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CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

National Athletics Stadium

Mr. Faber: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to his oral answer of 27 March 2000, Official Report, columns 10-11, on a new national athletics stadium, for what reasons he informed Radio 5 Live on 2 March that he took the decision to earmark at least £60 million specifically for athletics and the future of athletics. [117711]

Kate Hoey [holding answer 4 April 2000]: No money has been committed. We have established the principle with Sport England that, subject to the details being worked out and a viable application coming forward, the £20 million coming back from the Football Association and up to £40 million which will not now be required for the conversion of Wembley may be available to fund world-class athletics facilities.

In addition, athletics receives funding from the World Class Performance Programme, which totalled £9.2 million up to September 1999, and Exchequer funding totalling over £460,000 for the last calendar year.

Lottery Funding

Mr. Wigley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will establish a lottery-supported fund available to organisations promoting sporting events of international status in the United Kingdom which could share the risks associated with such projects with this fund. [117633]

Kate Hoey: This Government recognised the importance of staging major international sporting events in this country in our manifesto for the 1997 general election. UK Sport launched its Major Events Strategy in February 1999, with Lottery funding in place, supporting events through UK Sport's World Class Events Programme. This is now providing a coherent framework of support and experience for organisations bidding for and staging events throughout the UK. One of the recent fruits of this coherent approach has been UK Athletics' successful bids for the 2003 World Indoor Championships and the 2005 World Athletics Championships.

SCOTLAND

Local Government Finance

Mr. Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the amount of non-domestic rates

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(a) collected from and (b) distributed to each local authority in Scotland for (i) 1996-97, (ii) 1997-98 and (iii) 1998-99. [117629]

Dr. Reid: The amounts of non-domestic rates collected from and distributed to Scottish local authorities for years 1996-97 to 1998-99 are shown in the table.

Non-domestic rates collected by and distributed toauthorities: 1996-98 to 1998-99

	Contributable	Distributable
1996-97 NDRI
Aberdeen City	86,909,230	56,050,000
Aberdeenshire	44,835,817	57,834,000
Angus	17,881,385	28,589,000
Argyll and Bute	24,905,858	23,409,000
Clackmannanshire	10,409,625	12,497,000
Dumfries and Galloway	27,831,687	37,812,000
Dundee City	39,584,602	38,695,000
East Ayrshire	16,508,548	31,608,000
East Dunbartonshire	14,695,819	28,308,000
East Lothian	24,079,491	22,206,000
East Renfrewshire	9,699,357	22,314,000
Edinburgh, City of	169,526,631	113,487,000
Eilean Siar	4,482,845	7,498,000
Falkirk	45,196,145	36,464,000
Fife	99,952,162	90,079,000
Glasgow City	219,409,650	159,507,000
Highland	51,131,606	53,085,000
Inverclyde	14,111,817	22,866,000
Midlothian	11,729,201	20,469,000
Moray	18,100,377	22,347,000
North Ayrshire	34,462,286	35,584,000
North Lanarkshire	63,138,676	83,596,000
Orkney	5,962,906	5,068,000
Perth and Kinross	31,684,643	33,770,000
Renfrewshire	43,513,331	45,318,000
Scottish Borders	16,299,596	27,042,000
Shetland	15,915,411	5,853,000
South Ayrshire	25,664,737	29,257,000
South Lanarkshire	63,847,135	78,671,000
Stirling	23,350,956	20,983,000
West Dunbartonshire	20,572,119	24,857,000
West Lothian	36,658,220	37,912,000
Scotland	1,332,051,869	1,313,035,000
1997-98 NDRI
Aberdeen City	92,077,265	56,571,000
Aberdeenshire	45,794,645	58,484,000
Angus	17,667,960	28,856,000
Argyll and Bute	23,925,238	23,574,000
Clackmannanshire	10,604,813	12,604,000
Dumfries and Galloway	31,037,389	38,184,000
Dundee City	39,377,604	38,987,000
East Ayrshire	20,664,896	31,784,000
East Dunbartonshire	14,936,428	28,691,000
East Lothian	24,224,075	22,624,000
East Renfrewshire	8,102,884	22,758,000
Edinburgh, City of	179,348,233	115,545,000
Eilean Siar	4,636,830	7,497,000
Falkirk	41,533,242	36,867,000
Fife	93,983,725	90,774,000
Glasgow City	203,939,379	159,662,000
Highland	50,237,633	53,777,000
Inverclyde	15,684,943	22,897,000
Midlothian	11,998,115	20,623,000
Moray	19,300,029	22,500,000
North Ayrshire	35,580,437	36,020,000
North Lanarkshire	56,933,088	84,355,000
Orkney	5,639,008	5,130,000
Perth and Kinross	32,776,628	34,290,000
Renfrewshire	44,499,634	46,042,00
Scottish Borders	17,340,330	27,418,000
Shetland	14,235,802	5,961,000
South Ayrshire	26,253,041	29,579,000
South Lanarkshire	57,732,714	79,367,000
Stirling	23,435,752	21,242,000
West Dunbartonshire	22,853,790	24,859,000
West Lothian	40,843,193	38,607,000
Scotland	1,327,178,743	1,326,129,000
1998-99 NDRI
Aberdeen City	101,318,328	59,112,000
Aberdeenshire	49,466,288	61,879,000
Angus	19,568,920	30,141,000
Argyll and Bute	28,299,338	24,716,000
Clackmannanshire	10,495,047	13,280,000
Dumfries and Galloway	31,789,211	40,159,000
Dundee City	42,071,071	40,880,000
East Ayrshire	21,876,160	33,289,000
East Dunbartonshire	14,797,539	30,133,000
East Lothian	24,911,565	23,981,000
East Renfrewshire	10,126,348	23,965,000
Edinburgh, City of	186,151,389	122,123,000
Eilean Siar	4,632,944	7,858,000
Falkirk	44,466,106	38,918,000
Fife	101,297,014	95,038,000
Glasgow City	231,326,059	167,718,000
Highland	53,075,991	56,783,000
Inverclyde(7)	16,455,511	23,698,000
Midlothian	12,944,938	21,777,000
Moray	19,672,200	23,538,000
North Ayrshire	36,854,012	37,961,000
North Lanarkshire(7)	68,164,545	88,682,000
Orkney	6,209,691	5,387,000
Perth and Kinross	32,924,976	36,070,000
Renfrewshire(7)	46,023,557	48,580,000
Scottish Borders	18,548,281	28,868,000
Shetland	12,351,868	6,263,000
South Ayrshire	28,296,107	31,189,000
South Lanarkshire	69,496,242	83,651,000
Stirling	26,955,963	22,515,000
West Dunbartonshire(7)	22,396,416	26,054,000
West Lothian	44,096,478	41,022,000
Scotland(7)	1,437,110,103	1,395,228,000

(7) 1998-99 audited contributable amount not yet available--based on most recent estimate received from council.

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Collection and distribution of non-domestic rates in Scotland became a devolved matter from 1 July 1999.

ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE

REGIONS

Sellafield MOX Plant

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the consultation exercises so far undertaken to evaluate the environmental impact of the proposed MOX Plant (SMP) at BNFL Sellafield. [114796]

Mr. Meacher: In November 1996 BNFL sought approval from the Environment Agency to bring the Sellafield MOX plant into operation. The Environment Agency consulted on issues associated with the justification of the MOX plant, including its environmental impact, between February and April 1997.

Respondents to this consultation raised a number of environmental issues and, in addition, some expressed concern about the lack of information provided by BNFL

6 Apr 2000 : Column: 543W

on the economic case. Consequently, the Agency engaged a firm of financial consultants, PA Consulting Group, to carry out an independent assessment of BNFL's economic case for the plant.

The Environment Agency then carried out a second round of consultation between January and March 1998, based on a public domain version of the PA report--which excluded certain material on the grounds of commercial confidentiality.

The Agency issued their draft decisions on the operation of the MOX plant on 2 November 1998. By this stage, Ministers had received a number of requests for them to use their powers of 'call-in' to intervene in the Agency's decisions.

In looking at the advice from the Environment Agency and the representations they had received, Ministers decided that the amount of information excluded on the grounds of commercial confidentiality from the public domain version of the PA report was more than strictly necessary, and that there had been developments in the potential market for MOX fuel which led them to consider that there should be further public scrutiny of BNFL's business case. Ministers therefore consulted again between May and June 1999 on the basis of a significantly greater disclosure of information on the economic case and were considering the responses to this consultation when data falsification at the Sellafield MOX Demonstration Facility first came to light.

The implications of the data falsification will of course be fully considered before Ministers make their final decisions.

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions when his Department and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food expect to publish the results of their last round of consultations on the operation by BNFL of its MOX plant (SMP) at Sellafield. [114816]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 20 March 2000]: Ministers will announce their decisions only when they have fully considered all responses to the consultation exercise and the implications of all recent evidence, including the data falsification incident at the Sellafield MOX Demonstration Facility.

Ministers will announce their decisions as soon as they are made. At the same time my Department will publish a decision document, setting out the reasons for their decisions in full.

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what factors are currently preventing BNFL from operating commercially the Sellafield MOX plant (SMP). [114817]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 20 March 2000]: The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions and the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food are still considering whether to intervene in the Environment Agency's draft decisions on the Sellafield MOX plant. They will make a decision only when they have examined all the evidence before them, including the responses to the consultation exercise held by Ministers last year and the implications of the recent data falsification incident at the Sellafield MOX Demonstration Facility.

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Only if Ministers decide not to intervene will BNFL be free to proceed to the next stage of commissioning of the plant and its subsequent operation, subject also to licence approval by the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate.

Mr. Jack: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what conclusions were reached in the PA Consultancy Group report on the BNFL proposal to operate the MOX plant (SMP) at Sellafield. [114818]

Mr. Meacher [holding answer 20 March 2000]: The report by PA Consulting Group on the economic case for the Sellafield MOX plant formed part of the consultation package on which comments were invited, copies of which were placed in the House of Commons Library on 11 June 1999.

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