here - United Kingdom Parliament

837W
Written Answers
1 DECEMBER 2010
Written Answers
838W
Mr Vaizey: It is central Government’s role to empower
local communities and local authorities to make the
decisions that they feel are most appropriate for their
area.
The Department will continue to fund the arts through
Arts Council England, who provide support to a number
of regularly funded organisations across the country.
Broadband
Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture,
Olympics, Media and Sport what estimate he has made
of the cost to the economy of the introduction of
high-speed broadband services across the UK by 2015;
and if he will make a statement. [27683]
Mr Vaizey [holding answer 30 November 2010]: Overall,
we believe there will be a net benefit to the economy
from introduction of superfast broadband. The
Government have made no recent estimate of the costs
of deploying superfast broadband. The Broadband
Stakeholder Group recently published a complementary
report on the costs of fixed wireless and satellite broadband.
The Government have committed £530 million to
facilitate the delivery of universal broadband and stimulate
private sector investment to deliver the best superfast
broadband network in Europe by 2015
Co-production Agreement between the UK and Israel
Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for
Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what estimate he
has made of the revenue likely to be raised as a result of
the co-production agreement between the UK and
Israel in (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013 and
(e) 2014. [27239]
Mr Vaizey: We have estimated an average annual
benefit of between £0.5 million and £2.5 million. The
monetised benefits reflect spending on films which would
not have occurred without the treaty being in place. The
range reflects a lower case scenario where one film is
made every two years with £1 million UK spend, and
the upper case involves five films with £1 million spend
made every two years.
In addition, research indicates that film locations can
get up to a 30% boost in bookings from fans visiting
locations from their favourite film (e.g. the Harry Potter
films have helped boost tourism in the Northumberland
area by 16%). As well as clear tourism potential, there
are cultural benefits to the UK of greater film diversity.
Given that the film industry largely comprises Single
Purpose Vehicles it is difficult to predict in advance how
many businesses will make use of the treaty. We do not
believe it will be significantly higher than projections,
particularly in the first few years.
Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for
Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport whether he has
assessed the merits of extending to other countries the
provisions of the co-production agreement agreed with
Israel. [27248]
Mr Vaizey: The recently signed film co-production
agreements with Israel, and with the Palestine Liberation
Organisation (PLO) on behalf of the Palestinian Authority,
were the ninth and tenth agreements respectively to be
signed in full. The Department for Culture, Media and
Sport also has similar co-production agreements with
Australia, Canada, France, Jamaica, New Zealand, South
Africa, India and Morocco—the Moroccan treaty was
signed last year but has yet to be fully ratified by the
Moroccan authorities.
Copyright: Recordings
Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for
Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will assess
the likely effect on the British music industry of the
expiry of 50 years copyright on recordings in the next
10 years. [27347]
Mr Davey: I have been asked to reply.
I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 18
November 2010, Official Report, columns 889-890W.
There are no plans to undertake the work described.
Departmental Sponsorship
Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture,
Olympics, Media and Sport what expenditure (a) his
Department and (b) its non-departmental public
bodies incurred on sponsorship in each year since 1997
for which figures are available. [27520]
John Penrose: The Department does not provide
corporate sponsorship or branding for events but it
does encourage sponsorship of its sectors from the
world of business.
Data on expenditure incurred by non-departmental
public bodies is not held centrally. Accordingly, I have
asked the chief executive of each non-departmental
public body to respond to the hon. Member for Witham
directly. A copy of the responses will be placed in the
Libraries of both Houses.
Newsquest Media Group
Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture,
Olympics, Media and Sport what recent meetings (a)
Ministers and (b) civil servants in his Department have
had with directors of the Newsquest Media Group on
local media provision. [27336]
Mr Vaizey: As part of Nicholas Shott’s review of
local TV he undertook a visit to Scotland where he met
with a range of interested parties including Newsquest.
He was accompanied by a member of his steering group
and an official from the Department.
TREASURY
Air Passenger Duty
Richard Fuller: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer
(1) if he will change the basis for calculating air passenger
duty banding from London to capital city of destination
to London to destination; [26546]
(2) if he will change the air passenger duty banding
for destinations in the Caribbean to be the same as that
for destinations on the east coast of the United States.
[26545]