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National Lottery
6. Mr. Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage how many good causes have been awarded funds from the national lottery in (a) Milton Keynes and (b) Buckinghamshire. [33663]
Mr. Sproat: Nineteen national lottery awards, totalling more than £20.6 million, have been awarded to projects in Milton Keynes. Forty-nine projects in Buckinghamshire have received lottery funds totalling more than £23.3 million.
Mr. Butler: That shows a proper sense of priority between Milton Keynes and the rest of Buckinghamshire. May I particularly welcome the grant of something over £19 million in capital grant to build the new theatre in Milton Keynes, which has been planned for many years and for which there is a great demand? It represents a clear answer to those who say that all the money goes to London. Most of us live outside London and enjoy facilities outside London. The sums available are a testament to the work of Camelot, which I congratulate on behalf of the citizens of Milton Keynes on running the lottery to such good effect.
Mr. Sproat: I entirely share my hon. Friend's pleasure at the leisure centre going to Milton Keynes, and I shall ensure that his comments about Camelot are passed on to it.
Popular Music
7. Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will make a statement on the role of her Department in the promotion of the British popular music industry. [33664]
Mrs. Virginia Bottomley: The British music industry is enormously successful, nationally and world wide, adding to the enjoyment of music of all types. I meet representatives of the industry regularly.
Mr. Whittingdale: Will my right hon. Friend confirm that Britain leads the world in the pop music industry, which generates more than £1 billion of export earnings every year without a penny of Government subsidy? Does she agree that, although it is too often dismissed by music snobs, it is a great British success story?
Mrs. Bottomley: I endorse my hon. Friend's remarks. The industry is extremely successful. It employs about 50,000 people and, as he says, is a major export earner. The net surplus on overseas trade in 1993 was £571 million--similar to the net overseas earnings of the steel industry. Its success is widely recognised. How pleased we all were that George Martin received a knighthood in the recent honours list.
Mr. Maxton: Does the right hon. Lady agree that one of the best ways to encourage popular music is to ensure the continuation of the BBC's Radio 1, which encourages new talent and plays live popular music unlike any other radio station in the country? Will she therefore make it absolutely clear that she will always refuse any attempt to privatise Radio 1?
Mrs. Bottomley: I am astonished to hear the hon. Gentleman's question because, of course, since the Conservative party has been in power, Radio 5 has been launched to join Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3 and Radio 4. I am a little taken aback by his comments but delighted to endorse Radio 1's role, which, as he rightly said, is significant in promoting the pop industry, especially by offering opportunities to new performers.
Sport Academy
8. Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans she has for an academy of sport. [33665]
Mr. Sproat: We announced our intention to establish a British academy of sport in the sports policy statement, "Sport: Raising the Game" in July 1995. Following the Sports Council's recent consultation exercise, the council will shortly be issuing the prospectus for bids to establish the academy.
Mr. Amess: In the light of the great success in every respect of Euro 96, does my hon. Friend believe that an academy of sport will ensure future sporting triumphs? What sporting events are likely to be covered by it? Will he consider very carefully Basildon, Southend and Redbridge as sites for future sporting academies?
Mr. Sproat: I join my hon. Friend in congratulating all those who were responsible for Euro 96. I was particularly pleased that Mr. Terry Venables and the English team received the award for fair play last night. The British academy will be more concerned with the athletes who go there, but, of course, all sports will be able to apply to attend and I imagine that pretty well every sport will do so. I saw that Basildon and Redbridge had put forward bids and I wish them all the luck that they need in being successful.
Mr. Grocott: Although I agree with the Minister about the success of Euro 96, is not the best possible recruitment ground for future sporting talent enabling as many young people as possible to see sport at its best, which probably means seeing it on the major television channels? Given that the key reason why Euro 96 was such a national success was the fact that 27 million people saw the semi-final on terrestrial channels, how do the Government propose to change policy so that the pattern of recent
years, in which, recurrently, coverage of major events has been built up by terrestrial channels then sold to minority channels that few people can view, is substantially reversed?
Mr. Sproat: If the hon. Gentleman is present for the Report stage of the Broadcasting Bill, which starts in the House in about half an hour, and sticks it out until the end of the day, he will no doubt hear the Government's answer to that very important question.
Mr. John Carlisle: What progress has been made on creating an academy of cricket? Cricket, of course, is our prime summer sport, rather than what has been going on in the past few weeks. The MCC made progress under the chairmanship of Dennis Silk, but the idea was then dropped. What initiatives has my hon. Friend taken on this matter? Does he support the idea of an academy of cricket?
Mr. Sproat: We see a three-tier structure of the academies, with the British academy of sport at its peak, a number of regional institutes of sport, and academies of individual sports, of which the academy of cricket will be one. I have had various discussions with Dennis Silk and other members of the Test and County Cricket Board about an academy for cricket, but it must be a matter for the sport itself. If such an academy were to be set up, it would receive my enthusiastic support.
Mr. Pendry: Is the Minister aware that there is great relief in the sporting world that the Sports Council's consultation on the academy of sport has come to an end? He will be aware that the consultation revealed overwhelming support for the Labour party's approach--for a headquarters site with an enhanced regional network, as he just said. It is pleasing to note that, in recent weeks, the Minister has moved away from his original support for a huge one-off green-field site, as outlined in his article in The Daily Telegraph on 5 December 1995, and has come around to the opinion that we outlined. Now that the consultation has been completed, will he proceed with all speed in concert with all interested sporting bodies to ensure that our talented sports people get the academy that they richly deserve?
Mr. Sproat: If the hon. Gentleman refreshes his memory by reading the document of 14 July 1995, he will see half a dozen mentions of regional institutes of sport linked to the British academy. That was always my intention, and it is exactly what will happen. On his second point, we will be issuing a prospectus in the next few weeks.
Tourism
9. Mr. Couchman: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans she has to encourage tourism in the south-east of England. [33666]
Mr. Sproat: My Department's support for tourism is channelled through the statutory British Tourist Authority and the English tourist board. Through the ETB, support is made available to the 11 non-statutory regional tourist boards, including the South-East England tourist board.
Mr. Couchman: My hon. Friend will know that I represent part of the Medway towns, which are steeped in history and have many tourist attractions, from Rochester's Norman castle and cathedral to the Dickens festival which is held several times a year. In Gillingham and Chatham, we have the historic dockyard and the Royal Engineers museum. All these are looking to provide additional attractions, particularly the dockyard. When the national heritage memorial fund is looking at its application for lottery funding, will my hon. Friend bear it in mind that this particularly important group of ancient monuments needs more attractions to add to the already attractive prospects of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution museum, the ropery and others?
Mr. Sproat: Yes. Chatham probably has more historic buildings than any other town in Europe, and I will draw my hon. Friend's remarks to the attention of the appropriate distributor bodies for lottery funds so that they can consider whether to help.
Mrs. Anne Campbell: Is the Minister aware of the many reputable language schools that succeed in bringing hundreds of thousands of young tourists to the south-east every year? Is he also aware of their demands for regulation of the industry to prevent fly-by-night operations which often bring large and unsupervised groups of very young children into the city?
Mr. Sproat: I am aware of the two serious points raised by the hon. Lady, and I shall draw them to the attention of the English tourist board and the British Tourist Authority.
Dame Peggy Fenner: I was very pleased to hear my hon. Friend say that he is aware that Chatham dockyard probably has the largest number of historic buildings on one site in the south-east. Will he note that these buildings in the historic end of Chatham dockyard are all listed and that, consequently, we would not permit anybody to let them fall into disrepair? However, we shall need more money to help us to keep them up to date.
Mr. Sproat: I thank my hon. Friend for saying that. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has visited the sites to which he refers. I know that my right hon. Friend will be doing everything she properly can to ensure that the lottery distributor of funds and the tourist boards consider his plea.
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