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New Community Development Fund

Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of the New Community Development Fund sports budget will be allocated to (a) tennis, netball, hockey and swimming and (b) other women's and girls' sporting activities. [136794]

Mr. Caborn: Under the Community Club Development Programme, a total of £60 million has been made available over 2003–06 for the development of facilities at community sports clubs. Of that total, tennis will receive £9.4 million as one of four major participation sports (the others being football, rugby and cricket). Netball, hockey and swimming will receive £1.66 million each.

The Government have not made these funds available on the assumption that these, or other, sports are exclusively for women or girls. Each of the 16 sports included in the programme will make funds available for the encouragement of women's and girls' participation, against their own development plans.

Obesity

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department is taking to tackle obesity through sport. [136649]

Mr. Caborn: The Government are aware that obesity levels are rising, especially among young people. Raising levels of community participation is key to tackling this. The Government are addressing this by investing in high-quality local sport and activity resources which are available to all. The New Opportunities Fund (NOF) and Space for Sport and the Arts are putting over £581 million into new PE and school sport facilities in England and Wales, and putting over £400 million into local sports facilities, healthy living centres and activity centres for young people. In addition, we are supporting the vital network of 110,000 amateur sports clubs with a new £60 million capital investment, tax and charity breaks, and mandatory rate relief. £28 million is also being invested by my Department in the recruitment, training and deployment of sports coaches across the UK.

Regional Development Agencies

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on co-ordination between regional development agencies and her Department on sport. [136648]

Mr. Caborn: Under its modernisation and restructuring programme, Sport England is devolving greater responsibility for funding decisions on community sports projects to its regional offices. New Regional Sports Boards, constituted as sub-committees of Sport England, will prepare Regional Sports Strategies in consultation with all relevant regional interests, including regional development agencies. The strategies will inform funding decisions in the regions.

The Department and Sport England also work directly with individual RDAs on specific issues, such as the long-term future of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in which the East Midlands Development Agency is representing the Government in discussions

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with key players. The Department's Olympic Games Unit is also working very closely with the London Development Agency (LDA) in support of the 2012 Olympic Bid, and earlier this year met with representatives of all nine RDAs to discuss the implications across the country of staging the Games. The Department and Sport England continue to work closely with the LDA on monitoring the construction of the new National Stadium at Wembley.

Summer Activities (Young People)

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on her Department's funded programme of summer activities for young people. [136650]

Estelle Morris: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is working with other Government Departments and agencies to deliver the Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) programme during all school holidays, including half-term breaks. The programme builds on the success of last year's Splash Extra and Summer Plus schemes and aims to reduce youth offending, encourage children and young people to return to education or training and build community cohesion.

PAYP engages young people through arts, sports and educational activities. It is targeted at those young people most at risk of offending or truancy and areas where community cohesion or street crime is identified as being a particular problem.

It will run for an initial period of three years and is funded by the Department for Education and Skills, the Home Office and by the National Lottery through the New Opportunities Fund. The Youth Justice Board is making an in-kind contribution. The funds available for the first year total £25 million and funding for years 2 and 3, to be confirmed shortly, will remain at least at this level. The programme is being delivered through the Government Offices for the Regions who in turn appoint sub-regional Lead Delivery Agents to plan provision according to local need. The most at risk young people receive key worker support to ensure continuity between school holiday periods.

The programme ran in four locations in the Leeds North West constituency and provided a total number of 549 places on 126 activities.

A full evaluation of the effectiveness of the year-round holiday provision is under way and key findings are expected to be available around May 2004. In the meantime initial feedback from the summer and half term programmes—which is still being collated—suggests a high level of take-up of the schemes over these periods and promising associated benefits.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces (Pay)

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether all personnel have received their pay on time during the last six months; what irregularities have been reported; and if he will make a statement. [136577]

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Mr. Caplin: 51 RAF trainees experienced a delay in receiving their monthly salary for October 2003. This was caused by an oversight in creating an officer's computer pay record for each of the personnel affected. These records have now been created, and the personnel affected paid.

No other delays affecting significant numbers have been reported during the last six months, and over 99.9 per cent. of electronic monthly payments to personnel have been made on time. Inevitably, however, given the size of our armed forces, isolated cases of delays due to administrative errors can occur.

Arms Fairs

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to support arms fairs. [136295]

Mr. Ingram: The support given by the Ministry of Defence to defence exhibitions at home and overseas will continue in accordance with the Government's policy of assisting the United Kingdom defence industry in its aim to achieve legitimate exports.

Campaign Medals

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when Servicemen and women who served in Afghanistan in 2001–02 will be given their campaign medals. [136955]

Mr. Caplin: Service in Afghanistan on Operation Veritas from 11 September 2001 to a date to be announced has been recognised by the institution of the Operational Service Medal. Command Paper Cm 5939, which contains the detailed qualifying criteria, was laid before Parliament on 8 September 2003 and a Defence Council Instruction was subsequently published on 31 October 2003. The issue of medals will commence upon receipt of applications from Service personnel.

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when Servicemen and women who served in Operation Telic in Iraq in 2003 will be given their campaign medals. [136956]

Mr. Caplin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 October 2003, Official Report, column 654W, to the hon. Member for Aldershot (Mr. Gerald Howarth). I can add that the detailed eligibility criteria have since been completed by the Department and passed to the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals for their approval. The work is progressing well.

Deepcut Barracks Inquiry

Lembit O
pik: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what measures his Department has taken to implement each of the recommendations contained in Surrey Police's inquiry into the deaths at Deepcut Barracks; what the timeframe for implementation is; and if he will make a statement. [135937]

Mr. Ingram: The Surrey Police have yet to produce their fifth and final report and the Ministry of Defence is therefore not aware of the detailed recommendations it will contain. However, the Army has worked closely with Surrey Police to develop a learning account to

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ensure that the key lessons arising from these tragic deaths are identified and swiftly acted upon. This learning account contains 28 recommendations. Of these recommendations, 25 have been implemented and the remaining three are well in hand.

Fissile Material

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much fissile material has been produced in each year from 1979 to date; and how much is presently held, broken down into material classified as (a) high level, (b) intermediate level and (c) low level material. [135078]

Mr. Ingram: Since 1979, deliveries of fissile material, under Ministry of Defence production contracts, have been as follows (rounded to the nearest kilogram):

	Kilogram
1989–90	181
1990–91	271
1991–92	179
1992–93	268
1993–94	181
1994–95	171
1995–96	21

Fissile material is not classified in the categories requested, which are used to describe levels of radioactive waste. I am therefore unable to provide the information in the form requested.

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