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Single Currency
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food on which items of expenditure managed by his Department savings are made when the value of the pound increases in relation to the euro; and what level of savings have been generated in this way since the introduction of the euro. [134025]
Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 23 October 2000]: Where the value of the pound increases in relation to the euro, this decreases support to farmers under the CAP, but it is impossible to isolate savings that may have been generated solely by currency fluctuations. Many other influences affect expenditure on agriculture, including world prices and climate.
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if the Chancellor of the Exchequer has sought his Department's advice on the optimum exchange rate for Britain's membership of the single currency. [134023]
Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 23 October 2000]: The rate at which sterling would enter the single currency would need to be consistent with economic fundamentals in the UK and compatible with sustainable convergence between the UK and the euro economies. This was the basis for the decision on the conversion rates of currencies which joined in the first wave.
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food which items of expenditure managed by his Department are directly dependent on the exchange rate between the pound and the euro. [134026]
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Mr. Nick Brown: All CAP payments may be affected by currency fluctuations.
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what assumptions the Government have made on the pound-euro exchange rate in setting budgets for expenditure managed by his Department. [134027]
Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 23 October 2000]: Assumptions underpinning Government decisions about expenditure were set out in the Spending Review 2000.
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) what assessment his Department has made of the impact of joining the single currency on British agriculture; [134019]
- (2) what assessment he has made of the net advantages and disadvantages to British farmers of joining the single currency at the present time; [134018]
(3) what priority the Government places on the needs of agriculture in deciding whether and when to join the single currency. [134020]
Mr. Nick Brown [holding answer 23 October 2000]: The determining factor underpinning any Government decision on membership of the single currency is whether the economic case for the UK joining is clear and unambiguous on the basis of the Government's five economic tests. The Government have said that they will produce another assessment of the five economic tests early in the next Parliament.
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
National Lottery
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the five beneficiaries who have received the largest sums in lottery grants. [134480]
Mr. Chris Smith [holding answer 26 October 2000]: According to the National Lottery Awards Database the five National Lottery projects which have been awarded the largest sums in Lottery grants are:
- the New Millennium Experience Company;
- the English National Stadium, Wembley;
- the Eastlands Sport City (incorporating the Commonwealth Games Stadium and the United Kingdom Sports Institute North West Network Centre);
- the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; and
- the Lowry Centre.
- (2) what steps he is taking to ensure impartiality in the award of the new licence to operate the National Lottery; [134601]
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(3) if he will make a statement on the award of the new licence to operate the National Lottery. [134599]
Mr. Chris Smith [holding answer 26 October 2000]: I appointed Lord Burns to the National Lottery Commission on 12 October 2000 and I gave him a clear remit, with the other Commissioners, to conduct the selection process for the next National Lottery licence with absolute fairness and impartiality between the applicants.
The Commission announced on 25 October 2000 that it is about to begin evaluating both revised bids. It expects to say by mid-November whether the bids meet the statutory criteria of ensuring the Lottery is operated with all due propriety and protecting the interests of players. If the Commission concludes that only one bid meets these criteria, the announcement of the preferred bidder could be made around mid-November.
If the Commission concludes that both bids meet these criteria, then it will consider which bid would secure the greatest returns to good causes. It will do this without preconceptions and without regard to the conclusions it reached on this matter prior to its announcement on 23 August 2000. It would hope to make an announcement of the outcome by mid-December.
The Commission had originally hoped to announce its preferred bidder by the end of June, but subsequently asked the applicants for more information and postponed its announcement until August. On 23 August 2000, the Commission announced that neither of the two bidders met the statutory criteria for the award of the licence.
Free TV Licences
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what measures he has taken to inform people aged 75 years or over of their eligibility for a free television licence; and if he will make a statement on the handling of queries. [136028]
Janet Anderson: TV Licensing, on behalf of the BBC, has undertaken a number of activities to inform people aged 75 or over of their eligibility for a free television licence and what they needed to do to apply. Publicity has also been aimed at people who have already applied for their free licence, but who needed some reminders and reassurances about when their licence is due to arrive. The activities include:
- Specific direct mailings to all households and changes to existing stationery to include application forms for a short term licence or Over 75 television licence.
- Two BBC television trails targeted specifically at people aged 75 or over have been running on BBC One and BBC Two since May and will continue to run until mid-November.
- BBC Local Radio trails targeted specifically at people aged 75 or over. These trails ran between June and July and from September to the end of October.
- Press advertisements in both national and targeted press in September and October with further press advertisements planned for targeted press during November.
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Information has been provided on a dedicated Ceefax page which will continue to run until mid-November.
- Liaison with key caring agencies and provision of leaflets highlighting concession details.
On the handling of inquiries, the BBC has anticipated that applicants are likely to contact TV Licensing with queries about the licences they have been sent, such as the method of calculating the refund, or the validity of the licence for other members of their household. The BBC has tried, as far as possible, to answer these questions in the letter accompanying the licence, but experience shows that many people will still contact TV Licensing with queries. In addition, the BBC says it will be hard to predict the volume of calls from people whose circumstances or their address have changed, and the new applications which might be prompted by the issue of the licence. The BBC, therefore, has in place:
- Automated messages on the helplines to answer the most common queries, and to reassure people still waiting for their licence
- Call centre capacity to a maximum of 260 operators answering queries
- The ability to take people's telephone numbers and call them back outside peak call times.
Responses to the licence mailing are, however, hard to predict, and publicity or press activity could cause peaks of telephone calls that exceed the capacity of the call centres at any given time. The cost of this extra capacity would be £250,000 a week. The BBC has chosen to balance cost versus demand and believes it has set it at a sensible level. The BBC will, however, be reviewing this daily and will reconsider its funding on a day-to-day basis.
Millennium Dome
Mrs. Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if the Minister for Tourism, Film and Broadcasting was advised by the New Millennium Experience Company that the information given in her written answer of 4 July 2000, Official Report, column 149W, on the proportion of sponsorship payment due to the New Millennium Experience Company in respect of the Millennium Dome, was factually correct. [136147]
Janet Anderson: Yes. However, I have now been advised by the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC) that the information that they gave me was not correct. The answer should have been:
- All sponsor contracts are individually tailored for each sponsorship, including phasing of sponsorship payments. As at 1 March, under the terms of their sponsorship agreement, Tesco were due to pay £1.75 million plus VAT. Of that, £1 million (plus VAT) had been received on 12 May 2000, leaving a balance of £750,000. The contract with Boots was nearing finalisation and the company had paid amounts in advance of signature. The Boots contract has now been signed and all due payments have been made.
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