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National Lottery

Mr. Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the applications

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for National Lottery grants and the amounts refused by each (a) parliamentary constituency in Staffordshire and (b) Lottery board for each of the last five years. [139856]

Kate Hoey: We have contacted the National Lottery distributing bodies to request the information required, and I will write to the hon. Member as soon as it is available, placing copies of my letter in the Libraries of both Houses.

Mr. Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if he will rank by parliamentary constituency the total value of National Lottery grants awarded by the lottery boards since May 1997; [139857]

Kate Hoey: I have placed copies of a table showing the total amount awarded to each parliamentary constituency, the average value of these awards, and the average amount awarded per constituency since 1 May 1997 in the Libraries of both Houses. The parliamentary constituencies are ranked in descending order according to the amount of Lottery grants they have received since 1 May 1997. The table was compiled using information on awards supplied to us by the distributing bodies.

Elite Sports Funding

Mr. Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will publish details of the elite sports funding review announced by the Prime Minister on 19 October. [140774]

Mr. Chris Smith: UK athletes did exceptionally well in Sydney, our best performance for 80 years. We now want to build on that to produce an even more effective performance at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Following the decision of the Sports Cabinet on 6 October that there should be a review, the Prime Minister has asked my right hon. Friend the Member for Copeland (Dr. Cunningham) to lead a group examining the way our top athletes are supported through the Lottery, looking especially at two key components:


My right hon. Friend has been appointed by the Prime Minister in consultation with myself and will report directly to us. The group will be advised by Sue Campbell, sports adviser to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education and Employment. The first meeting of the group is planned for Tuesday 28 November.

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Indemnity Undertakings

Laura Moffatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many indemnity undertakings were given by Departments, under section 16 of the National Heritage Act 1980, for the six-month period ended 30 September; and what was the value of (a) contingent liabilities in respect of such undertakings given under that section which remained outstanding at 30 September, (b) non-statutory Government indemnities in respect of loans handled by the Government Art Collection which remained outstanding at 30 September and (c) non-statutory undertakings to Her Majesty in respect of loans from the Royal Collection which remained outstanding at 30 September. [140830]

Mr. Chris Smith: The provision for the Government Indemnity Scheme is made by the National Heritage Act 1980. The scheme facilitates public access to loans of works of art and other objects for public display made to museums, galleries and other such institutions by private owners and non-national institutions. It does this by indemnifying lenders against loss or damage to their loan. Loans covered by the scheme must be for public benefit. The scheme also covers loans of such objects for study purposes within borrowing institutions where this would contribute materially to the public's understanding or appreciation of the loan. Examples of this are enhancing interpretation or explanation to the public of objects or

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bringing into the public domain the conclusions of any study. In the six-month period ended 30 September 2000, the following undertakings to indemnify were given under section 16 by the relevant Departments for objects on loan to national and non-national institutions:

Numbers
Department for Culture, Media and Sport664
Scottish Executive Education Department89
The National Assembly for Wales56
Department of Education for Northern Ireland33

The value of contingent liabilities in respect of undertakings given at any time under section 16 and which remained outstanding as at 30 September 2000 is:

£
Department for Culture, Media and Sport1,343,458,706
Scottish Executive Education Department905,848,807
The National Assembly for Wales67,609,314
Department of Education for Northern Ireland4,039,502

The value of non-statutory Government indemnities to cover loans handled by the Government Art Collection and which remained outstanding as at 30 September 2000 is:


The value of non-statutory undertakings given to Her Majesty in respect of loans from the Royal Collection and which remained outstanding as at 30 September 2000 is:


New Millennium Experience Company

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when the creditors' ledger of the New Millennium Experience Company was last reconciled. [140425]

Janet Anderson [holding answer 27 November 2000]: The New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC) has advised that creditor ledger reconciliations are performed on an ongoing, daily basis.

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people are currently employed by the New Millennium Experience Company; and how many will be employed on (a) 1 January 2001, (b) 1 February 2001 and (c) 1 March 2001. [140422]

Janet Anderson [holding answer 27 November 2000]: The New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC) currently directly employs 1,398 people. Plans for the first quarter of 2001 are being finalised, but at this stage it is estimated that about 230 people will be required in January, about 140 in February and about 40 in March. NMEC has introduced a comprehensive re-deployment programme for those people who will cease to work for the Company on 31 December including job fairs at the Dome involving major employers, many of whom are sponsors of the Millennium Experience. The aim is to ensure that all employees have the opportunity of employment in the New Year.

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WALES

Census

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what representations he has received with regard to the 2001 census in Wales; and if he will list the nature and date of each representation. [135220]

Mr. Paul Murphy: I have received a number of representations on this subject, mostly concerning the absence of a "Welsh" tick-box under the question about ethnic group.

The Office for National Statistics has announced that there will be a new study into Welsh identity, using information gathered from the census and from an expanded and enhanced Labour Force Survey in Wales. There will also be a significant advertising campaign in Wales to alert people to the option of entering "Welsh" in the ethnic group section of the census. The National Statistician has confirmed that if people indicate that they are Welsh they will be counted as Welsh, and a report on the results will be produced.

The census provides information crucial to all the people in Wales given its role in the allocation of resources from central to local government. High levels of participation in the census are vital to the people of Wales. Full advantage has to be taken of this once in a decade opportunity to obtain a rich seam of information on post-devolution Welsh identity.


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