Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Minutes of Evidence


Examination of Witnesses(Questions 380-395)

MR TONY WINTERBOTTOM AND MR PERRY PHILLIPS

TUESDAY 17 DECEMBER 2002

  380. So it is £1.9 million in total?
  (Mr Winterbottom) Yes.

  381. To recognise London's unique role?
  (Mr Winterbottom) That is it, yes.

  382. And £250,000 for the gateway, which is not a lot of money, is it?
  (Mr Winterbottom) Yes, I think that is what I was trying to say, though I probably did not say it. If you look at the scale of the problem and the problems which you have and which you all identify, that is a very, very small amount of money.

  383. You raised the point about the continuation of that money, in your brief or your submission, did you not?
  (Mr Winterbottom) Yes.

  384. Are there doubts about that, or is it simply a question of arguing about the amount of money that you get?
  (Mr Winterbottom) No, I think there are two issues. Regional Development Agency funding now comes through what is called the single pot, and we hope that the £2 million or the £1.9 million, or whatever the figure we negotiate, is added to that single pot. It is worth pointing out that the London Development Agency has, in addition to that, committed substantial sums, much more than that—we have committed £7 million over the next two years—from our own single pot resources, because we recognise how important to tourism hospitality is. We are still in those negotiations with DCMS, though. They are very supportive, but it is a question where there is only a certain amount of money to go round, and England has to carve it up in an amicable way. Obviously if you look at the comparisons with our friends who were in here before, they have substantially more funds to go out.

  385. Let us talk about our friends who were in here before. What discussions do you have with the regions about the gateway role that London fulfils? Are you working with them to build that position up, to strengthen it and to fund it?
  (Mr Winterbottom) We are in dialogue and discussions with them, and that is as far as it goes, but there is a commitment to identify and work through that gateway role with our colleagues in the other RDAs.

  386. Who initiates that? Is that DCMS, or do you initiate it?
  (Mr Winterbottom) It has been DCMS. DCMS are very helpful and they are trying to bring this together, but it is a pitifully small amount of money for London to do that job satisfactorily, and that is still of concern to us.

  387. Obviously the pot could be bigger if the regions contributed. Do they contribute at all?
  (Mr Winterbottom) No.

  388. Is that part of the discussions at the moment?
  (Mr Winterbottom) It will be.

  389. Have they been asked to contribute?
  (Mr Winterbottom) They have not.

  390. But that, as you say, will be part of the discussions?
  (Mr Winterbottom) It will.

  391. Who will lead those discussions? Will it be you or DCMS?
  (Mr Winterbottom) It will always be DCMS, but I think it is what we ask them, what we want to put on the table to discuss.

  392. So if you get money from the regions, you will lose your money from the DCMS?
  (Mr Winterbottom) I think we should all work together. I think there is great teamwork. We should have great teamwork, and I think we do. Chairman, if I may, there is an issue, though, about ministerial responsibility. DCMS does not have a big budget for this, and of course in terms of the Regional Development Agencies their responsible ministries are the DTI. It is just something I would like to point out.

  393. I think it is something of which we are aware. Do you think that tourism should be the responsibility of DCMS? It is our fifth largest employer and, I think you said, second largest in London.
  (Mr Winterbottom) I do not know. What I feel is that we should have a joined-up approach to tourism and hospitality, and I do not care how that happens. We have to break down silos, and obviously when we start talking about recruitment and training and so forth, that brings in other ministries. Education is again the same thing. I think we need to focus on the tourism business and give it those resources. To me it does not matter which ministry is responsible, as long as the others work in with it.

  394. I have one final question. I think it is obvious to everyone that the gateway aspect is important to tourism in London and it is important to the rest of the country. Again, we have heard from a number of other witnesses about the efforts to build public/private partnership in an area like this. Is that happening in London? For example, in my own area in Aberdeen we only have one airline providing flights to London, which is a major drawback because there is no competition. We used to have a flight direct into the City Airport, but that did not last for long. Do you speak to the airlines about the benefit to them of the gateway aspect? Do they contribute? Have they been asked to contribute?
  (Mr Winterbottom) Yes, they do, and I would like to pay great tribute to the airlines and BAA. When we did our tourism review they spent a lot of time and gave us quite a lot of personnel and fed into that. Clearly there are tremendous benefits from co-working, and that is exactly where we want to get to here.

  395. But have they been asked to give you any money?
  (Mr Winterbottom) They have not been asked to give us any money. They do give some money to the London Tourist Board at the moment, but they have given us time.

  Mr Doran: Thank you, Chairman.

  Chairman: Thank you very much indeed. That was a very snappy exchange. I am most grateful to you for coming here today. Since this is the last sitting of this Committee this year, I should like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thank you.





 
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