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CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Departmental Accountancy Practice

Mr. Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who the Finance Director of the Department is; what accountancy qualifications the Director holds; and on how many occasions there has been a qualified opinion on (a) the resource accounts and (b) other accounts of the Department in the last five years. [183429]

Mr. Caborn: The designated Finance Director in DCMS is Nicholas Kroll. Mr. Kroll is the Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Permanent Secretary. His responsibilities also include human resources, accommodation, information technology and economic, statistical and other analytical services. Mr. Kroll has no accounting qualifications; however, he is supported by a Head of Accounting Profession and nine other accountants within the Department's Finance and Planning Division.

Since 1999–2000, the DCMS's appropriation and resource accounts have been qualified on one occasion only, in 2001–02. This was a technical qualification of the resource accounts arising out of the timing of the initiation and authorisation at the end of March 2002 of cash payments for payment in April 2002, which resulted in the Department exceeding its net cash
 
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requirement. The Department remained within approved resource limits during the same accounting period.

Information for 2003–04 is not yet available as the audit of the 2003–04 resource accounts has only recently begun.

Edgeworth Cricket Club

Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the schemes in the North West region, approved by Sport England, which are now classed as deferred; and when she expects funding to be available for the new clubhouse and pavilion for the Edgeworth Cricket Club. [184194]

Mr. Caborn: The following 12 projects in the North West region were deferred during Sport England's stocktake of its Lottery-funded programmes:

Applicant	Project
Astley Sports College	Four-court sports hall
Buersil Park Bowling Club	Rebuilding pavilion
Carlisle Rugby Union Club	Clubhouse extension, all weather training pitch and floodlights
Community TOP Ltd	Trampolining centre
Edgeworth Cricket Club	New pavilion
Egremont Rugby Union Club	New pavilion and multi-use games area
Fylde Borough Council	Skate park
Liverpool Sailing Club	New clubhouse
New Brighton Cricket Club	New practice facilities
Rochdale Judo Club	Extension of facilities
Silverdale Cricket Club	New pavilion
Waterloo Judo Club	New clubhouse

Of these, Silverdale Cricket Club has since formally withdrawn its application having secured funding elsewhere.

The remaining 11 deferred projects, including Edgeworth Cricket Club, will be considered by the newly established North West Regional Sports Board in September 2004.

National Foundation for Sport

Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the (a) correspondence and (b) meetings she has had with the food and drink industry in relation to plans for a national foundation for sport. [183589]

Mr. Caborn: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had (a) no correspondence and (b) no meetings with the food and drink industry, in relation to plans for a National Sports Foundation.

I refer my hon. Friend to the Spending Review Statement given by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 12 July 2004, Official Report, columns 1129–155, announcing that to ensure a better co-ordination of national sports effort and resources, Patrick Carter, Chairman of Sport England, will report on the proposal to involve private and public sectors in a new National Sports Foundation.
 
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Princess Diana Memorial Fountain

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which members of the Government attended the opening of the Princess Diana memorial fountain. [183567]

Tessa Jowell: In addition to myself, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the First Minister for Scotland and the First Minister for Wales attended the opening ceremony.

Royal Parks Agency

Mr. Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people were employed in the Royal Parks Agency (a) in 1997 and (b) at the latest date for which information is available, broken down by job title; if she will list the job functions performed by those holding each job title; and for how many the primary function was (i) human resource or personnel functions, (ii) finance and accounting functions, (iii) information technology functions and (iv) other support, back office or administrative functions (A) in 1997 and (B) at the latest date for which information is available. [183457]

Mr. Caborn: The average number of full-time equivalent staff employed by The Royal Parks Agency in 1997–98 was 236, and as at 1 July 2004 it was 225.

Details of job titles and job functions are not readily available.

Listed in the following table are the numbers of staff by function:

	Number of Staff
	1997–98	2004
(i) human resource or personnel functions	4	5
(ii) finance and accounting functions	5	6
(iii) information technology functions	2	3
(iv) other support, back office or administrative functions	14	10

School Sport

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how her Department is working with local authorities to improve school sport. [183317]

Mr. Caborn: The Government are implementing the Game Plan (2002) recommendation to improve the delivery of sport and physical activity through local government. We are working closely with partners at Sport England, the Local Government Association, the Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers Association, the Audit Commission and others to: improve local partnerships; include sport and physical activity in Local Public Service Agreements; develop an Excellence Framework for Sport and Recreation; develop strategies for improvement planning and develop and train key workers in sport. Sport in schools, and links between schools and communities, will benefit from this work.
 
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The Department for Education and Skills continues to work with local education authorities to ensure a strategic roll-out of the network of school sport partnerships (50 per cent. coverage from September).

Mr. Best: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to improve school sports facilities. [183316]

Mr. Caborn: Over £850 million is available for the New Opportunities for PE and Sport, the Space for Sport and the Arts, the Green Spaces, and the Sporting Playgrounds programmes. All of these programmes can be used to improve school sports and physical activity facilities.

Second World War (60th Anniversary)

Ann Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether Lottery funding will be used to link Second World War 60th anniversary activities with youth educational initiatives. [183436]

Estelle Morris: National Lottery funding has been made available through the Veterans Reunited initiative to ensure that all generations of UK residents can commemorate the momentous events that led to the end of the Second World War. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State first announced our intention to provide Lottery support in this area last October.

The Veterans Reunited initiative has three strands, one of which, "Their Past Your Future", is a £10 million, two-year education scheme funded by the Big Lottery Fund and led by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in partnership with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, Scottish Museums Council, National Library of Wales, Northern Ireland Museums Council and local education authorities UK wide.

"Their Past Your Future" concentrates on the participation of schools and young people in understanding events of the Second World War; it is designed to raise children's awareness of issues of remembrance, conflict, freedom, commemoration and reconciliation as well as informing them about historical aspects of the war. The IWM project, receiving £4 million from the Big Lottery Fund, consists of an educational website, a series of competitions for schools to win overseas commemorative visits, a travelling exhibition, and a Partnerships Scheme linking children to armed service and civilian veterans of the war. Funding of £2.3 million has also been offered to all UK local authorities to support locally organised events and activities or overseas trips.

The UK museums, libraries and archives sector will also receive £3 million to develop programmes of events regionally and locally and to support the IWM travelling exhibitions.

The other two strands of the Veterans Reunited initiative are Heroes Return (funding for veterans to return to an area of overseas service) and Home Front Recall (funding for UK based events and activities to mark the end of the Second World War).
 
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