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15 Jul 2003 : Column 186W—continued

Royal Palaces

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what definition applies to the terms (a) occupied and (b) unoccupied in respect of royal palaces. [125330]

Mr. Caborn [holding answer 11 July 2003]: An occupied royal palace is an official residence where members of the royal family live and carry out official duties. The unoccupied royal palaces were previously, but are no longer, used by members of the royal family.

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what authorisation process is applied by the Department for the occupation of a royal palace. [125331]

Mr. Caborn [holding answer 11 July 2003]: The occupied palaces are owned by the Queen as Sovereign on behalf of the nation. How the properties are used in fulfilling the requirements and functions of the Head of State is a matter for Her Majesty the Queen, although proposals are discussed with this Department wherever appropriate.

Sport England

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on staffing levels in (a) Sport England headquarters and (b) its regional offices in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) 2003–04. [125323]

Mr. Caborn: Details of Sport England's staff numbers in 2002–03 are as follows.

	1 April 2002	31 March 2003
Headquarters	276	231
Regional offices	183	177
Total	459	408

By 30 September 2003, there are expected to be 116 staff in headquarters and 150 in regional offices.

Sports Funding

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the sports in receipt of World Class lottery funding. [125219]

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Mr. Caborn: The following sports are currently in receipt of World Class lottery funding:

archery;


athletics;


athletics-disability;


badminton;


boccia;


boxing;


canoeing;


cricket;


cycling;


diving;


equestrian;


fencing-disability;


goalball;


golf-ladies;


golf-mens;


gymnastics-rhythmic;


gymnastics-sports acrobatics;


gymnastics-womens artistic/trampolining;


gymnastics-mens artistic;


hockey;


ice skating;


judo;


karate;


modern pentathlon;


netball;


orienteering;


paraplegic shooting;


powerlifting-disability;


rowing;


rugby league;


rugby union-mens;


rugby union-womens;


sailing;


skeleton;


skiing;


snowboarding;


speed skating;


squash;


swimming;


swimming-disability;


table tennis;


table tennis-disability;


taekwondo;


target shooting;


trampolining;


triathlon;


waterskiing;


weightlifting;


wheelchair basketball, and


wheelchair rugby.

Tourism

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what percentage tourism contributed to the gross domestic product of England in each of the last two financial years. [125098]

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Mr. Caborn: It is not currently possible to calculate the percentage which tourism contributed to the gross domestic product of England in the last two financial years, due to delays in the production of National Statistics' Regional Accounts. However, the equivalent figure for the contribution of tourism to the UK's GDP in the calendar year 2001 was 4.5 per cent., and the proportion for England can be expected to be of a similar magnitude.

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much she spent advertising each of the regions as a tourist destination (a) in the United Kingdom and (b) internationally in the last two financial years. [125099]

Mr. Caborn: In 2001–02, this Department allocated to the English Tourism Council (ETC) £3.8 million from the Reserve to assist the domestic recovery of tourism from foot and mouth disease; over half of that amount was then passed to the 10 regional tourist boards (RTBs) in England and much of it used for promotional activities. In addition, of the sums granted by the Department to the Greater London Authority (GLA) to promote tourism, £500,000 was used for domestic marketing in 2001–02 and £100,000 in 2002–03.

In 2001–02 and 2002–03, the British Tourist Authority (BTA) was responsible for marketing Britain overseas as a tourist destination. It did not allocate funds for individual regions of Britain, but promoted Britain as a whole in a way which maximised the impact of its campaigns in individual markets overseas. DCMS allocated the following amounts to the BTA in the last two years:

£ million

BTA	2001–02	2002–03
Baseline grant in aid	35.5	35.5
Additional sums from Reserve to assist recovery	14.2	19.0

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much she spent advertising the UK as a tourist destination in the last two financial years. [125100]

Mr. Caborn: In 2001–02 and 2002–03, the British Tourist Authority (BTA) was responsible for marketing Britain overseas as a tourist destination. DCMS allocated the following amounts to the BTA in the last two years.

£ million

BTA	2001–02	2002–03
Baseline grant in aid	35.5	35.5
Additional sums from Reserve to assist recovery	14.2	19.0

The BTA's statutory role has been the overseas promotion of Britain, rather than the UK, although it had powers to encourage people to visit Northern Ireland by agreement with the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB).

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what percentage tourism contributed to the GDP in the north-east in the last two financial years. [125119]

15 Jul 2003 : Column 189W

Mr. Caborn: The only figure for tourism's contribution to GDP in the north-east is for the calendar year 2000. This was derived from "Tourism Impact—a Pilot Study for the North East", which was published in September 2002. This estimated tourism's contribution to the GDP in the north-east to be 3.5 per cent. This study was jointly funded by the regional development agency, ONE, and the Department.

Vera Baird: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many international tourists visited (a) England and (b) the north-east in 2001 and 2002; and what percentage of international tourists to the UK this represented. [125120]

Mr. Caborn: The following table shows the number of staying visits (visits which included a stay of at least one night) to the north-east, England and the UK in 2001 and 2002. The figures for 2002 are provisional.

	2001		2002
	Staying visits (thousand)	Percentage of all staying visits	Staying visits (thousand)	Percentage of all staying visits
North-east	440	2	520	2
Total England	19,320	93	20,390	92
Total UK	20,980	100	22,120	100

Source:

International Passenger Survey, National Statistics.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

EU Institutions (Visits)

Mr. Allen: To ask the Leader of the House what percentage of hon. Members have used the facility of a visit to an EU institution in each of the years for which figures are available. [124996]

Mr. Hain: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my predecessor on 21 October 2002, Official Report, column 106W. I understand that the percentage of Members who used this facility during 2002–03 rose to 24 per cent. This includes visits to national parliaments as well as to EU institutions.

Mr. Allen: To ask the Leader of the House what discussions he has had with Foreign Office colleagues regarding using the visits by hon. Members to EU institutions. [125177]

Mr. Hain: I have as yet had no discussions with Foreign and Commonwealth Office colleagues regarding the Members' European travel scheme, which allows up to three visits each year to national parliaments of EU member states and those of candidate countries, as well as to EU institutions in Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg.

Pre-legislative Scrutiny

Mr. Allen: To ask the Leader of the House what steps he is taking to ensure that all Bills will undergo pre-legislative scrutiny. [124976]

Mr. Hain: The Government have never proposed that it would be possible to make all bills available for pre-legislative scrutiny. Some nine Bills will be published this session for pre-legislative scrutiny, a considerable

15 Jul 2003 : Column 190W

increase on last session. I hope that we will be in a position to publish a similar number or more during the course of next session.

Mr. Allen: To ask the Leader of the House what progress he has made in enabling pre-legislative scrutiny to be carried out on-line. [124977]

Mr. Hain: Whether to carry out pre-legislative scrutiny on-line is a matter for decision by the Committee concerned, and the provision of facilities and funding for it are a matter for the House authorities. The Joint Committee on the draft Communications Bill found its on-line forum extremely useful, and I hope that other Committees will also choose to make use of the opportunities which Information Technology provides. I welcome work being done by the Committee Office to identify and promote good practice in this area.

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