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Football

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make it his policy not to draw from the £8 million Soccer Strategy budget the money required to bring the Windsor Park stadium up to the required standard to permit the World Cup qualifying matches against England and Wales to be held at the stadium. [170202]

Angela Smith: To date, no element of the £8 million Soccer Strategy budget has been earmarked for Windsor Park. However, an indicative sum of £3 million has been earmarked from Soccer Strategy monies for playing facilities generally. Bringing Windsor Park up to the required standard for the World Cup qualifiers against England and Wales could be considered as part of the playing facilities component of the Strategy but I   would emphasise that responsibility for resolving any   deficiencies at Windsor Park, and identifying appropriate sources of funding for that purpose, rests with the IFA and the owners of the venue.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money has been allocated to bring Windsor Park stadium up to the required standard to permit the World Cup qualifying matches against England and Wales to be held at the stadium. [170203]

Angela Smith: Responsibility for bringing Windsor Park stadium up to the required standard to permit the World Cup qualifiers against England and Wales to be held at the stadium rests with the governing body of Football in Northern Ireland, the Irish Football Association (IFA), and the owners of Windsor Park, Linfield FC. As no request for Government funding has been received either from the IFA or Linfield FC for this purpose, no Government money has been allocated.
 
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Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the nature is of the relationship between Windsor Park and the Northern Ireland international football team in relation to the staging of international fixtures. [170205]

Angela Smith: Responsibility for staging international football matches rests with the Irish Football Association (IFA). Under an agreement, between Linfield Football Club and the IFA the home internationals are staged at Windsor Park.

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what Government assistance has been   provided for the Irish Football Association's youth development programme through its School of Excellence. [170244]

Angela Smith: Government has provided via the Sports Council for Northern Ireland, a £1.6 million funding package for the Irish Football Association's (IFA) Youth Development Programme over a three-year period. This funding package is directed to the IFA's Football Development Centres rather than a School of Excellence. So far 25 youth Football Development Centres, have been established across Northern Ireland with a total spend of £1.2 million to date.

Independent Monitoring Commission

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what sanctions are available to the Government regarding the Independent Monitoring Commission Report and its conclusions in respect of Sinn Fein. [170455]

Mr. Spellar: Under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, as amended by the Northern Ireland (Monitoring Commission etc.) Act 2003 and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and Northern Ireland Act 2000 (Modification) Order 2004 (S.I. 2004/1164), my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, may take steps to reduce financial assistance to Assembly parties or the pay of Members of the Assembly for a period of up to 12 months if (a) the Monitoring Commission has made a report containing a recommendation about steps which are steps that the Assembly might consider taking were section 1 of the Northern Ireland Act 2000 not in force; and (b) the taking of those steps would have required the passing of an Assembly resolution in relation to a political party.

The Secretary of State must also be satisfied either that the party in question is not committed to non-violence and exclusively peaceful and democratic means; or that the party is not committed to such of its Members as might become Ministers or junior Ministers observing the other terms of the pledge of office.

La Mon Bombing

Mr. Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland pursuant to the answer of 30 March 2004, Official Report, column 1332W, whether search and log records
 
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for the night of 17 February 1978 have been retained in a location other than within the investigations file and   HM Coroner's reports relating to the La Mon bombing. [165692]

Mr. Pearson: Further to the answer that my right hon. Friend (Jane Kennedy) gave the hon. Gentleman on 30 March 2004, Official Report, column 1332W, I am advised that further inquiries have been carried out as a result of the hon. Gentleman's Question by the District Commander of Castlereagh into the retention of any search records and logs for the La Mon bombing in 1978. The inquiries were carried out in Castlereagh District Command Unit, Ards District Command Unit and in other DCUs where persons were arrested in connection with the incident, however no search records or logs have come to light.

I understand that force policy in respect of search records was first issued in 1983.

Lyric Theatre (Belfast)

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the amount of Lottery Art Fund money being made available for the re-development of the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. [168471]

Angela Smith: Since 1996 the Arts Council Lottery Fund has made awards totalling £95,000 towards proposals for the re-development of the Lyric Theatre. The Council also awarded £2 million in-principle in December 2003 towards the costs, estimated at £117 million, of rebuilding the Theatre on its current site. With an annual income of approximately £7 million (dependent on ticket sales) the Arts Council is not in a position to make large capital awards.

Decisions on individual arts lottery awards are a matter for the Arts Council and are made independently of Government, although I welcome the awards made.

The current condition of the Lyric Theatre is one of a number of identified weaknesses in Belfast's arts infrastructure. My Department is working with the Arts Council to develop an investment strategy for addressing these deficiencies, building on the lottery funding already committed by the Arts Council.

National Stadium

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on (a) the progress with the search for a site for the proposed National Stadium for Northern Ireland and (b) the proposed timescale of the project. [170242]

Angela Smith: Recently, I invited the Strategic Investment Board (SIB) to undertake a robust business planning exercise to consider whether a multi-sports stadium to accommodate Soccer, Rugby and Gaelic Games is a long-term, commercially viable proposition in revenue terms. The issue of location is not being addressed at this stage but may be considered if the viability of a multi-sports stadium is established.
 
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Planning Policy

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress has been made in reviewing the remit and powers of the Planning Appeals Commission; and if he will make a statement. [169921]

Angela Smith: The Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) was subject to a quinquennial review during 2002 and the report of that review is available on the OFMDFM website (http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/pac/pacreport/index.htm).

The purpose of the quinquennial review was to consider three main issues: the need for the functions performed by the PAC, organisational options for delivery of these functions and the performance of the PAC in meeting the needs identified.

There are no plans at present to conduct a further review.

Police Service

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the Police Service of Northern Ireland will be adopting the colour vision requirements arising from his Department's review of the medical assessment process for police recruits. [170204]

Mr. Pearson: The Home Office undertook a review of police recruitment medical standards. Part of this work entailed a review of the eyesight standards relating to both visual acuity and colour vision. The work was completed last year and the recommendations introduced in England and Wales.

When the new standard was introduced PSNI considered the findings. An area of concern centred on the fact that the new standards took no cognisance of handling firearms safely since this is not a requirement for officers in England and Wales.

It was therefore decided not to adopt the new standard until the particular circumstances pertaining to PSNI were reviewed. A research project has been established to ascertain the justifiable requirements for visual standards for recruits to PSNI.

PSNI are presently awaiting the findings of this research, which will be considered in association with the standards in England and Wales.

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