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Sports Participation (Young People)
26. Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action she is taking to encourage and assist participation in sports by young people. [17010]
Tessa Jowell: The Government have initiated a variety of programmes to encourage and assist participation in sports by young people—notably £120 million over four years to establish a network of 1,000 School Sport Co-ordinators in secondary schools across England and £581 million of lottery money in England, from the New Opportunities Fund 3rd round, to help build and refurbish school sport facilities across England.
31. Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on how she encourages sport among young people in the community. [17015]
Mr. Caborn: The Government have set up and are running a number of programmes to encourage sports among young people in the community. The Space for Sports and Arts is a joint initiative between DCMS, DfEE, Sport England, Arts Council of England and the New Opportunities Fund which has allocated £130 million to 65 LEAs to develop new sports and arts facilities on primary school sites. These will be used by young people and will also be available for community use. £581 million New Opportunities Fund money will be invested in strengthening the foundation of sport across England by building and refurbishing PE and sports facilities in schools. These will be made available to the wider community. On 11 January 2001 the Government announced an investment of £7 million over two years to train up to 60,000 young people and adult volunteers for sport. The scheme, 'Leadership and Volunteering in Community Sport,' will foster leadership skills and self- confidence in young people and contribute significantly to their personal development and employability.
Regional Theatres
27. Mr. Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action her Department is taking to support regional theatres (a) in the United Kingdom and (b) in London. [17011]
Tessa Jowell: Theatre funding is a matter for the Arts Council of England and the Regional Arts Boards. The Arts Council has already announced significant additional
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funding for theatre in England from 2002–03 which will see the budget for theatre rise from its current level of £45 million to £70 million by the end of the current planning cycle (2003–04). The theatre budget for London will increase from £8,620,514 in 2000–01 to £14,574,655 in 2003–04, or by 69 per cent.
Mr. Levitt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what support her Department is giving to regional theatres in the east midlands. [20994]
Mr. Caborn: Funding for theatre remains a matter for the Arts Council of England and the Regional Arts Boards. In March this year, the Arts Council announced a significant increase in funding for theatre in 2002–03 and 2003–04, including a 62 per cent. increase for subsidised theatre throughout the east midlands by the end of the period.
Sports Facilities (Havering)
28. Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on her support for sports facilities in the London borough of Havering. [17012]
Mr. Caborn: It is the Government's aim to ensure maximum participation in sport from all members of all communities.
In order to improve sports facilities in the London borough of Havering, the Lottery Sports Fund has awarded grants totalling over £4.6 million to 11 projects with a total project cost of over £8.9 million.
Tourism (Balance of Trade)
29. Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the balance of trade is on tourism. [17013]
Dr. Howells: The latest estimate of balance of payments deficit from tourism (seasonally adjusted figures) in the year to September 2001 is £13.7 billion. Earnings and overseas expenditure in the years to September 2000 and 2001 are summarised in the following table.
| £ billion | ||
|---|---|---|
| 12 months ending: | ||
| September 2000 | September 2001 | |
| Visitors to the UK | 12.8 | 11.8 |
| UK residents | 23.8 | 25.5 |
| Balance (deficit) | -11.0 | -13.7 |
Source:
Derived from International Passenger Survey
BBC (Digital Services)
30. Miss Begg: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on her recent decision on the BBC's new digital services. [17014]
Tessa Jowell: On 13 September, at the Royal Television Society Convention in Cambridge, I announced my decision on the BBC's proposals for new digital television and radio services.
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I gave approval to the following new services:
- two new television channels for children—one aimed at children aged six to 13, another for the under six-year-olds;
BBC4—a television service intended to create a forum for debate and aimed at anyone interested in culture, arts and ideas that will replace BBC Knowledge;
five new digital radio services aimed separately at a young specialist audience (Network X), an Asian audience (Asian Network), and sports lovers (Five Live Sports Plus) as well as an archive music channel (Network Y) and an archive voice channel (Network Z) plus an extension of the BBC World Service to the UK.
I assessed each of the proposals against the published DCMS guidelines for BBC public service approvals and invited comments from the broadcasting and communications industry, the Independent Television Commission, the Radio Authority and consumer groups. I concluded that each approved service is distinctive and that its likely impact on the market is proportionate to its public value.
I did not give approval to BBC3, a television service aimed at 16 to 34-year-olds, which was a proposed replacement for BBC Choice. I was not convinced that the proposals were truly distinctive in an already crowded market, and have invited the BBC to put forward fresh proposals.
I will be reviewing all the new services in 2004 as part of the review of the Charter and-Agreement and licence fee funding.
Football Association
32. Sir Teddy Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions she has had with the Football Association; and what matters were discussed. [17016]
Mr. Caborn: With my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State, I had a meeting with the chairman and chief executive of the Football Association on 25 September. We discussed a range of football issues.
Channel 5
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has for expanding the coverage of Channel 5 to all areas of Great Britain. [17004]
Dr. Howells: There are no such plans, because the provision of digital terrestrial television now has priority for the use of scarce spectrum. Channel 5 services are carried free-to-view on all digital platforms. The Government's aim is to make the main analogue channels universally available in digital across the UK, at least matching the existing analogue coverage of 99.4 per cent. of the population.
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National Lottery
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what guidance she gives to Camelot on the designation of Lottery outlets; [19109]
- (2) what representations she has received from retailers in each of the last five years with regard to the allocation of lottery outlets; and what appeals procedure exists for retailers who have been rejected as lottery providers. [19110]
Mr. Caborn: There have been a number of representations from retailers during this period about decisions by Camelot Group plc not to install a terminal on their premises. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has issued no guidance to Camelot on this matter. However, its licence from the National Lottery Commission requires Camelot to provide a terminal for each postcode district within which there are at least 2,000 residents, and to make available for public inspection its criteria for selecting and de-selecting retailers. It is for Camelot to exercise its commercial judgment in applying these criteria, and there is no separate appeals procedure.
Film Industry
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the films which were made in the UK; and how many shot footage in the Teesside region in the last five years. [19069]
Mr. Caborn: The British Film Institute's Film and Television Handbook lists the films produced in the UK in a number of different categories, some of which were only partly shot in the UK. The lists have been copied for the last five years and I am arranging for copies to be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
The Northern Screen Commission advises that the following films contain footage filmed in the Teesside region:
- Elizabeth: 1997
Shopping: 1997
Like Father: 1998
Billy Elliott: 1999.
Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone: 2000
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