§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to his answer of 10 May 1999 to the hon. Member for Chichester (Mr. Tyrie),Official Report, column 34, on what dates special advisers from his Department visited the United States of America; which of his special advisers took part in this visit; and if he will list the meetings which these special advisers held with members and officials of the US Government during this visit, specifying the dates and locations of each meeting and the names of the US ministers and officials at each meeting. [88438]
§ Mr. Chris SmithFrom 21 to 25 January 1998, special adviser Mr. John Newbigin visited the USA. He held no meetings with US Ministers or officials, but did meet with my right hon. Friend the Member for Coatbridge and Chryston (Mr. Clarke) and Steve Norris in Los Angeles. He also had meetings with John Calley, CEO of Sony Tristar, Bill Mechanic, CEO of 20th Century Fox, and senior executives at Paramount to discuss the emerging proposals from the Film Policy Review, in particular the idea of the All Industry Fund.
He also had meetings with Jack Valenti and most of the senior staff of the Motion Picture Association, also to discuss the Film Policy Review, and a meeting with Jeff Berg, the CEO of ICM who made his offer to help "sell" the film policy review to the US studios.
He had a presentation by Polygram of their activities in and plans for the US distribution market.
He had meetings with Paul Dimond, the UK Consul-General and with John Houlton to discuss the setting up of the LA Film Office. He attended a dinner at the Consulate to meet senior executives drawn from various sections of the US film industry.