§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if the public service agreement target for the transfer of responsibility for underwater archaeology was achieved on time; [46093]
(2) which public service agreement targets scheduled to be met in 2002 will not be achieved by the due date. [44814]
§ Dr. HowellsThe transfer of responsibilities in respect of underwater archaeology to English Heritage is dependent on legislation to extend English Heritage's remit out to the limit of the territorial waters of the UK adjacent to England. Provision for this was included in the Government's Culture and Recreation Bill which fell before the last election, thus preventing us meeting this element of the PSA target. Similar provisions are included in Baroness Anelay's National Heritage Bill which is currently before Parliament and is receiving Government support. We are hopeful that the transfer will take place in the near future.
Information about progress on PSA targets will be published in the Department's 2002 Departmental Report.
§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if the PSA target that 80 per cent. of public libraries should have Internet connections by 2002 will be met on time. [46095]
§ Dr. HowellsThe £100 million lottery funded programme to connect all public libraries to the Internet is proceeding well with 71 per cent. of libraries in England now online and is expected to meet the year end deadline by which time all libraries will be online.