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Dept of Health

Answer

Mr. Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what the cost to the taxpayer was of satellite and cable subscriptions in his Department's buildings; [185862] (2) if he will list the premium channels that his Department subscribes to. [185863] Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department's building at 79 Whitehall (Richmond House) is connected by cable link to the parliamentary annunciator system from the Palace of Westminster. This link was in place when Richmond House opened in 1988, having first been established in 1969 in a previous headquarters building. The purpose of this is to provide Ministers, their Private Offices and other staff access to debates in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Currently, this system is free of charge and comes in the form of a package of 24 audio and visual channels, which provide access to a range of broadcast services in addition to the parliamentary channels. Of these, Sky Sports is the only service which would be categorised as a premium channel. Separate from this, the Central Office of Information also provides a link for viewing the parliamentary committee broadcasts, at a current annual cost to the Department of £27,739.40, including VAT. In her reply to a similar question from the hon. Member for South Suffolk (Mr. Yeo) on 23 April 2002, Official Report, column 241W, my hon. Friend the Member for Salford (Ms Blears) attributed this separate charge to the provision of the annunciator system. This was based on wrong advice, arising from a misunderstanding at the time about the operation of the system. I have written to the hon. Member apologising for the mistake and drawing his attention to this reply. A copy of that letter has been placed in the Library.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

425 c139-41W; 185862;185863

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Fees and charges Government departments Television Television channels Satellite broadcasting Department of Health Cable television

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk