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14 Dec 2009 : Column 665W—continued

Arts Council England: Finance

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the size of Arts Council England's pension fund deficit is; what it was in each year since 2000; and if he will make a statement. [306688]

Margaret Hodge: Information on Arts Council England's pension fund is published in their annual accounts. Valuations take place every three years and the next is due on 31 March 2010. Issues such as pay and pensions are operational matters for Arts Council England.

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding Arts Council England has received from the National Lottery in each of the last five financial years. [306658]

Mr. Bradshaw: Art Council England's share of proceeds from the national lottery (including investment income) for the last five years was:

Financial year £ million

2004-05

169.2

2005-06

171.9

2006-07

149.3

2007-08

151.5

2008-09(1)

145.3

(1 )The figure for 2008-09 is still subject to audit and is the net amount available for distribution after Art Council England's contribution to the Olympics has been taken into account.

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding Arts Council England has received from his Department through grant-in-aid in each of the last five financial years. [306659]

Mr. Bradshaw: The following table shows Arts Council England grant-in-aid outturn figures from my Department's published accounts in each of the last five financial years.


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Final published outturn (£000)

2004-05

369,859

2005-06

409,178

2006-07

427,862

2007-08

422,610

2008-09

436,531


Arts Council England: Pensions

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the pension arrangements are for (a) senior staff and (b) other employees of Arts Council England; and if he will make a statement. [306827]

Margaret Hodge: This is a matter for Arts Council England, which operates independently of Government.

I have therefore asked Arts Council England's chief executive to write to the Member for West Bromwich, East directly.

Copies of the reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will meet the Chief Executive of Arts Council England to discuss the organisation's pension fund deficit. [306828]

Margaret Hodge: Ministers meet with Arts Council England representatives on a regular basis to discuss a range of issues. However, issues such as pay and pensions are operational matters for Arts Council England.

Bookmakers: Licensing

Mr. Caborn: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will instruct the Gambling Commission to undertake a study of the effect on betting exchanges of persons operating as unlicensed bookmakers. [305285]

Mr. Sutcliffe: My Department and the Gambling Commission are aware of concerns about unlicensed individuals allegedly acting in the course of business as bookmakers on betting exchanges. The Government and the commission have made it clear that anyone doing so requires the appropriate licence.

Copyright: Music

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will place in the Library a copy of each item of correspondence between Ministers in his Department and (a) the Federation Against Copyright Theft and (b) the British recorded music industry in the last 12 months. [306023]

Mr. Simon: The information is as follows:


14 Dec 2009 : Column 667W

Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials have held with representatives from (i) the Federation Against Copyright Theft, (ii) the British recorded music industry and (iii) the Open Rights Group in the last 12 months. [R] [306111] [Official Report, 5 January 2010, Vol. 503, c. 1MC.]

Mr. Simon: Ministers have met with representatives from the British recorded music industry (which we understand to mean the British phonographic industries) on six occasions in the last 12 months. Officials were present at two of those meetings. Ministers also met representatives from the Featured Artists Coalition on one occasion. In addition, officials met bilaterally with representatives of the BRMI on three occasions, and were involved in several wider meetings.

Neither Ministers nor officials in my Department have met representatives from the Federation Against Copyright Theft or the Open Rights Group in the last 12 months. However, I had informal discussions with the Open Rights Group at the C&binet Conference held on 26-28 October.

Departmental Art Works

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department spent on artwork in the last 12 months; and what works of art were purchased. [306448]

Mr. Simon: Works of art displayed in my Department are from the Government Art Collection (GAC), which publishes an annual list of acquisitions. The most recent details of acquisitions made by the GAC were published on 5 October 2009 and are available on the GAC website:

Departmental Conferences

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which conferences held overseas have been attended by civil servants based in his Department in the last three years; and what the cost to the public purse was of such attendance at each conference. [305869]

Mr. Simon: This information is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Departmental Internet

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what redesigns of websites operated by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have been carried out since 27 June 2007; what the cost to the public purse was of each redesign; and when each redesign was conducted. [305954]

Mr. Simon: My Department and its agency have not redesigned any websites since 27 June 2007.

Departmental Manpower

Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff of his Department were in its redeployment pool on 1 (a) January, (b) April, (c) July and (d) October 2009. [306708]


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Mr. Simon: Our redeployment policy only came into effect on 13 May 2009. Thereafter in July (c) there were seven members of staff in the redeployment pool. In October (d) this reduced to three members of staff in the redeployment pool.

Departmental Plants

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much has been spent by his Department on (a) cut flowers and (b) pot plants in each of the last three years. [306146]

Mr. Simon: The Department has spent the following amounts on:

(£)

(a) Cut flowers (b) Pot plants

2006-07

652

22,078

2007-08

666

24,064

2008-09

594

14,431


Departmental Public Relations

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what payments the National Lottery Commission has made to Hill and Knowton in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available; for what purpose; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the contracts under which such payments have been made. [305142]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The National Lottery Commission has advised that during 2009 they made one payment of £1,500.37 to Hill and Knowlton, on 12 March.

No further payments have been made and the commission has no ongoing contract with Hill and Knowlton. All payments made to Hill and Knowlton were in respect of media relations support, strategic communications advice, planning and stakeholder engagement support, primarily for the delivery of the Third Licence Competition. The contract was awarded to Hill and Knowlton after a full competitive tender process.

All contracts are commercially confidential and because of this it would be inappropriate to place a copy in the Library of the House.

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what payments VisitBritain has made to Connect Public Affairs in the last 12 months for which figures are available; for what purpose; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the contracts under which such payments have been made. [305144]

Margaret Hodge: VisitBritain pays £907.38+VAT per calendar month to Connect Public Affairs for a political monitoring and support service. In the last 12 months that totals £10,889+VAT.

VisitBritain inform us that their contract with Connect Public Affairs is commercially confidential, and because of this it would be inappropriate to place a copy in the Libraries of the House as requested.


14 Dec 2009 : Column 669W

Departmental Publicity

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department has spent on (a) Ministerial photoshoots and (b) production of videos in which Ministers appear in the last three years for which figures are available. [305513]

Mr. Simon: The Department has spent the following amounts on ministerial (a) photo shoots and (b) video productions during the last two complete financial years:

£

(a) Photo shoots (b) Video productions

2007-08

1,521.76

2,579.00

2008-09

1,188.23

920.00


These figures are exclusive of VAT. Expenditure for 2006-07 is unavailable, due to the way costs were broken down during this period.

Additionally, photography and video content, produced as a part of larger projects, cannot be categorised.

Departmental Training

Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many overseas training courses were attended by his Department's civil servants in the latest period for which figures are available; how many civil servants attended each course; and what the total cost to the public purse was of each course. [305898]

Mr. Simon: This Department has not sent any member of staff on overseas training in the financial years 2008-09 and 2009-10, which is the latest period for which figures are available.

Departmental Travel

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) away days and (b) conferences that took place outside his Department's building attended by civil servants in his Department there have been since 2005; and what the cost was of each. [307521]

Mr. Simon: Details of away days and conferences are not centrally recorded, and the information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

The Department's accounting system does not record expenditure on away days separately from other staff training and development costs and to identify and summarise these costs for the period would incur disproportionate cost.

The expenditure on conferences within the Department's administration costs for financial years 2005-06 to 2008-09 is set out in the table.

Financial year £

2008-09

92,150

2007-08

158,190

2006-07

231,220

2005-06

170,280


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These figures include conference running costs, room hire, hospitality, accommodation and travel costs of conference speakers.

An analysis of costs by each conference could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.


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