Results 1-20 of 6,601 for speaker:Margaret Hodge

Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: Museums and Galleries: Visits (12 Nov 2009)

Margaret Hodge: The following table shows the number of visits to free DCMS sponsored museums and galleries in England: 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 London 27,508,008 25,807,462 30,536,423 30,832,671 30,769,560 North West 2,969,618 2,993,574 3,055,629 4,073,001 4,852,761 South East 186,080 192,562 193,596 210,897 185,386 Yorkshire 1,846,206 1,604,372...

Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: Public Libraries: Internet (12 Nov 2009)

Margaret Hodge: Information on the number of libraries open for more than 10 hours a week and providing internet access to the public is available for the last 10 years in the annual public library statistics published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). That information is available at a regional level from 2001-02, and from 2006-07 is provided as a percentage of libraries...

Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: Avebury: Conservation (11 Nov 2009)

Margaret Hodge: Over the last year, my hon. Friend the Member for Stevenage (Barbara Follett) has jointly chaired the Stonehenge Project Board which oversees plans to improve the environment and facilities at Stonehenge including closure of the A344. The Government recently announced a £10 million contribution to enable English Heritage to build new, environmentally sustainable visitor facilities which...

Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: Departmental Travel (11 Nov 2009)

Margaret Hodge: The Department does not hold or record any information on miles travelled by car for either ministers or officials centrally. This information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. The Department also does not hold any records with reference to mileage on rail and air travel prior to October 2007. However the following information collected since October 2007 can be provided:...

Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: Government Art Collection: Lost Property (11 Nov 2009)

Margaret Hodge: The Government Art Collection is currently involved in two legal claims on works of art previously registered as lost from its holdings. These are subject to ongoing legal processes and negotiations, which would be prejudiced (and possibly aborted altogether) by the disclosure of any further details at this stage.

Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: Public Buildings: Finance (11 Nov 2009)

Margaret Hodge: The amount released from these bodies' reserves to pay for their extensions is dependent upon a range of factors including the final cost of the project and the amount of funding that can be raised in other ways; for instance, through donations. The Department approves the plans that these bodies produce and monitors the funding sources used throughout the life of the project to ensure that...

Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: VisitBritain: Internet (11 Nov 2009)

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 10 November 2009 VisitBritain has advised that they recorded the following number of page hits to their website for the following years as outlined in the following table. Number of page hits (million) 2009 3,662.4 2008 3,073.8 2007 2,223.6 2006 2,136.4 2005 1308 2004 1,220.8 2003 697.6 VisitBritain do not hold data on page hits prior to...

Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: World Heritage Sites (11 Nov 2009)

Margaret Hodge: My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State will be visiting UK Heritage Sites as part of a series of regional visits. His predecessor visited the Tower of London World Heritage Site in November last year. May I remind the hon. Member for Romford, that the House of Commons itself is part of the Palace of Westminster, St Margaret's Church and Westminster Abbey World Heritage Site, one of the...

Written Answers — Culture Media and Sport: Departmental Air Travel (10 Nov 2009)

Margaret Hodge: holding answer 9 November 2009 During 2008-09 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport made a total of 65 domestic flight bookings at a cost of £12,077.00.

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Spoliation (9 Nov 2009) has video

Margaret Hodge: I congratulate my hon. Friend on his achievement in piloting the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Bill through the Commons. I also congratulate Lord Janner on leading the support for it in the other place. I am delighted that the Bill, which the Government were pleased to support and which received all-party support throughout, will receive Royal Assent shortly. The 17 institutions...

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Spoliation (9 Nov 2009) has video

Margaret Hodge: I hope that, in co-operation with my hon. Friend—because of his efforts in steering the Bill through Parliament—we shall be able to provide the maximum publicity when the Bill finally receives Royal Assent. I can tell him that Ministers have never turned down any advice from the Spoliation Advisory Committee in the past, and I do not expect that to change in the future.

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Spoliation (9 Nov 2009) has video

Margaret Hodge: I agree that we should act as swiftly as possible. The ability to receive financial compensation rather than the return of artefacts already exists; indeed, the problem was that financial compensation was the only form of compensation that people could receive. My hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore) and I felt that that was grossly unfair. The issue was brought to our attention...

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Listed Buildings (9 Nov 2009) has video

Margaret Hodge: Ministers and officials regularly receive representations on listing issues, including funding, from a wide range of partners. More than £26.5 million was made available via English Heritage grant schemes in 2008-09 for the repair of listed buildings and other heritage assets.

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Listed Buildings (9 Nov 2009) has video

Margaret Hodge: I am very happy to meet my hon. Friend in the near future to discuss the issues and I know that she has written to me about them. She raised two issues of substance. The first is the delay in considering the listing of buildings. We try to get the decisions out within six months, but that does not always happen and we should strive continuously to improve that. The second issue is the balance...

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Listed Buildings (9 Nov 2009) has video

Margaret Hodge: I hope that the hon. Gentleman, with his great interest in these issues, will accept that the investment that we have made in churches and cathedrals over the past decade or so has been successful in dealing with some of the worst dilapidations that have occurred in those wonderful heritage assets. I assure him that I make constant representations to my right hon. and hon. Friends in the...

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Listed Buildings (9 Nov 2009) has video

Margaret Hodge: I thank my hon. Friend for his question. That particular building has not been drawn to my attention so far, so I am grateful to him for doing so. I shall look in detail at all the representations I receive in coming to my decision.

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Listed Buildings (9 Nov 2009) has video

Margaret Hodge: Let me talk first about heritage funding. I would have thought that Opposition Members would support the Government as we try to ensure that investment in our heritage goes to supporting the assets rather than the bureaucracy of particular organisations. Although it might be true that English Heritage's funding has kept level over the past few years, the investment in our buildings has...

Oral Answers to Questions — Culture, Media and Sport: Overseas Tourists (9 Nov 2009) has video

Margaret Hodge: The number of overseas tourists who visited England in each of the past three years is as follows: in 2006, 27,586,288; in 2007, 27,794,425; in 2008, 27,291,584. Figures for 2009 show a downward trend in numbers, reflecting the global recession and particularly a downturn in business tourism. However, spend by those tourists is up by 2 per cent. compared to last year. In the month of July,...