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Plastic Bullets
Mr. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many plastic bullets were procured for the (a) Royal Ulster Constabulary and (b) Police Service of Northern Ireland in each year from 1995 to present. [16574]
Jane Kennedy: The table gives details of the numbers of baton rounds procured by the Royal Ulster Constabulary each year from 1995 to present.
| Year | Baton rounds procured |
|---|---|
| 1995 | 25,200 |
| 1996 | 60,875 |
| 1997 | 33,900 |
| 1998 | 75,227 |
| 1999 | 50,400 |
| 2000 | 76,320 |
| 2001(7) | 46,000 |
(7) To date
The date the Police Service of Northern Ireland has not procured any baton rounds.
23 Nov 2001 : Column: 530W
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
Sport (East Midlands)
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on her plans to develop grassroots sports in the east midlands. [17058]
Mr. Caborn: The Government are committed to the development of sport and increasing opportunities for participation throughout the country. The strategy for sport—"A Sporting Future for All"—and the Government's plan for sport set out an action plan on how we intend to achieve those objectives. Responsibility for developing grassroots sport at the regional level rests with a number of organisations including Sport England, local authorities, local education authorities, schools, sports governing bodies, sports clubs, volunteers, and in order to ensure the best use of resources it is essential that all these interests work in partnership.
In the east midlands, the regional sports board is providing leadership and direction to this work and in close co-operation with Sport England has engaged the main partners in developing the Region's sporting infrastructure and planning for the future.
All of the programmes for providing better sports facilities and improving sports provision are being implemented in the region including lottery funding, where over £100 million has been committed to the region, the school sport co-ordinators programme and specialist sports colleges while the spaces for sport and arts, NOF round three and NOF green spaces programmes will all be injecting significant new resources into facilities which will be available to schools and the wider community.
For the future I have made it clear that I wish to see strengthened regional structures for the delivery of sport in the regions which involves local decision making and strong partnerships with all the key local interests. I will be discussing these issues with the Sport England Council and its new chief executive when he is in post.
Gambling Review
Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many representations she has received on the gambling review report. [17364]
Mr. Caborn: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East (Mr. Vaz) on 19 November 2001, Official Report, column 22W.
Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to implement the Gaming Board's triennial review recommendations on machine stakes and prizes. [17365]
Mr. Caborn: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Mr. McCabe) on 21 November 2000, Official Report, columns 313–34W.
23 Nov 2001 : Column: 531W
Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what role the Minister for Tourism will have in assessing the impact of the Budd report into gambling on seaside resorts before her Department publishes its proposals. [17367]
Mr. Caborn: All Ministers in the Department will support and advise my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in reaching decisions on the report; and those decisions will take proper account of the full range of her responsibilities
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many representations she has received about recommendation 75 of the Gambling Review; and how many supported the recommendation. [17351]
Mr. Caborn: We have received over 100 comments on this recommendation. Four supported it in the terms in which it was set out in the report of the gambling review body. Substantially more supported the proposition in the recommendation that on-licensed premises should be entitled to up to two gaming machines by virtue of their liquor licences (with a higher entitlement for those premises which already had a higher number) but argued either for a higher entitlement of four machines or for licensing authorities to have discretion to authorise more than two machines in appropriate cases.
Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what assessment she has made of the impact on employment if recommendation 75 of the gambling review is initiated; [17350]
- (2) what assessment she has made of the impact on publicans if recommendation 75 of the gambling review is initiated. [17349]
Mr. Caborn: Many of the comments on this recommendation have raised concerns about its possible impact on business and employment. We are considering all representations on the report of the gambling review body with care, but have not yet completed our assessment of them.
Playing Fields
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will publish the figures produced by her Department's monitoring unit on the sale of playing fields for (a) April 2000-March 2001 and (b) April 1999-March 2000 for applications received for sales of (i) school playing fields under one standard pitch size as defined by Sport England as suitable for 10 year olds, (ii) school playing fields greater than one standard pitch size, (iii) non school playing fields under one standard pitch size and (iv) non school playing fields greater than the standard pitch size, stating in each case how many of the applications received by her Department were (a) successful, (b) rejected, (c) withdrawn, (d) not yet determined and (e) called in for special consideration. [17331]
Mr. Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Blaenau Gwent (Llew Smith) on 20 November 2001, Official Report, columns 189–90W.
23 Nov 2001 : Column: 532W
Offshore Wind and Biomass Projects
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much money has been allocated from the new opportunities fund for offshore wind and biomass projects; and if she will make a statement. [17801]
Mr. Caborn: The new opportunities fund will, by 2006, commit £50 million to projects that are designed to develop renewable electricity generation by building generating capacity for electricity from energy crops, build offshore wind electricity generation projects and develop small-scale biomass heat/combined heat and power projects. Of this £50 million, at least £33 million should be committed to developing renewable electricity generation by building generating capacity for electricity from energy crops, at least £10 million should be committed to building offshore wind electricity generation projects and at least £3 million to small-scale biomass heat/combined heat and power projects.
New Opportunities Fund for Sport
Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to her answer of 12 November 2001, Official Report, column 501W, what are the regional administration costs of establishing the new opportunities fund for sport; and what are the costs of the regional Sport England officers. [16772]
Mr. Caborn: The new opportunities fund is the body designated in the National Lottery Act 1998 to distribute lottery funds to initiatives concerned with health, education and the environment. They have a presence in the nine English regions which is responsible for the regional aspects of all 13 programmes. The representatives have been in place since September 2001, and are expected to cost £307,539 per year to maintain. Sport England has nine regional offices with running costs for 2000–01 of around £6,484,100.
Sports Projects
Mr. Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what role Sport England will play in the assessment of grant applications for school sports projects funded by the new opportunities fund. [17464]
Mr. Caborn: Grant applications for the New Opportunities for PE and sport programme will be assessed in two stages. At stage one, Sport England will provide support and advice to local organisations to help the development of strategies and portfolios of projects. These applications will then be assessed by the new opportunities for PE and sport committee for England, two of whose members are full board members of Sport England. The fund and Sport England are currently discussing how best Sport England can provide support at the second stage of the application process.
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