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Tourism (National Parks)
6. Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what support her Department gives to encourage sustainable tourism in national parks.[28762]
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley: I am committed to the principle of sustainable tourism. The English tourist board has contributed almost £1 million of pump-priming funding to a number of local sustainable tourism initiatives across the country during the past five years, many of which are located in national parks. The Government have published guidance on sustainable tourism in the national parks.
Mr. Hendry: I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that reply. Does she agree that we should encourage tourism in our national parks without damaging their magnificent beauty and their natural environments? Will she join me in welcoming the £217,000 grant made available last week by the national lottery sports fund to repair and refurbish some 10,000 m of paths in the Peak district? Does not that demonstrate how the national lottery is not only bringing benefits to tourists but contributing directly to preserving our environment? Will my right hon. Friend take a break from visiting our seaside piers and find an early opportunity to visit the Peak district national park instead?
Mrs. Bottomley: I shall certainly take up my hon. Friend's invitation. The Environment Select Committee stressed specifically the positive economic benefits of leisure and tourism in rural areas. It said also that, compared with other activities, tourism and leisure do not cause significant widespread ecological damage to the countryside. My hon. Friend is well aware that efforts must be taken to preserve and protect the natural environment in areas that attract many tourists. Like him, I welcome a further practical contribution from the national lottery.
The Sports Council has made 1,670 awards, and so far it is winning the competition for the number of awards granted. This excellent scheme will protect the countryside and provide facilities for walkers.
Mr. MacShane:
Is the Secretary of State aware that one of the most important ways of accessing national parks is via public transport? Would she care to join my family next week when we take the train from Sheffield to Edale in the heart of the Peak district and leave the car at home? Will she ask her colleague the Secretary of State for Transport to stop rail privatisation, which will increase the number of cars entering our national parks?
Mrs. Bottomley:
Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will join me in commending the Millennium Commission which has announced the construction of 2,500 miles of cycleways up and down the country. That will ensure that we have a truly environmentally friendly means of transport in the next century.
7. Lady Olga Maitland:
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many art galleries have been awarded funds from the national lottery.[28763]
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley:
Art galleries throughout the United Kingdom have benefited from national lottery grants. To date, there have been 34 awards for a total of £74 million, ranging from £50 million to the Tate gallery of modern art at Bankside to £59,865 to the Focal Point gallery in Southend-on-Sea.
Lady Olga Maitland:
I thank my right hon. Friend for her very encouraging news. Can she confirm that that proves that not only flagship galleries such as the Tate gallery and National gallery benefit from the national lottery, but that dozens of small galleries throughout the country also benefit, I understand, to the tune of £2 million? Can she confirm that there is very much more to come? The decision to make those disbursements is taken by the Museums and Galleries Commission, which is to be congratulated on its excellent work in keeping such marvellous work alive.
Mrs. Bottomley:
I share my hon. Friend's commendation of the Museums and Galleries Commission, which is involved in ensuring that standards are maintained and new developments pursued. She is right to say that we want, not only the big battalions, but the small platoons to be funded by the national lottery. That focus on local involvement and participation is the message of our document "People Taking Part", and on the museum side it is very much the message of what is likely to be an extremely successful national museums week this week.
Mr. Pike:
Does the Secretary of State accept that museums and art galleries such as Towneley hall in Burnley are extremely important to local people? Will she do everything possible to support them and ensure that they continue to receive support from the national lottery, to help them to provide art locally, where it is accessible to people, near where they live?
School Sport
8. Mr. Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what progress she has made in promoting sport in schools.[28764]
Mr. Sproat: My Department, the Department for Education and Employment and the Sports Council are taking forward the initiatives, set out in "Sport: Raising the Game", aimed at promoting sport in schools, and beyond. Full details of progress made will be set out in the follow-up sports policy statement, which will be published in July.
Mr. Brazier: That is extremely welcome news for all those who believe in developing team spirit and character among our young people.
Is my hon. Friend aware, as a particular enthusiast for schoolgirl cricket, of the connection between this question and question No. 12? Does he remember who said:
"At cricket, her kin will lose or win--
Mr. Sproat:
No. I had either not known or had forgotten the quotation. My hon. Friend is making a tradition of such apposite quotations. I can tell him, however, that I am all in favour of girls playing cricket at school. If the England men's cricket team were as good as the England girls' cricket team, it might do much better.
She and her maids, on grass and clover,
Eleven maids out--eleven maids in--
And perhaps an occasional 'maiden over!'"?
Mr. Pendry: Is the Minister aware that he has just given a complacent reply to a very complacent question? Is he further aware that Conservative Governments have allowed school sport to decline to an unprecedented level during the past 17 years, overseeing the flogging off of 5,000 playing fields, halving the number of physical education teachers and presiding over a fall of three quarters in the number of extra-curricular sporting fixtures?
On the latter point, the Minister will be aware of the understandable statement made by the National Union of Teachers today threatening a complete boycott by its members of participation in out-of-hours school sport until adequate insurance provision is in place, following a recent court decision against a rugby referee over damages. Will he therefore be more proactive than his counterpart in the Department for Education and Employment, and call together all interested parties as swiftly as possible in an attempt to resolve that worrying situation, described as a grey area by an education spokesman today? Otherwise, the objectives of "Sport: Raising the Game" to increase participation in sport in schools will be merely a pipe-dream.
Mr. Sproat:
On the hon. Gentleman's point about insurance, the situation is serious, and I did read with great interest what the National Union of Teachers spokesman said.
I understand that it is the duty of school governors to take out insurance to cover teachers. That may set minds at rest regarding some problems that beset teachers, but it does not cover the overall problem of the risks of sport in
schools, which we shall consider closely. We shall have a chance to return to that and other matters when we have a sports debate on Friday 7 June.
Sir Alan Haselhurst:
Does my hon. Friend accept that cricket poses particular problems for schools because it takes longer to play than other sports and because school transport arrangements often conflict with the needs of those taking part? Will the Government look for innovative ideas and do everything possible to revive cricket in our schools?
Mr. Sproat:
The lottery can now allocate money to provide transport for schools, as long as it is available to the community as well as to the schools. In addition, under new criteria, every physical education teacher will be required to be equipped to take competitive team games, including one mainstream winter game and one mainstream summer game--and that definitely includes cricket.
10. Mrs. Anne Campbell:
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans she has to promote equal opportunities for employees of broadcasters awarded licences under the Broadcasting Bill.[28766]
Mr. Sproat:
Under the Broadcasting Bill, licences issued to television multiplex providers and broadcasters and to national radio multiplex providers and broadcasters will include conditions to promote equal opportunities for all employees and fair treatment for disabled persons. The conditions will be enforced by the Independent Television Commission. All licence holders will be subject to general equal opportunities legislation.
Mrs. Campbell:
Is the Minister aware that no body has an obligation to promote equal opportunities among the independent programme producers? Does he consider it satisfactory that 10 of the 16 channel 3 licensees have no female staff at board level, and that four of those have no women at senior management level either?
Mr. Sproat:
No, I am not aware of the statistics just given by the hon. Lady. I can, however, inform the hon. Lady that, in Carlton, GMTV and Channel 4, the majority of employees are women. As the hon. Lady will know from our debates on the Broadcasting Bill, the number of women is increasing in other areas as well--and I hope that that continues.
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