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11 Mar 2010 : Column 404W—continued
Treasury
Climate Change Levy
Charles Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the monetary value of receipts from the Climate Change Levy has been in each of the last five years. [321254]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Final outturns of climate change levy receipts are published at Budget in table C.6 in chapter C "The public Finances" for each fiscal year.
Public Bodies
Mr. Harper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he plans to respond to the recommendation in the Public Accounts Committee report on the Equality and Human Rights Commission published on 4 March 2010 that his Department should draw up best practice guidelines for the creation of public sector bodies. [321600]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Government's response will be set out alongside responses to the other Committee of Public Accounts' conclusions and recommendations from its Fifteenth Report in a Treasury Minute in due course.
Tax Allowances: Energy
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has plans to amend the categories of equipment eligible for support under the Enhanced Capital Allowance Energy Scheme to include low energy loss distribution transformers. [321626]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Enhanced Capital Allowances scheme for energy saving technologies is dynamic and kept under regular review. Updates and changes to the EGA schemes are normally announced at Budget.
Taxation: Holiday Accommodation
Mr. Weir: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many submissions were received to the technical consultation on the draft legislation and guidance on the ending of Furnished Holiday Lettings relief which closed on 26 February 2010; and how many of those submissions expressed views in favour of the Government's proposals. [321332]
Mr. Timms: None of the responses to the technical consultation on the proposed legislation to repeal the Furnished Holiday Lettings (FHL) rules identified any technical difficulties with the draft legislation which was published at the 2009 pre-Budget report. Therefore there are no plans to publish a full report on the findings from this informal consultation.
The Treasury receives representations on a range of policy issues. As was the case with the previous Administration, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of such representations.
The Government acknowledge that this change has not been welcomed by the tourism industry. However, for legal reasons, a change is necessary.
Culture, Media and Sport
Departmental Consultants
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether consultants have been contracted to carry out public participation activity on behalf of his Department in the last three years; and, if so, how much was spent in each case. [319763]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Government Olympic Executive in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport runs an East London digital network. This is an on-line forum for invited members of the public to give their opinions and ideas and is one of the key ways in which Government are meeting their promise to engage with local people about what they want from the Olympics and ensure that Government policy reflects their views.
The cost of the project, including the contracting of consultants stands at £111,759.20 exclusive of VAT.
Digital Switchover Help Scheme: Gordon
Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many enquiries from households in Gordon constituency have been received by the Digital UK Help Scheme; and how many of those households were eligible to receive the digital conversion service free of charge. [321650]
Mr. Bradshaw:
The Switchover Help Scheme receives eligibility data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and is only able to report statistically at an ITV region level. The provision of help scheme eligibility data at both country and local level is a matter for the DWP. The help scheme estimates around 170,000 people in the STV North TV Region will be eligible to receive help. It is estimated that 37 per cent. of the 170,000 eligible people in the STV North TV
Region are entitled to receive the help for free. The numbers of help scheme eligible people and people entitled to receive the help for free in this region are likely to change between now and when the last STV North transmitter switches in October 2010.
Irish Language Broadcast Fund: Expenditure
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding his Department has provided to the Irish Language Broadcast Fund in each of the last five years. [321213]
Mr. Bradshaw: My Department acted as the conduit through which the UK Government paid £3 million for the Irish Language Broadcasting Fund in 2009-10. Funding was provided through the UK Film Council.
Stroud
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will set out, with statistical information related as directly as possible to Stroud constituency, the effects on that constituency of his Department's policies and actions since 2000. [321475]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport's aim is to improve the quality of life for everyone through cultural and sporting activities, to support the pursuit of excellence and to champion the tourism, creative and leisure industries.
The impact of bodies and policies of the Department on the Stroud constituency since 2000 include:
£156,862 given from Arts Council England to organisations based in Stroud in 2008-09 through the Grants for the Arts programme.
£121,000 of English Heritage grant offers to the Stroud constituency in 2008-09.
Digital Switchover is due to take place in Stroud in April 2010. By the time switchover is complete at the end of 2012, 98.5 per cent. of households nationwide will be able to receive digital TV-the same number that can currently receive analogue.
Over £18,046,315 of national lottery grants made to applications from the Stroud constituency since 2000.
The Stroud constituency has also benefitted from other policies and spending whose impact cannot be broken down by constituency. This includes:
£4 billion of Exchequer funding spent on culture.
More than £5.5 billion invested in sport by the Government and the national lottery since 1997.
Almost 750,000 free swims taken in London in the first eight months of the Free Swimming programme.
A 68 per cent. increase in national museum visits from 1998-99 to 2008-09-10 per cent. of which were by adults from lower socio-economic groups.
£416.6 million in grants allocated by English Heritage since 1997.
48 per cent. of buildings on the original 1999 Buildings at Risk Register having their future secured.
90 per cent. of all pupils taking part in at least two hours of high quality PE or sport per week in 2008 from an estimated 25 per cent. in 2003-04-exceeding our target.
Trade Unions
Mr. Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff in his Department and its agencies are seconded to trade unions; what facilities are made available to them; how many days other staff of his Department and its agencies spent on trade union activity in the latest year for which figures are available; and what recent estimate he has made of the annual cost to the public purse of such activity. [320610]
Mr. Sutcliffe: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Royal Parks Agency do not have any employees seconded to trade unions.
Both DCMS and the Royal Parks provide facility time for local trade union officials.
The annual cost of trade union facility time for DCMS is up to £25,952.
The annual cost of trade union activity for the Royal Parks is up to £29,333.
There are no figures available for the number of days other staff spend on trade union activity. To obtain such information would incur a disproportionate cost.
Ulster Scots: Expenditure
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding his Department has provided for the promotion and development of Ulster Scots language and culture in each of the last five years. [321208]
Mr. Bradshaw: None, but under the terms of the BBC's charter and agreement, the BBC Trust must have regard to the importance of ensuring appropriate provision in minority languages. Funding to enable the BBC to provide minority languages is included in the BBC's funding settlement, which is set by my Department, although my Department does not specify the amounts that the BBC must spend in this area.
Transport
Aviation: Security
Mr. Leech: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) effect on time taken for passengers to pass through security of the use of different types of scanners used to detect liquids. [321187]
Paul Clark: The Department for Transport has been working with the European Civil Aviation Conference and other international partners to test the effectiveness of liquid screening technologies and final results will be available by the end of the year.
The Department has also undertaken several studies on the time taken for passengers to pass through liquid detection systems, the results of which have been used to define options for the deployment of liquid detection machines and also to guide manufacturers on how the performance of the machines might be improved.
Departmental Advertising
Anne Main: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport how much his Department has spent on advertisements on television and commercial radio on campaigns run by the Department since 2005. [317100]
Chris Mole: The majority of television and radio advertising media expenditure by the Department for Transport is in support of the THINK! Road safety and the Act on CO2 campaigns. Among the Department's executive agencies, the most prominent use of advertising has been by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, in support of Electronic Vehicle Licensing, Sale of Marks and Vehicle Excise Enforcement (Continuous Registration).
The information sought is not held in the format requested by all parts of the Department and can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information available is included in the following table:
| £000 | ||||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
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