---

3 Feb 2010 : Column 341W—continued

Licensing

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much his Department and its agencies spent on font licensing in the last three years. [315218]

Mr. Simon: My Department and its Agency have not spent anything on font licensing in the last three years.

Local Government Finance

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden of 22 October 2009, Official Report, column 1645W, on local government finance, what data sets not contained in the national indicator set (a) municipal libraries and (b) local authorities are required to submit to his Department and its agencies. [314956]

Mr. Simon: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has no statutory requirements for submission of datasets from local authorities.

Local authorities that have signed up to the free swimming initiative are responsible for submitting quarterly data on the number of free swims that have taken place in their area each month as part of the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the Free Swimming Programme. The Department also collects details of alcohol, entertainment and late night refreshment licensing from licensing authorities on an annual basis.

The Department does not receive any datasets from municipal libraries.

Museums and Galleries

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the number of visitors to museums in (a) Lancashire, (b) the North West and (c) England in 2009. [315028]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer February 2010]: My Department collects figures for visitor numbers for museums we fund either through our grant in aid programme or through our Renaissance in the Regions programme. We have no figures for museums in Lancashire.

Visits to museums in the North West and England in receipt of grant in aid or Renaissance funding are detailed in the table:

Areas that are funded by DCMS	Museums in receipt of funding through Renaissance in the r egions January to September 2009	Sponsored museums 2009
North West total visits	(1)1,465,046	(2)3,300,000
England total visits	13,833,359	41,100,000
(1) The museums included in the North West are: Manchester Art Gallery, Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Manchester Museum, and Whitworth Art Gallery. (2) Imperial War Musem North, Museum Of Science and Industry, National Museums Liverpoool, Tate Liverpool

3 Feb 2010 : Column 342W

Validated data for museums funded by Renaissance is only available up to September 2009. Data for the year will be available in March 2010.

Public Holidays

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has of the cost to his Department of the introduction of an additional public holiday; and if he will make a statement. [315122]

Mr. Simon: The Department has made no such estimate.

Sports: Torbay

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether his Department has taken steps to encourage participation in sport in Torbay constituency in order to reduce levels of obesity; and whether it has made funding available for this purpose in 2009-10. [315149]

Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is primarily focused on increasing sports participation, with Sport England as our key delivery partner. However, this is part of a joint target with the Department of Health to get two million more people more physically active, including one million more people playing more sport. DCMS and Sport England work very closely with the Department for Health across this target and sport will, of course, have a great positive effect on people's health.

As the non-departmental public body with responsibility for community sport, Sport England's aim is to increase and sustain levels of participation in sport and develop talent to drive standards of elite performance throughout the country. Their funding is distributed as part of the commitment to get one million more people playing more sport by 2012.

National governing bodies of sport (NGBs) are at the heart of the strategy as it is their networks of community clubs, coaches and volunteers that make sport happen. Sport England is investing £480 million through 46 governing bodies over the next four years and have agreed grow, sustain and excel targets with each one. Each sport has developed a whole sport plan to achieve these targets.

In addition to the current funding being invested through NGBs, Sport England has invested a total of £776,115 Exchequer funding into Torbay since 2002. This includes a recent investment of £634,615 into the Brixham Amateur Swimming and Life Saving Society in order to modernise the pool. Swim Torquay Limited also received funding of £136,500 in 2008-09 to extend their facilities. Sport England has further invested £317,771 of Lottery funding to various projects throughout Torbay since 2002-03.

Swimming: Concessions

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many free swims (a) pensioners and (b) those under the age of 16 years resident in (i) North East Lincolnshire and (ii) North Lincolnshire local authority area have received in each year since his Department's free swimming programmes were introduced. [315235]

3 Feb 2010 : Column 343W

Mr. Sutcliffe: The number of unique participants in the Free Swimming programme is not collected centrally. Local authorities are responsible for collecting data on the number of free swims that have taken place in their area each month.

The table shows the total number of free swims that have taken place under the free swimming scheme by people aged 16 years and under and people aged 60 and over in North East Lincolnshire local authority and North Lincolnshire local authority between April 2009, when the scheme began, and September 2009.

This is not a measure of the total number of individual participants taking part in free swimming, as the Department does not hold these figures.

Local authority	Under 16 swims	Over 60s swims	Total
North East Lincolnshire(1)	0	20,938	20,938
North Lincolnshire	74,961	15,305	90,266
(1 )NE Lincolnshire did not offer free swimming to under 16s.

Television: Licensing

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent representations he has received on the television licence fee. [314755]

Mr. Simon: I regularly receive representations on the level of the licence fee. Multi-annual funding settlements for the BBC help to guarantee the independence of the BBC and Government will continue to respect that principle.

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether TV Licensing is authorised to undertake surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000; and what powers of entry it has. [314962]

Mr. Simon: The interpretation of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 is a matter for TV Licensing.

TV Licensing officers may enter a person's home or business premises only with his or her consent or if authorised to do so by a warrant issued by a justice of the peace, a sheriff in Scotland, or a lay magistrate in Northern Ireland.

Under section 366 of the Communications Act 2003, in order to issue such a warrant the presiding judge must be satisfied by information provided on oath, that there are reasonable grounds for believing that an offence of not holding a licence while having installed or using a TV receiver has been or is being committed, that evidence of the commission of the offence is likely to be on the premises, and there is no other practicable way to lawfully gain entry to the premises.

Home Department

Crime: Halton

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the percentage change in (a) overall recorded crime, (b) recorded violent crime,
3 Feb 2010 : Column 344W
(c) burglary and (d) vehicle thefts in Halton has been between 2000 and the most recent date for which figures are available. [313425]

Mr. Alan Campbell: The available information relates to the Halton Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership area. Because of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002, data for 2000-01 and 2008-09 are not directly comparable. Percentage changes between 2002-03 and 2008-09 for the requested offences have been given in the table.

Percentage change in selected offences recorded by the police in Halton-2002-03 to 2008-09
	Percentage change between 2002-03 and 2008-09
Total recorded crime	-7
Violence against the person	39
Burglary	-14
Vehicle thefts(1)	-37
(1) Includes theft or from a vehicle.

Crimes of Violence: Convictions

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many people were convicted of serious violent crime offences in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in (i) 2007, (ii) 2008 and (iii) 2009; [313598]

(2) how many people were convicted of overall violent crime offences in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in (i) 2007, (ii) 2008 and (iii) 2009. [313600]

Claire Ward: I have been asked to reply.

Information showing the number of persons found guilty at all courts in the North East Government Office Region (GOR) and England for offences of violence against the person, by offence, in 2007 and 2008 (latest available) is shown in the table.

Court proceedings data are not available at parliamentary constituency level. Data are given in the table for the North East GOR in which the Jarrow constituency and South Tyneside are located.

Data for 2009 are expected to be published in the autumn 2010.

3 Feb 2010 : Column 345W

Number of persons found guilty at all courts in the North East Government Office Region( 1) and England for offences of violence against the person, by offence, 2007 and 2008( 2,3)
	2007		2008
Violent offences	North East R egion	England	North East R egion	England
More serious offences-indictable	225	3,236	202	3,217
Less serious offences-indictable	2,707	35,873	2,578	35,842
Summary offences	2,885	49,931	2,676	49,620
Total indictable and summary offences of violence against the person	5,817	89,040	5,456	88,679
(1) Includes: Cleveland police force area; Durham police force area; Northumbria police force area. (2) The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice

DNA: Databases

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his contribution on Second Reading of the Crime and Security Bill, 18 January 2010, Official Report, column 35, from which document the facts were drawn on matches drawn from the national DNA database in 2008-09 for cases of rape and manslaughter from people who had been arrested but not convicted of a serious crime. [313693]

Mr. Hanson [holding answer 27 January 2010]: These statistics were provided by the National Policing Improvement Agency based on their analysis of data drawn from the Police National Computer by the ACPO Criminal Records Office.

Firearms

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many handguns were held in England and Wales by virtue of firearm certificates in each year since 2004-05. [313779]

Alan Johnson: Available data relate to handguns and muzzle-loading handguns possessed on certificate for 2004-05 and 2005-06, and are given in the table. Data on certification are now drawn from the National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS) and information in this degree of detail is not at present available.

Handguns and muzzle-loading handguns possessed on certificate: England and Wales, 2004-05 to 2007-08
	Handguns	Muzzle-loading handguns
2004-05(1)	16,016	7,911
2005-06(2)	16,399	8,728
2006-07(3)	n/a	n/a
2007-08(4)	n/a	n/a
n/a denotes figures not available. (1) Information on the firearms breakdown was provided by 37 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales. The missing six forces are: Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Staffordshire, Sussex and South Wales. (2) Information on the firearms breakdown was provided by 38 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales. The missing five forces are: Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Staffordshire and Sussex. (3) Figures for 2006-07 are not available, due to the transition from in-force data collection systems to the National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS) in 2006. (4) Figures for 2007/08 are not available, due to the transition from in-force data collection systems to the National Firearms Licensing Management System (NFLMS) in 2006.

---