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CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
National Lottery
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with the National Lottery Commission concerning the Lottery Operator's policy on withdrawing Lottery contracts from post offices which do not meet sales targets. [129660]
Kate Hoey [holding answer 7 July 2000]: None. Decisions on the locations of terminals are a matter for the operator of the National Lottery, subject to the minimum requirements set out in the licence.
Tennis
Mr. Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the Government's support for young tennis players in (a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom. [129917]
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Kate Hoey: Government support for tennis in Scotland is channelled through SportScotland, who have provided the following information.
Funding is available to tennis through the Lottery, one of whose priorities is young people. Lottery funding for tennis facilities has been made to 312 projects, worth a total of £2,324,802. In addition Lottery funding has been made to young tennis players under the Talented Athletes Programme to the value of £56,015 in 1999-2000. Over the same period the estimated value of the tennis element of local authority junior groups programme is in the region of £20,000. £12,000 was provided under the UK World Class Performance Programme to assist talented young tennis players.
SportScotland has provided £64,000 Exchequer funding to the Scottish Lawn Tennis Association in 2000-01.
Junior tennis is eligible for funding from Sportsmatch, the Government's sports sponsorship incentive scheme.
Sportsmatch in Scotland has made 25 awards worth a total of £86,304 since its inception in 1992, to grass roots and junior tennis projects.
In addition, Government support for young tennis players in the rest of the United Kingdom, is set out.
Sportsmatch in England has made 194 awards worth a total of £1.15 million since its inception in 1992, to grass roots and junior tennis projects.
Funding is also available to tennis through the Lottery Sports Fund, one of whose priorities is young people. The Fund has made 473 awards to tennis projects, worth a total of over £54 million. In addition, the Fund made World Class Performance Programme awards totalling £8,574, to disabled tennis players in 1999-2000.
Tennis is also one of the nine sports selected by Sport England for a five year sports development programme aimed at young people. The programme is England-wide, delivered at local level and involves local clubs, local authorities, education services, schools and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) working in partnership. Sport England is allocating a total of £10 million Lottery funding each year for all nine sports involved in the programme.
In Wales funding for tennis is channelled through the Sports Council for Wales, who have provided the following information.
Funding is available to tennis through the Lottery, one of whose priorities is young people. Lottery funding for tennis facilities has been provided to the value of £2,050,982, and to individual competitors through the Elite Cymru programme to the value of £6,500 in 1999-2000. The Council provided £86,886 exchequer funding to "Tennis Wales", the governing body for tennis in 2000-01.
Sportsmatch in Wales has made 32 awards worth a total of £92,260 since its inception in 1992, to grass roots and junior tennis projects.
Funding for tennis in Northern Ireland is channelled through the Sports Council for Northern Ireland, who have provided the following information.
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Funding is available to tennis through the Lottery, one of whose priorities is young people. Lottery funding for tennis has been provided to the value of £1,479,650 over the period 1995-2000. Over the same period £8,000 has been provided towards the development of talented young individuals. In 1999-2000 Exchequer funding of £11,500 was provided to the governing body responsible for tennis in Northern Ireland.
Museums
Mr. Fearn: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what criteria he uses in deciding whether a museum is eligible (a) for Government funding and (b) to reclaim VAT. [130677]
Mr. Alan Howarth: My Department funds the 12 national museums in England, and provides varying degrees of grant-in-aid to seven other museums or museum services, partly for historical reasons and partly in recognition of the importance of their collections. Other funding is generally project related challenge funding, distributed in response to applications made in published criteria (for instance, the £15 million being made available over three years to designated museums through the Designated Museums Challenge Fund).
To the extent that museums are businesses, they are subject to the same VAT rules as other businesses. These rules are a matter for HM Customs and Excise.
Official Visits
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the visits outside Britain made by his Department's Permanent Secretary on official business since 1 January 1999, indicating the date and purpose of the visit in each case. [130488]
Mr. Chris Smith: My Permanent Secretary made two visits outside Britain in the specified period.
From 13 to 15 October 1999 inclusive he visited Paris and Berlin.
From 16 February to 18 February 2000 inclusive he visited Portugal and Madrid.
My Department is committed to improved collaboration with other Governments within the EU; and my Permanent Secretary has undertaken these visits to establish contact and good relations with his opposite numbers in a range of EU countries.
Correspondence
Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to his answer on 5 May 2000, Official Report, column 229W, when he will write to the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey. [131155]
Kate Hoey: I wrote to my hon. Friend with a full response on 13 July. Copies of the letters have been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Appointments (Women)
Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many and what percentage of the
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(a) paid and (b) unpaid appointments which he has made to non-departmental public bodies since 1 May 1997 were women. [129856]
Mr. Chris Smith [holding answer 12 July 2000]: The information is as follows:
| Total | Paid | Unpaid | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of appointments | 358 | 123 (33.2%) | 235 (66.8%) |
| Number of women appointed | 133 | 50 (40.6%) | 83 (35.5%) |
My Department is committed to increasing the representation of women in public life. In support of this, the Department has drawn up an action plan for increasing the number of women, people from ethnic minorities and people with disabilities holding public appointments. The latest plan, together with the Government's overall plan, was published on 24 May 2000 in "Quangos: Opening up Public Appointments 2000-03", copies of which are in the Libraries of the House.
Football Association Premier League Funds
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what powers are available to him to allocate Football Association Premier League funds to activities other than football. [130845]
Mr. Chris Smith: None. The FA Premier League and the Football Association are fully responsible for their own decisions on funding.
The Government will shortly announce details of a new body to distribute funds for the development of football--the Football Foundation--to which the Premier League, the FA and Sport England will make substantial contributions. It will be for the new body to decide on its funding criteria. In dealing with applications, though, the Foundation may wish to consider whether proposed football facilities may be used for other sports.
Royal Parks Agency
Mr. Goggins: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what targets he has set for the Royal Parks Agency. [131303]
Mr. Alan Howarth: The following targets have been set for the Royal Parks Agency for 2000-01:
- Financial and Efficiency
- To increase income by 10 per cent. from the 1999-2000 level, from all sources except recharges and VAT refunds.
- Stay within the flat running costs allocation of £8.235 million.
- Keep hourly costs of a Royal Parks Police Constable on duty down to 1999-2000 levels in real terms.
- Visitor satisfaction
- Achieve an overall quality rating of 89 per cent. from visitors to the parks, compared to a rating of 88 per cent. in 1999-2000. The minimum rating for any one park should be no lower than 83 per cent.
- Fabric
- Achieve an average rating from visitors of at least 89 per cent. on cleanliness in the parks, compared with a rating of 88 per cent. in 1999-2000. The minimum rating for a park should be no lower than 85 per cent.
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- Maintain an average score of 88 per cent. for soft landscape presentation, compared with a score of 87 per cent. achieved in 1999-2000. The minimum score for a park should be no lower than 82 per cent.
- Complete the refurbishment works of White Lodge in Bushy Park by December 2000, with a view to the building being removed from English Heritage's "Buildings at Risk" register in 2001.
- Carry out a condition survey of all the lodges in the Parks to establish maintenance requirements and future levels of refurbishment.
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