House of Commons
Monday 14 December 1998
The House met at half-past Two o'clock
PRAYERS
[Madam Speaker in the Chair]
Oral Answers to Questions
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
The Secretary of State was asked--
Oflot
1. Mr. Christopher Chope (Christchurch): When he last met the Director General of Oflot to discuss the terms and conditions of the lottery operator's licence. [62126]
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith): I have regular meetings with the director general at which we discuss a range of issues. The most recent such meeting was on 22 October.
Mr. Chope: I am grateful to the Secretary of State for that reply. Does he recall that one of the original justifications for having a United Kingdom national lottery was the fact that if we did not have one, foreign lottery operators would be allowed to operate in this country and we would not have any competition to put up against them? Now that Camelot has proved so successful and seen off competition in the home market, does he not think that it is time for the lottery operator to be allowed to sell lottery tickets overseas so that we can get even more remuneration for our favourite causes in this country?
Mr. Smith: Camelot is considering that. The consent of the Director General of Oflot is required before the idea can proceed, and I am sure that he will consider it carefully. If the idea goes ahead, I hope that Camelot secures a better deal for the lottery players of this country than the hon. Gentleman did for the people of this country when he privatised the Property Services Agency.
Tourism Strategy
3. Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes): What plans he has to ensure that the tourism strategy includes assistance to seaside towns in respect of their provision of affordable family holidays. [62128]
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith): The new tourism strategy will be
comprehensive. It will include proposals for action to increase access to tourism for all and practical suggestions on regeneration for seaside towns.
Shona McIsaac: I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. I have one specific question on the tourism strategy: will any money be available for seaside regeneration?
Mr. Smith: Funds can be made available in various ways to assist with regeneration. It has been announced that more than £3.8 billion will be available from the single regeneration budget, which is in the care of my right hon. and hon. Friends at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. Some of that money will be available to tackle pockets of deprivation, particularly in coastal towns. I understand that 44 of the bids received so far have included proposals for regeneration in seaside towns. Support from the national lottery can also go to such towns for the restoration of piers and other projects. In addition, I was able to announce this morning that our proposals for a streamlined body to support and foster tourism in England will enable more money to go to the regions to support tourism.
Mr. Ronnie Fearn (Southport): Will the Secretary of State take cognisance of what was said at the British Resorts Association conference, which unfortunately he could not attend? Representatives of every resort said what difficult times they were facing. It looks as though they have a bleak future. Is there any help in the strategy for hoteliers who require grants or other help towards refurbishing their premises?
Mr. Smith: I am well aware of the good work done by the British Resorts Association in supporting and fostering the work of all resort towns, not just seaside towns. We shall keep in regular contact on how the Government can best assist the association in ensuring that our resort towns have a flourishing future rather than a decaying one.
Mrs. Joan Humble (Blackpool, North and Fleetwood): Does my right hon. Friend agree that there are many opportunities for local authorities to encourage families to visit seaside resorts? I draw to his attention the initiatives of Blackpool and Wyre borough councils in staging arts events aimed specifically at children and families. In Fleetwood, children have been learning how to juggle and walk on stilts at a circus workshop. The programme is free, so it is affordable for families. Does my right hon. Friend agree that local authorities should be encouraged to adopt such a lively and imaginative way of encouraging and inviting families to come to seaside resorts?
Mr. Smith: I certainly agree with my hon. Friend. She has given a good example of how local authorities can take imaginative initiatives. She will also be aware from this morning's announcement that the additional funds that we have been able to make available to the Arts Council of England will ensure that much more money goes to the regional arts boards to enable more such work.
Mr. Richard Spring (West Suffolk): The Secretary of State will be aware of the anxiety in our traditional seaside resorts about the future of tourism, arising from the
current economic climate, which has led to the biggest deficit in tourism in this country's history. Will he assure the House that when the continually delayed tourism strategy is finally unveiled, it will address the needs of seaside resorts specifically?
Museums and Galleries (Children's Access)
4. Mr. Tony McNulty (Harrow, East): What his plans are to improve access for children to museums and galleries. [62129]
The Minister for Arts (Mr. Alan Howarth): As my right hon. Friend announced this morning, funds will be made available to allow the trustees of the national museums and galleries that charge for entry to introduce free admission for children from April 1999. That will apply both to main sites and to branch museums.
Mr. McNulty: I thank my hon. Friend for that welcome news, but can he clarify whether that means that children will have free access to museums and galleries when they are not in a school party? Can he also enlighten me a little more on what joined-up or grown-up thinking the Department has about sharing that key educational resource with other Departments?
Mr. Howarth: I can encourage my hon. Friend on both points. For example, until now, children who visited the Science museum in a school party gained free admission, but did not if they visited it on their own--other than at certain times of the week--or with their families. The Science museum will now have the opportunity to offer them free admission on all occasions, and I am pleased to understand that it is its wish to take up that offer.
My hon. Friend rightly draws attention to the need for co-ordinated policy development on education. He will have noted, for example, that the Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment, my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich, South (Mr. Clarke), announced a £140,000 fund to support schools to work with museums and galleries to provide innovative learning opportunities out of school hours. We are developing an agenda with the Department for Education and Employment on a number of fronts, because our museums and galleries are a wonderful educational resource.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth (East Surrey):
The announcement made today, which has been referred to, was described in the accompanying press release as the
Is not it a tragic misdirection of funds that nearly £100 million--which could have been of real value to museums throughout the country, including children's museums such as the Roald Dahl museum--will go to a handful of mainly metropolitan museums in an attempt to compensate for the cost of free admission? Surely that is a wasteful exercise in ideology, which will benefit few children, many of whom already get into museums for nothing.
Will the Minister confirm that the chief beneficiaries of that policy will be overseas tourists and, of course, Her Majesty's Treasury, which will benefit to the tune of tens of millions of pounds a year in VAT receipts that it did not previously get? When will the Government stop using arts policy as a tool of dogmatic Labour party policy?
Mr. Howarth:
It would appear, unfortunately, that the hon. Gentleman may have neglected to read parliamentary answers last week. I refer him to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to my hon. Friend the Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Mr. Miller) on Thursday 10 December, in which the relevant announcement was duly and properly made to the House. The briefing given this morning was supplementary to that.
"biggest ever reform of cultural funding and organisation".
Is not it absolutely typical that, instead of the announcement being made in the House, it was made at 10 o'clock this morning at the Tate gallery?
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