
Scotland
Departmental Contracts
Mr. Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what criteria his Department use in determining the award of contracts; and how much his Department has spent on the advertisement of tenders for Government contracts since 1997. [303136]
Ann McKechin: Other than minor purchases, the Scotland Office does not undertake discrete procurement or tendering projects. It utilises existing service contracts between suppliers and the Scottish Executive or the Ministry of Justice. These awarding authorities would take the lead in such matters and would determine the criteria for the award of contract. The Office has not incurred any direct spend on the advertisement of tenders.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Equality Commission: Public Relations
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what payments the Northern Ireland Equality Commission has made to Stratagem in the last 12 months; for what purpose; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the contract under which such payments have been made. [305162]
Mr. Woodward: The sponsorship of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland is a matter for the devolved Administration.
Police Service of Northern Ireland
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department has budgeted for introducing police community support officers to Northern Ireland; and what the budgeted cost of one police officer in Northern Ireland was in the latest period for which figures are available. [302941]
Paul Goggins:
The 2007 comprehensive spending review period (CSR07) runs to 31 March 2011. Based on current plans, the PSNI has not budgeted for the introduction of PCSOs in this period. This was agreed by the Chief Constable and the NI Policing Board in
allocating resources for the CSR07 period. The budgeted cost of one police officer in Northern Ireland in 2009-10 is £45,000.
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what estimate has been made of the cost to the public purse of introducing police community support officers in Northern Ireland. [302942]
Paul Goggins: The 2007 comprehensive spending review period (CSR07) runs to 31 March 2011. Based on current plans, the PSNI has not budgeted for the introduction of PCSOs in this period. This was agreed by the Chief Constable and the NI Policing Board in allocating resources for the CSR07 period. The estimated cost of one police community support officer in Northern Ireland is £27,000 per annum but the actual cost would depend on how they were introduced. Decisions on the introduction of PCSOs would be for the Chief Constable and Policing Board.
Weapons: Explosives
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what his most recent assessment is of the level of illegally held (a) weapons and (b) explosives in Northern Ireland. [304592]
Paul Goggins:
The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning has worked, and
continues to work, to put the armaments of republican and loyalist terrorist groups beyond use. By their nature estimates of illegally held weaponry would be speculative and it is not Government practice to provide information on this basis.
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