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