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Tourism

Mr. Fearn: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much European funding has been obtained for tourism in (a) England, (b) north-west England and (c) Merseyside for 2001. [144909]

Janet Anderson: There are numerous potential sources of European funding that could benefit tourism in this country. For instance, economically depressed areas in the UK will benefit from over £6 billion of European regional funding under Objectives 1 and 2. Merseyside will receive £840 million of Objective 1 funding during the seven year programme to help economic development. Objective 2 funding totalling £500 million over this period will be providing help to parts of Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria. It is difficult to identify the precise amount of an award that would benefit a specific sector such as tourism. However, we have been advised by the North West Tourist Board that tourism in Sefton and Liverpool will benefit from an award of £1.5 million under Objective 1. There will also be support for Liverpool's bid for European Capital of Culture, Sefton's integrated tourism marketing initiative and the Merseyside Partnership's Merseyside Advantage strategy from the European Regional Development Fund.

Mr. Fearn: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans he has for improving tourism in the Merseyside area in 2001. [144945]

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Janet Anderson: This Department's national strategy, "Tomorrows Tourism", sets out a framework for the sustainable development of tourism throughout England, including Merseyside. As part of that strategy we provide funding via the English Tourism Council to support projects in the regions. The North West Tourist Board and local partners are responsible for delivering the regional strategy for their area. We have been advised by the Board that tourism will benefit from an award of £1.5 million to Sefton and Liverpool under Objective 1 (Sefton's share of the award is £400,000) and from European Regional Development Fund support for Liverpool's bid for the European Capital of Culture, for Sefton's integrated tourism marketing initiative and for the Merseyside Partnership's Merseyside Advantage Strategy.

Advisory Committee on Public Appointments

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if he will publish the membership and biographical details of his Department's Advisory Committee on Public Appointments; [145168]

(2) on what basis appointments are made to his Department's Advisory Committee on Public Appointments. [145172]

Mr. Chris Smith [holding answer 15 January 2001]: My Department does not have an Advisory Committee on Public Appointments, but has a pool of Independent Assessors who provide independent scrutiny within the public appointments process as laid down in guidance from the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Commissioner's guidance allows Departments the flexibility to decide the criteria for selecting Independent Assessors and the method by which they are selected. We look for people with a wide range of backgrounds and appropriate experience who are able to bring an independent view to the appointments process. We also ensure that the list is representative of the public as a whole in terms of gender, ethnicity, age and disability.

My Department currently has a list of 40 independent Assessors and details are as follows:

Professor Dawn Ades: Professor of Art History and Theory, University of Essex


John Adshead CBE: Group Personnel Director, Sainsbury's


Dr. Eric Anderson FRSE: Chair, National Heritage Memorial Fund


Dr. John Ashworth: Chair, British Library Board


Averil Burgess OBE: Chair, Independent Schools Inspectorate and former Board Member, Museum of London


Antony Butler: Director, Oxford University Careers Service

Professor Averil Cameron CBE: Warden, Keble College, Oxford


Sue Charteris: Freelance Consultant and former Chief Executive, Merton Borough Council


Barry Cox: Deputy Chair, Channel Four


Jon Davey: Chair, Media Matrix Partnership


William Day: Chief Executive, CARE International UK


Dame Elizabeth Esteve-Coll: Freelance Cultural Consultant. Former Vice Chancellor, University of East Anglia and former Director Victoria and Albert Museum


Lord Matthew Evans CBE: Chair, Resource and Fabar and Faber Ltd.


Right hon. Lord Faringdon: Commissioner, English Heritage

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Baroness Flather: Former local councillor and former Governor of Commonwealth Institute


Professor Sir Brian Follett FRS: Vice Chancellor, University of Warwick


Keith Foreman OBE: Independent Adviser to DfEE and ex Comprehensive School Head Teacher


Richard J. Fries: Former Chief Charity Commissioner


Jan Hall OBE: Partner, Spencer Stuart and Associates


Sheila Hewitt: Board member, Radio Authority


Richard Hooper: Chair, Radio Authority


Judith Hunt OBE: Special Adviser, Local Government Association and Improvement and Development Agency


Brian Hutchinson: Former Corporate Affairs Director, Allied Zurich


Kate Jenkins: Chair, Kate Jenkins Associates and former senior Civil Servant

Roger Laughton CBE: Head of School of Media, Arts and Communications, University of Bournemouth


Janet Lewis-Jones: Freelance Consultant and Board Member of S4C


David McDonnell: Chair, National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside


Professor Anne McLaren: Research Associate, Wellcome/CRC Institute of Cancer and Development Biology and Board Member, Natural History Museum


Stephanie Monk CBE: Group Personnel Director, Granada Compass Plc.


Michael Moriarty CB: Former Deputy Chair, Radio Authority and former senior Civil Servant


John Neill CBE: Chief Executive, Unipart Group of Companies


Trevor Phillips OBE: Broadcaster and Member of the Greater London Authority


Baroness Jill Piteathley OBE: Chair, New Opportunities Fund


David Quarmby: Chair, British Tourist Authority


Dr. Janet Ritterman: Director, Royal School of Music and Board Member of the Arts Council


Dr. Ann Robinson: Former Director General, National Association of Pension Funds


Peter Troughton: Chief Executive, First Arrow


Baroness Young of Old Scone: Chair, English Nature and former Vice Chair BBC Governors


Sir Rodney Walker: Chair, UK Sports Council.

National Lottery

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the Government's policy on proposals to establish an alternative to the National Lottery. [145139]

Mr. Chris Smith [holding answer 15 January 2001]: The Government are happy for organisations or individuals to operate lotteries providing they comply with the provisions of the existing legislation. Under section 5 of the National Lottery etc. Act 1993 there can be only one operator of the National Lottery, although other organisations can run individual games with the agreement of the section 5 operator (which must act reasonably in its dealings with a section 6 applicant). The Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976 allows for four distinct types of lottery; society lotteries, local lotteries, private lotteries and small lotteries incidental to exempt entertainments. The larger society lotteries run by charities, sports clubs and local authorities must register with the Gaming Board for Great Britain. The maximum sale value of the tickets which may be sold in a single

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lottery is £1 million. The top prize which may be offered is £25,000 or 10 per cent. of its proceeds, whichever is the higher, and each lottery may sell no more than £5 million worth of tickets in a single year.

Regional Arts Boards

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the percentage funding is for each artistic discipline specified by the Arts Council to the regional arts boards. [145835]

Mr. Alan Howarth: The Arts Council allocated funding to the regional arts boards on the basis of the RABs own business plan for the support of the arts in their respective regions and not on the basis of specified funding for individual art forms.

Mr. Robert Bourne

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when officials in (a) his Department, (b) the Cabinet Office and (c) the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions were informed of Mr. Robert Bourne's donations to the Labour Party. [144716]

Mr. Chris Smith [holding answer 11 January 2001]: Donations to political parties are not a factor in the assessment of bids or tenders for Government work. Decisions on the competition for the future use of the Dome have been taken on the basis of objective and independent advice on what bids best met the published competition criteria. I declared an association with Robert Bourne to my officials before consideration began in December 1999 of the bids which qualified under the competition. I included in my subsequent written declaration that Robert Bourne had made contributions to my Constituency Labour Party. On the advice of my officials, I removed myself from any part of the consideration of the qualifying bids and from the subsequent decisions on shortlisting and granting of preferred bidder status.

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