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To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Woodspring constituency, the effects on Woodspring of his Department's policies and actions since 2nd May 1997. - Inc figures.

Asked by

Lord Smith of Finsbury (Labour)

Answering body

Home Office

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

7 February 2005

For answer on

28 February 2005

Answered on

28 February 2005

Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Woodspring constituency, the effects on Woodspring of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [215979] Fiona Mactaggart: The Government have put in place policies in the areas of crime reduction, antisocial behaviour, policing and active communities that are yielding considerable benefits for the Woodspring constituency, as well as for all parts of the UK. For example, between March 1997 and March 2004, the number of police officers in the Avon and Somerset police force increased by 428 from 2,989 to 3,417. The Government's introduction of Community Support Officers (CSOs) in 2002 has put 99 CSOs on Avon and Somerset streets to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour. Between 1997 and 2003-04, Avon and Somerset has seen a reduction in recorded domestic burglary crimes of 33 per cent. and in recorded vehicle crimes of 30 per cent. Avon and Somerset police force will receive £170 million in general grants for 2005-06, an increase of 4.8 per cent. (£7.8 million) over 2004-05. General grants funding to Avon and Somerset has increased by 26.1 per cent. between 1997-98 and 2005-06. In addition to general grants, Avon and Somerset will also receive around £17.7 million in specific grants funding for targeted initiatives and capital provision in 2005-06. The distribution of resources locally is a matter for the police authority and the chief constable. As crime prevention requires action across communities, every area has had a local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) since 1998 which brings together the police, health services, drugs agencies and council and community representatives to decide how to prevent and deter crime and antisocial behaviour. The Crime Reduction Programme (CRP) was a pioneering Government intervention programme which ran for three years from April 1999 in England and Wales and took an evidence-based approach to crime reduction. Grants of over £340 million were allocated to over 1,470 projects, including CCTV, under 20 initiatives that formed part of the programme. One CCTV project in the North Somerset CDRP area (which includes Woodspring constituency) received a total of £64,000 from the CRP. Since 2001, successive initiatives have provided direct funding to each of the 376 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships in England and Wales. These initiatives include Communities Against Drugs, the Safer Communities Initiative, the Small Retailers in Deprived Areas scheme and the Building Safer Communities Fund. Since 2001, a total of £890,000 has been allocated to North Somerset CDRP under these initiatives. A further £1.98 million has been provided over the two years 2003-04 and 2004-05 to the Home Office Regional Director in the South West for CDRP capacity building across the region. It is estimated that out of a million active offenders, 100,000 have three or more convictions and are responsible for half of all crime. There is a Prolific and other Priority Offenders (PPO) scheme in North Somerset set up to target those offenders who cause a disproportionate amount of crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour in the community. The Government's Crime Reduction Website provides further information on the work being done to reduce crime across the country, including information about action and results in local areas. It is available at http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk. New legislation has given local agencies a raft of powers, from antisocial behaviour orders to local dispersal orders and crack house closure powers, to work with local people to tackle antisocial behaviour and nuisance. In North Somerset a total of 20 antisocial behaviour orders have been issued as of February 2005. Local contacts for tackling antisocial behaviour can be found on http://www.together.gov.uk/authority.asp. Tackling Drug Misuse is a priority of this Government and their policy is set out in the 10-year National Drug Strategy launched in 1998 and updated in December 2002. (A copy of the Updated Drug Strategy 2002 is held in the Library.) Under this, the Government have invested substantially in measures to reduce the harms caused by illegal drugs, focusing on the four strands of: reducing the supply of illegal drugs; preventing young people from becoming problematic drug users; providing effective treatment to all who need it; and reducing drug-related crime. Direct annual funding nationally to tackle drug misuse amounted to £1,244 million in 2003-04, rising to £1,344 million in 2004-05. North Somerset has seen a significant increase in direct funding for tackling drugs, in particular for drug treatment services and the throughcare and aftercare elements of the Drugs Intervention Programme. In 2003-04 the allocation for North Somerset Drug Action Team amounted to £793,149 rising to £976,550 in 2004-05. Details of action taken to tackle drugs in the Woodspring constituency can be obtained from the North Somerset Drugs Action Team, for contact details see http://www.drugs.gov.uk/ Links/DrugActionTeams. The Government are working to ensure that citizens, communities and the voluntary sector are more fully engaged in tackling social problems, and there is more equality of opportunity and respect for people of all races and religions. Active community participation in England has increased by 1.5 million people between 2001 and 2003. Charities have been supported more effectively, and £125 million is being invested across the country through the futurebuilders fund in voluntary and community organisations that help provide valuable public services. Advice on ways to engage local people in helping their communities is available on the Active Citizenship Centre website http://www.active- citizen.org.uk. This year, 2005, is the year of the Volunteer which is being delivered by the Home Office in partnership with Community Service Volunteers and Volunteering England. This will include a whole range of events in local communities across the country that aim to celebrate the contribution which volunteers make to the quality of people's lives, and encourage more people to volunteer. We are particularly keen to encourage young people, black and minority ethnic groups, those with no qualifications and disabled people to get involved. More details can be found at www.yearofthevolunteer.org. Detailed information on the impact of Home Office policies across the full range of responsibilities is set out in the Home Office Annual Report and in the Strategic Plan for 2004-08, available on the Home Office website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk.

Date

28 February 2005

Reference

215979; 431 c1003-6W;431 c997-1002W

House

House of Commons

Dept for Culture Media and Sport

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Woodspring constituency, the effects on Woodspring of her Department's policies and actions since 2nd May 1997. - Inc figures.

Asked by

Brian Sedgemore (Labour)

Answering body

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Tabled on

8 February 2005

For answer on

21 February 2005

Answered on

21 February 2005

Mr. Sedgemore: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Woodspring constituency, the effects on Woodspring of her Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [216017] Mr. Caborn: The Department'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 Department's policies and actions have had a significant impact on Woodspring since 2 May 1997. In order to achieve our challenging targets for increased participation in sport and physical activity, we have invested in thousands of new and refurbished public sports facilities. In 2002 we launched the first ever comprehensive national physical education, school sport and club links strategy with an investment of £459 million. A school sport partnership involving five School Sport Co-ordinators and 35 Primary Link teachers is based at Wyvern in Woodspring. To achieve our challenging targets for increase participation in sport and physical activity, we have invested in thousands of new and refurbished public sports facilities. Sports facilities in Woodspring have benefited from ten Sport England Lottery grants totalling £2,218,978. We have increased our national funding to the arts in real terms by 60 per cent. from £199 million in 1998-99 to £367 million in 2004-05. Between 1998-99 and 2003-04 Arts Council England, South West grants increased from £4.3 million to £12.2 million. In 2005-06 the total Arts Council England investment in the South West will be £14.1 million. Woodspring has benefited from this increased funding to arts projects, organisations and individuals. Culture Online was launched in 2002 to increase access to, and participation in, arts and culture. Many of its projects are aimed at children of school age and at audiences that might not otherwise participate in arts and culture, including those who do not easily have access to arts and culture, people from deprived communities and people with particular educational or physical needs. People in Woodspring will be among those who benefit from Culture Online. Between 2002 and 2004, £13 million was allocated to fund 20 Culture Online projects. Through our commitment to public service broadcasting we have helped to foster an environment in which a creative, commercially successful broadcasting industry provides a wide range of UK-made, high quality original programmes catering for all viewers and listeners. We have ensured a secure funding base for the BBC and Channel 4, while giving them the freedom to develop commercial operations which complement and support their public service remit. The Communications Act 2003 includes provisions to ensure that public service broadcasting will continue to have a key role to play in the digital future. Our support for, and promotion of, the film and broadcasting industries through the work of the Regional Screen Agencies have contributed to the general success of film-making and television activity outside London. Last year 24 productions were shot in Somerset adding £333,000 to the local economy, including Woodspring. In November 2000 we introduced free television licences for people aged 75 or over. Information on the number of beneficiaries by constituency is not available. However, according to Department for Work and Pensions records, the number of households in Woodspring with at least one person aged 75 or over claiming the winter fuel payment in 2003-04 was 6,085. We have changed the licensing laws to allow people to hold and attend commercial dances on Sunday, to make it easier for restaurants to open an hour later, and to relax the alcohol licensing hours from 11pm on new year's eve to 11am on new year's day in all future years; and we have given the police greater powers to take action against under-age drinking and disorderly and noisy licensed premises. The Licensing Act 2003, when fully implemented, will introduce a streamlined, consistent and fair licensing regime for the provision of alcohol, public entertainment and late night refreshment. It will provide greater choice for consumers, bring regeneration and increased employment opportunities and protect local residents whose lives have been blighted by disturbance and antisocial behaviour. The Gambling Bill will, when implemented, transfer responsibility for licensing gambling premises to local authorities. Local people and businesses will be able to make representations about applications for licenses and local authorities will be able to decide not to issue licenses for casino premises. These changes will give local communities, including those in Woodspring, a greater say in the regulation of gambling in their area. Tourism in Woodspring has benefited from Government-funded marketing activity. In April 2003 we established VisitBritain with a new domestic marketing remit for England, and we gave strategic responsibility for tourism development to the Regional Development Agencies, including South West Regional Development Agency. These changes, together with VisitBritain's successful marketing activities in promoting Britain abroad as an attractive tourist destination, benefit all parts of the country, including Woodspring. English Heritage has awarded grants worth £57,885 to five buildings and organisations in Woodspring since 2 May 1997, including Tickenham Court, Clivedon and the Nailsea Glassworks, Nailsea. In common with all of those in the United Kingdom, the public library branches in Woodspring constituency are connected to the internet through the People's Network which was funded through a £120 million Lottery grant and which has put all the United Kingdom's public libraries on-line. In addition, the Department is funding the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council with £5 million over three years to implement the Framework for the Future Action Plan and Library Improvement Programme, which is designed to encourage improvement across the public libraries sector in England. The Department has been an energetic advocate of the community and informal learning value of public libraries. North Somerset council has recognised this value and as part of a consortium (including North Somerset, Somerset County and the Unitary Authorities of Bath and North-East Somerset and South Gloucestershire) took part in an initiative called Foursite Internet for a new Era the result of which was the installation of 24/7 phone lines, internet access by mobile phone and a web catalogue system, which was shared across the consortium. Libraries in Woodspring benefited from this project which received a total award of £147,750 from the DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund in 1998-99. Information from the National Lottery distributors indicates that since 2 May 1997 Woodspring has benefited from over 176 awards totalling over £9.3 million. Of these, 21 awards worth over £1.4 million were made by the New Opportunities Fund which was established by the Government in 1999. The New Opportunities Fund merged with the Community Fund in June 2004 to form the Big Lottery Fund.

Date

21 February 2005

Reference

431 c9-11W; 216017

House

House of Commons

Dept of the Environment

To comment on the future of Woodspring District Council under the draft Avon Structural Change Order; if it will have the functions currently exercised by (a) county or (b) district councils; how it will be treated for ceremonial purposes; and what assessment he has made as to the effect of...

Asked by

Roger Berry (Labour)

Answering body

Department of the Environment

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

16 February 1995

Reference

254 c801W

House

House of Commons

Prime Minister

When he intends to pay an official visit to Woodspring. (Failed OPQ). - No plans to do so.

Asked by

Liam Fox (Conservative)

Answering body

Prime Minister

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

12 May 1994

Reference

243 c223W;243 c221W

House

House of Commons

Untitled Written question

What action HMG propose to take with regard to Woodspring District Council under Part 1 of the Local Government Act 1988.

Asked by

Lord Norrie (Conservative)

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

8 November 1990

Reference

523 c1-2WA

House

House of Lords

Untitled Written question

What action he proposes to take in regard to Woodspring District Council under Part I of the Local Government Act 1988.

Asked by

Allan Stewart (Conservative)

Answering body

Department of the Environment

Type

Written questions

Status

Answered

Date

8 November 1990

Reference

180 c14W

House

House of Commons

Librarians' tools

Type

House

Session

Year

Department

Member

Primary member

Answering member

Legislative stage

Legislation

Subject

Publisher