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Child Care Workers

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what guidance she has issued to the voluntary sector in respect of (a) training arrangements and (b) checks on the suitability of personnel working with children. [4361]

Mr. Sproat: The Department of National Heritage makes grants totalling nearly £12 million annually to organisations which support a healthy, cost-effective voluntary sector and promote volunteering. A number of these organisations are funded to provide a range of services to other voluntary organisations, including training.

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Departments may issue guidance to voluntary organisations working in areas relevant to Departmental interests. For instance in 1993 the Home Office, in consultation with the Department of Health, the then Department for Education and the Welsh Office published "Safe from Harm: A Code of Practice for Safeguarding the Welfare of Children in Voluntary Organisations in England and Wales". The code offered a guide to good policy and practice in areas such as recruitment, supervision and management, and set out recommendations and statements of principle which voluntary organisations are asked to consider in the light of their own particular circumstances.

Guidance to voluntary organisations seeking checks on the suitability of personnel working with children was issued in 1994--Home Office Circular 42/94, Department of Health Local Authority Circular (94)22, Welsh Office Circular 64/94--"Protection of Children: Disclosure of Criminal Background to Voluntary Sector Organisations" which set out the criteria for obtaining criminal record checks for use by voluntary organisations which were members of the voluntary organisations consultancy service.

Copies of both the code of practice and the circular are available in the Library of the House.

Proposals for new arrangements for access to criminal record checks are in the Police Bill, currently before Parliament.

Elite Athletes

Mr. Simon Coombs: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will make a statement on scholarship funding for elite athletes. [4693]

Mr. Sproat: The Government are committed, as part of their overarching strategy for sport, to seeing our leading sportsmen and sportswomen compete successfully in the olympics and other international events. The launch of the world class performance programme, this month, will provide support across the United Kingdom to our most talented athletes competing up to olympic and world championship level.

Up to £35 million a year will be available through the programme. Around half of this money will go to governing bodies for technical support services, such as coaching, altitude and warm weather training; the other half will go to individual athletes to cover normal living costs, personal training and travelling costs, allocated on the basis of need. Average awards to individual athletes are expected to be around £16,000 to £17,000, but the size of the individual awards will depend on personal circumstances. In return for lottery awards the sports concerned and the athletes who benefit, will be required to make a commitment to excellence in training and competition which will be closely monitored.

The world class performance programme is the first of only four separate revenue grant programmes. The three further programmes will be designed to attract and stage major international events in the UK, to provide community coaching and leadership schemes, and to identify better and develop the talent in the country's schools and sports clubs.

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Environmental Auditing

Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will list the ways in which her Department has (a) demonstrated by example and (b) promoted externally, the ability to improve efficiency and competitiveness through environmental auditing; and if she will make a statement. [4528]

Mr. Sproat: My Department undertakes environmental auditing primarily through environmental appraisal of policies and monitoring performance of green housekeeping matters.

In respect of environmental appraisal of policies, as my Department operates mainly through a range of non-departmental bodies, they are dealt with by customised guidance. An example is "Option Appraisal of Expenditure Decisions: A Guide for the DNH and its NDPB's", published in March 1996. Within the key heritage and tourism sectors, planning policy guidance no. 15: "Planning and the Historic Environment", and Planning Policy Guidance no. 21 are relevant.

In November 1995 in partnership with the English tourist board, the Countryside Commission and the Rural Development Commission, my Department published "Sustainable Rural Tourism: Opportunities for Local Action". This gives practical advice on how to ensure rural tourism is in harmony with the environment.

As far as green housekeeping is concerned we have published a strategy for our buildings and have targets to reduce energy consumption. There are also several waste minimisation policies to include recycling of paper, glass, plastic cups and cans. We are to purchase a range of greener stationery items.

British Museum

Mr. Dafis: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the present funding of the British museum to support the staffing levels necessary to fulfil its statutory obligations. [4579]

Mr. Sproat: The Government are still considering the British museum's case for funding. Among many factors to be taken into account will be the recently published report by Mr. Andrew Edwards, which was commissioned by the British museum and commented in some detail on staffing levels at the museum. Grant-in-aid allocations will be announced immediately after the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget statement.

European Union

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what percentage of her Department's time and resources are spent dealing with administrative and policy matters connected with British membership of the European Union. [4958]

Mr. Sproat: Detailed records are not kept, which would allow such a percentage to be calculated. However, most sections of the Department are involved in some way with European Union business.

21 Nov 1996 : Column: 647

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what has been the cost in the last 12 months of sending ministers and officials to meetings in Brussels and elsewhere in Europe in connection with his Department's handling of EU business. [4948]

Mr. Sproat: The cost of attendance by Department of National Heritage Ministers and officials during the period 1 November 1995-31 October 1996 at European Union meetings was £48,516.16. This includes travel costs which may be subsequently refunded by the European Commission.

British Steel Industry

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what steps she is taking to promote educational and tourist interest in the British steel industry. [4842]

Mr. Sproat: Britain has a unique industrial heritage which is of interest to both domestic and overseas visitors. Funding is made available through the English tourist board and the regional tourist boards for the development and promotion of tourism within England. Through their activities the tourist boards help stimulate interest in a wide range of activities and types of development all over the country, including many industry-based attractions, and the ETB designated 1993 as Industrial Heritage Year.

Museums and Heritage Centres

Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage if she will list the museums or heritage centres covering the history and national heritage of (a) the rail industry, (b) the coal industry, (c) the car industry and (d) the steel industry. [4841]

Mr. Sproat: The Museum and Galleries Commission's DOMUS database identifies the following museums as being wholly or partly devoted to the history of the rail, coach, car or steel industries:


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    Coal
    Big Pit Mining Museum
    Cyfarthfa Castle Museum and Art Gallery
    Lancashire Mining Museum
    National Coal Mining Museum for England
    Scottish Mining Museum
    Motor Industry and Cars
    Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum
    Automobilia Transport Museum
    Autoworld at the Patrick Collection
    Betws-Y-Coed Motor Museum
    Birmingham Museum of Science and Industry
    Brooklands Museum
    Bugatti Trust
    C. M. Booth Collection of Historic Vehicles
    Dalbeattie Museum Trust Ltd.
    Doune Collection
    Grampian Transport Museum
    Haynes Motor Museum
    Heritage Motor Centre
    Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust
    Jersey Motor Museum
    Lakeland Motor Museum
    Manx Motor Museum
    Museum of British Road Transport
    National Motor Museum
    Newburn Hall Motor Museum
    Totnes Motor Museum
    Steel
    Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet
    Cyfarthfa Castle Museum
    Millom Folk Museum
    Kelharn Island Museum.

Next year, Science Museum, London, will be opening the "Challenge of Materials Gallery" including exhibits connected with the steel industry.

There is no definitive listing of heritage centres available held centrally.

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