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5 Jan 2004 : Column 137W—continued

Olympic Games

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if she will withdraw the departmental minute dated 2 December 2003, reporting contingent liabilities in the event of London winning the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games; [145521]

Tessa Jowell: No. It is normal practice, under Government Accounting rules, for Departments to report contingent liabilities to Parliament. As I made clear in my statement to the House on 15 May 2003, the Government have given their wholehearted support to the Olympic bid, not least because of the benefits which would accrue to the entire country were we to be successful.

Regional Tourist Boards

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding each regional tourist board in England has received from its regional development agency in each year since regional development agencies were established. [145264]

Mr. Caborn: We have contacted the regional development agencies to request the information required, and I will write to the hon. Member as soon as it is available, placing copies of my letter in the Libraries of both Houses.

School Sport

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if she will make a statement on the Government's policy on sport in school; [145571]

Mr. Caborn: The Government are investing more than £1 billion in England to transform PE and school sport. This funding will help deliver an ambitious Public

5 Jan 2004 : Column 138W

Service Agreement target, shared by DCMS and DfES, to increase the percentage of school children who spend a minimum of two hours each week on high-quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum to 75 per cent. by 2006.

The information requested on participation rates is unavailable and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Data collected during the autumn term 2002 suggested that about a third of schools at Key Stages 1, 3 and 4 and two fifths of schools at Key Stage 2 offered their pupils two hours of high-quality PE and school sport each week within and beyond the curriculum. Data are now being collected for the first time—for publication in April 2004—on the number of pupils who choose to take up this entitlement.

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many school playing fields were sold between 1992 and 1997. [145572]

Mr. Caborn: Statistics on applications for school playing field sales were not collected until our playing fields legislation came into force. Public concern about the loss of school playing fields led directly to the introduction in October 1998 of Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Before Section 77 was introduced, only grant-maintained schools were required to seek consent from the Secretary of State before selling land, including areas of their playing fields. Local authorities and other schools that owned their own playing fields were free to sell without restriction.

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many school playing fields have been sold in each year since 1997. [145583]

Mr. Caborn: Data on the number of school playing fields sold is not collected. However, the Amendment to Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act in October 1998 has introduced powers that require all state schools to seek consent for the sale of playing fields from my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. In addition, Sport England monitor the number of planning applications concerning playing fields in their role as statutory consultee.

The Government publish combined figures for (a) applications from schools submitted to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills for the disposal or change of use of school playing fields (which are already published monthly), and (b) figures from Sport England giving details of planning applications affecting playing fields which have been referred to them as statutory consultee (which are already published quarterly), along with (c) relevant data from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

South West Arts

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the budget is for South West Arts for 2003–04; and what percentage is spent on administration. [145260]

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Estelle Morris: The total budget for Arts Council England South West is £18,559,000 in 2003–04. The administration budget is £1,649,000. The percentage of the total budget spent on administration is therefore 8.9 per cent.

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent assessment has been made of customer satisfaction with South West Arts; and if she will publish the results. [145261]

Estelle Morris: No official assessment of customer satisfaction has yet taken place in the South West. However, Arts Council England is commissioning a national customer satisfaction survey in January 2004. It is expected that interviews will take place in April to June and a report should be available in Autumn 2004.

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many staff are employed by South West Arts. [145262]

Estelle Morris: 41 full time equivalent staff are currently employed by Arts Council England, South West.

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful applicants for funding from South West Arts in each of the last five years. [145263]

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Estelle Morris: I understand from the Arts Council that they could supply the information requested on grant-in-aid applications for Arts Council England, South West funding only at disproportionate cost. They have however provided the following table showing the number of applications for lottery funding in each of the last five years and spreadsheets detailing both successful and unsuccessful applications for 2003 which I will place in the Library of the House.

19992000200120022003
Accepted lottery applications48122165216347
Rejected lottery applications371187176117329

Tourism

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many visitors the United Kingdom received from abroad in the past five years, broken down by (a) continent and (b) country. [145587]

Mr. Caborn: The information requested is as follows:

(a) The table shows the number of visits the United Kingdom received from overseas residents in each of the past five years broken down by continent.

(b) Data are published in Travel Trends, and are available for 39 countries or groups of countries. Travel Trends may be obtained from the Library of the House and at: <http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/Product.asp?vlnk=1391>

Number of visits by country of residence 1998 to 2002
(thousands)

19981999200020012002
Total World25,74525,39425,20922,83524,180
Europe17,38216,81616,08614,85516,218
North America4,5534,5994,8694,2274,271
Asia (including Middle East)2,2642,3172,4882,1992,172
Australasia and Pacific7839831,074945954
Africa769819836836825
South and Central America and Caribbean370381391417350

Source:

International Passenger Survey, National Statistics


DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Post Offices

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much of the sum available to support post office branches in deprived areas of England has been allocated; which post offices have benefited; and by what amount. [144805]

Yvette Cooper: To date, £3.5 million of the £15 million Deprived Urban Post Office Fund has been allocated to Post Offices in the 10 per cent. most deprived wards in England. 81 Post offices at risk of closure have been supported by the fund so far, with an average grant of £43,000 going towards refurbishment, improving security, and expanding retail facilities.


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