House of Commons
Monday 22 November 1999
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--
Social Exclusion
1. Mr. Phil Sawford (Kettering): What action his Department has taken to promote the role of arts and sport in tackling social exclusion. [98967]
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith): In the spring of this year, we published the policy action team report, which demonstrated with a host of practical examples how effective arts and sports activity can be in tackling social exclusion. Last month I held a national conference on social inclusion to discuss with local government and partner organisations how the Department and others in the culture and leisure fields can best follow up the work of the policy action team. The Department, our sponsored bodies, local authorities, lottery distributors and the voluntary and private sectors will all play their part.
Mr. Sawford: I congratulate my right hon. Friend on promoting the role of arts and sport in combating social exclusion. Is he aware that there are many examples of that already happening and will he join me in congratulating Kettering rugby football club on its fifth annual mini-tournament, held yesterday, which involved more than 750 young people between the ages of seven and 12 from all sections of our community? Will he consider joining us at next year's tournament?
Mr. Smith: I certainly echo my hon. Friend's congratulations to Kettering rugby football club on what was clearly an excellent event. I shall need to consult my diary to see whether I can take up his kind invitation. This is indeed a good example of how arts and sport can play a real role helping the process of social cohesion and regeneration.
Mr. Richard Spring (West Suffolk): Is the Secretary of State aware that throughout the country museums, galleries and libraries are under unprecedented pressure, with many teetering on the brink of closure? Will he concede that access to and participation in sport by young people is imploding under this Government, with 30 per
cent. fewer physical education teachers being trained and, as Sport England has shown, the highest number of playing fields under threat since records began?
Mr. Smith: That is a bit rich from a party that presided over the selling off of well over 5,000 playing fields during its time in office. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman has failed to notice the £15 million of funding that we have put in place for the designated museums throughout the country through the new challenge fund: the first time ever that national funding has been made directly available to regional museums in this country.
Perhaps the hon. Gentleman has also failed to notice the £270 million that is going to help libraries through the new opportunities fund. Perhaps he should get his facts right before asking such questions.
Lottery
2. Ms Ann Coffey (Stockport): If he will make a statement on the changes introduced by the Lottery Act 1998. [98968]
The Minister for Sport (Kate Hoey): The Act has allowed lottery distributors to be more proactive in making grants, to work more co-operatively and to allow decisions to be made closer to the grass roots. Distributors have produced strategic plans for their use of lottery money that will allow them to assess the extent to which their objectives are being met.
Ms Coffey: My hon. Friend will be aware that Stockport has benefited from more than £5 million of lottery funding, which has helped with major projects such as the Hatting museum. We look forward to help in due course with the renovation of Hollywood park. I welcome the increase in small grants from the lottery, which has benefited projects such as the Stockport and district mental health and arts project, which is an innovative and creative scheme that will improve the quality of life for the whole community. Can she assure me that the small grants programme will continue to increase for the benefit of small community groups?
Kate Hoey: According to my figures, Stockport has had £6 million of lottery money: slightly up on my hon. Friend's estimate. I agree that small community grants are important. They are crucial to ensure that small community organisations can benefit from the lottery. One of the most important things that we intend to do is to make it as easy and simple as possible, while assuring accountability, for those groups to apply for the money.
Mr. Andrew Rowe (Faversham and Mid-Kent): Is it not true that the distributors are now supposed to take much more account of policy directions from the Secretary of State? Is not that in clear contradiction to the need for charitable and voluntary organisations to innovate and experiment? I thought that that was what the national lottery was primarily intended for. Is the Minister happy with the direction that is being taken?
Kate Hoey: The directions would allow the innovation to which the hon. Gentleman refers. We are trying to move away from big spending on huge bricks and mortar projects and to concentrate on ensuring that lottery money
goes towards making a real difference for people and communities. It is important that the distributors can now look at where the money has not been going and ask why, and try to go out and find the projects, working with and supporting people to ensure that all areas of the country benefit in the same way.
Mr. Gordon Marsden (Blackpool, South): Is it not important to consider the money that is going into communities, and especially greenfield communities? May I also make a plea for the inclusion of seaside towns in the new opportunities fund?
Kate Hoey: My hon. Friend may be aware that the green spaces initiative under the new opportunities fund should allow constituencies such as his to benefit.
Tourism and Leisure
3. Mr. Michael Jack (Fylde): What calculations his Department has made of the impact on the tourism and leisure industry of Government regulations introduced since May 1997. [98969]
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith): No new regulations affecting business are introduced without first being subjected to a regulatory impact assessment. This assessment examines the costs and benefits of proposed regulations across the piece, not just on individual economic sectors. Tourism and leisure are key growth industries and my Department works closely with others to see that new regulation does not impose excessive administrative and financial burdens on tourism and leisure-related businesses.
Mr. Jack: That reply is a travesty. Is it not a cruel irony that my constituency of Fylde receives some £3,000 of help for its tourism business, which is worth £40 million, but that benefit is immediately washed out by the regulatory burden of the working time directive alone? Is not it time that the Secretary of State undertook to object to any more regulatory burdens on tourism if they exceed the value of the help that his Department gives to tourism in this country?
Mr. Smith: I can do better than that, because I can point to a host of regulatory burdens on the tourism and hospitality industries--about which the previous Government did nothing--that we are actively considering lifting. They include the better regulation task force case study of hotels and catering, the wide-ranging review of the liquor licensing system, Government proposals to simplify the regulation of late night restaurants, Government proposals to remove the ban on admission charging for Sunday dancing and research into the impact of land-use planning systems on leisure-related development. The Conservatives did nothing about those when in government: we are doing something.
Mr. Robert Sheldon (Ashton-under-Lyne): What estimate has my right hon. Friend made of the consequences to tourism of returning to the Elgin marbles to Greece? If it were possible to return them to the Parthenon itself, the case for that would be strong, but not for transferring them from one museum to another. They
were effectively saved by bringing them to this country, so will my right hon. Friend ensure that any such proposal is firmly opposed?
Mr. Smith: I do, indeed, agree with my right hon. Friend. The Elgin Parthenon marbles in the British museum are visited by some 6 million people a year for free. People come from all over the world to see those treasures, among many others. I believe that it should stay that way.
Mr. Ronnie Fearn (Southport): Government regulation has established the regional development boards, with a special remit for tourism. So far, I do not see many people connected with tourism on the boards that have been established. Little seems to have been done in the traditional seaside resorts, where money is required but help is not forthcoming.
Mr. Smith: Several representatives from the tourism and leisure industry sit on regional development agencies, although they do not all have such a representative. The development of the regional cultural consortiums that we have put in place will draw together representatives from the range of cultural, sporting and tourism interests in each region and will have a direct input into the work of the RDAs and will ensure that the voice of tourism is not lost.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth (East Surrey): While I endorse the Secretary of State's policy towards the Elgin marbles, I must say that the Opposition do not think much of his regulatory impact assessment. Can it be a surprise that we have the worst tourism balance of payments in history, when so many in the tourist industry have been hit by an avalanche of costly deregulations? Is he aware that the Confederation of British Industry and the Institute of Directors have shown that more than 2,500 new regulations now affect their businesses that cost them £5 billion a year? No sector is worse hit than the leisure and tourism sector.
Mr. Smith: One of those regulations is the national minimum wage, which I actively support, as do the great majority in the hotel and catering industry. They know that good remuneration and treatment of employees means a well-motivated work force and a better service to the customer. That was borne out in research conducted by Caterer & Hotelkeeper, which showed that 84 per cent. of hospitality staff and 65 per cent. of their employers supported the introduction of a statutory minimum wage. It is only the Opposition who want to get rid of it.
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