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Sporting Centres of Excellence

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the sporting centres of excellence in England; and if she will make a statement. [183594]

Mr. Caborn: A number of sporting centres of excellence have been developed in England following Sport England's announcement in 1999 to commit £120 million from the Lottery to invest in the capital
 
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development of the English Institute of Sport (EIS)—a nationwide network of world-class facilities and support services. In addition, sporting centres of excellence for
 
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athletics also exist in London at St. Mary's College and Brunei university. The following centres have been developed as a result of investment in the EIS.
EIS capital programme

Site	Sport	Facility provision
University of Birmingham	Hockey	Water-based hockey pitch—2 upgrades
University of Birmingham	Squash	7-court upgrade
Birmingham CC	Athletics	Indoor Athletics Centre, 132m straight and throw/jump area
Birmingham CC	Multi	Improvement to NIA
Polo Farm Sports Club/Canterbury Hockey Clubs	Hockey	Water-based pitch and floodlighting
University of Bath	Multi	Sports Science/Sports Med Equipment
University of Bath	Swimming	8 Lane 50m pool
University of Bath	Bobsleigh	Simulated start
University of Bath	Athletics	Indoor 132m Athletics Centre
Cannock Cricket and Hockey Club	Hockey	Water-based hockey pitch
Hayling Island Sailing Club	Sailing	New Club and Sports Science Facilities
Exeter University	Hockey	Water Based pitch
Loughborough University	Swimming	50m 8-lane pool, seminar room, sports science lab and other ancillary facilities
Loughborough University	Hockey	Water-based pitch
Loughborough University	Netball/Badminton	12 court sports hall
Loughborough University	Athletics	Indoor 132m Straight and throws/jumps area.
Loughborough University	Cricket	National Academy
Loughborough University	Multi	Sports Science/Sports Med Centre
Manchester City Council	Swimming	10 x 50m pool, 6 x 50m pool, diving pool.
Manchester City Council	Athletics	Indoor 200m track. Outdoor 400m track.
Manchester City Council	Generic	Fit out of EIS North West area
Rutland Sailing Club	Sailing	RYA National Training Venue
Nottingham Squash and Rackets Club	Squash	Nottingham Squash Rackets Club—extension
East Grinstead	Hockey	Water-based pitch
Phoenix Sports Ltd.	Multi	EIS Sheffield Centre, including indoor 200m track, sports halls, sports science, strength and conditioning suite
Caversham Lakes Company	Rowing	Redgrave Pinsent Rowing lake—2000m rowing lake, ancillary accommodation.
Leeds Met University	Gymnastics	Men's centre
Haringey	Athletics	Equipment and upgrade of New River Stadium
Southampton CC	Diving	Southampton pool upgrade
Deerness Gym Club	Gymnastics	Acrobat centre
Badminton Association of England	Badminton	Upgrade national centre at Milton Keynes
Durham Hockey Club	Hockey	Upgrade of Pitch to Water based
Reading HC	Hockey	Upgrade of Pitch to Water based
Wakefield Hockey Club	Hockey	Water based hockey pitch
Surrey County Council	Hockey	Upgrade to water based pitch
Sports Council Trust	Multi	Redevelopment of Bisham Abbey Sports facilities, water based hockey pitch, strength and conditioning suite, sports science,
Gorton GC	Gymnastics	Gorton Gymnastics Centre Upgrade
Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy	Sailing	Weymouth Sailing Academy—Sailing Centre.
SC Trust/Sport England—Lilleshall	Multi	Multi development of gym and EIS. Also on site; Gymnastics Centre, athlete accommodation, sports science operation, sports hall, specialist 100m projectile hall. Water based hockey pitch.
SC Trust/Sport England—Holme Pierrepoint	Multi	2000m rowing lake, canoe slalom course, accommodation and conference block, sports hall and conditioning facilities
SC Trust/Sport England	Multi	Crystal Palace National Sports Centre: outdoor 400m track, indoor sprint straight, 50m pool, sports hall, weights room, sports science.
Wolverhampton University	Judo	2/4-mat dedicated centre
Lee Valley Park Authority	Athletics/EIS	Athletics/EIS
British Cycling Federation	Cycling	Accommodation and support areas at Manchester Velodrome. Full competition specification track
Chelmsford HC	Hockey	Upgrade of Pitch to Water based

Sports Funding

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has (a) to improve funding for development of talent in (i) tennis, (ii) cricket and (iii) other sports and (b) to initiate programmes to improve interest in those sports, especially among the younger generation. [183271]

Mr. Caborn: As part of the joint DCMS/DfES national strategy for PE, School Sport and Clubs Links; the DCMS are investing £9 million to increase the percentage of five to 16 year-olds from School Sport Partnerships who are members of, or participate in governing body or otherwise accredited amateur sports clubs from 14 per cent. (2002) to 20 per cent. by 2006. This is being delivered by 22 sports: Athletics, badminton, basketball, canoeing, cricket, cycling, golf, football, gymnastics, hockey, judo, netball, orienteering, rowing, rugby union, rugby league, sailing, squash, table tennis, swimming, tennis and volleyball.

DCMS also recently launched the Talented Athletes Scholarship Scheme. This is a £3 million exchequer funded programme that sits between school and junior representative sport, and world-class programmes across 48 able bodied and disabled performance sports, including cricket and tennis. The programme has been specifically designed to help talented athletes aged
 
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between 16 and 25 years to maintain a sensible balance between academic life or employment while fulfilling their potential as an athlete. The first awards will be made this September comprising scholarships worth up to £3,000 in sporting services and bursaries to the value of £1,000, delivered through a network of Higher and Further Education Institutions.

In addition, Sport England's World Class Potential and Start programmes, introduced in 1998, already provides funding to over 30 sports in England for the development of talent. As part of this programme Cricket receives £2 million per annum for the
 
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development of talented players at county and national academy level. However Tennis has not been a recipient of this programme.

Tourism

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourists she estimates have visited the West Midlands since 1997 from (a) France, (b) Germany, (c) Sweden, (d) Belgium, (e) USA, (f) Canada, (g) Japan, (h) Singapore, (i) India and (j) Australia. [183568]

Mr. Caborn: The number of visits to the West Midlands by residents of the relevant countries, in each year since 1997, are shown in the following table.
Visits to the West Midlands by year Thousand⁽³¹⁾

Country of residence	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
France	113	93	119	102	120	180	129
Germany	153	149	125	170	133	125	176
Sweden	20	16	11	24	13	30	22
Belgium	20	46	31	30	27	40	33
USA	102	164	145	136	110	131	106
Canada	33	29	46	39	43	33	46
Japan	8	11	10	8	7	9	5
Singapore	4	3	5	5	1	5	5
India	9	10	14	14	9	10	20
Australia	42	29	32	46	31	35	35

⁽³¹⁾ Figures taken from the International Passenger Survey which is run by the Office for National Statistics. Figures for regional visits by nationality are often based on small samples, which may lead to high margins of error, and should therefore be regarded as approximate estimates.

Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many tourists she estimates have visited the East Midlands since 1997 from (a) Germany, (b) Sweden, (c) France,(d) USA, (e) Canada,(f) Singapore, (g) India,(h) Australia and (i) Belgium. [183569]

Mr. Caborn: The number of visits to the East Midlands by residents of the relevant countries, in each year since 1997, are shown in the table.
Visits to the East Midlands by year Thousand⁽³²⁾

Country of residence	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Germany	91	83	106	127	77	91	113
Sweden	15	16	9	14	17	16	20
France	82	83	88	83	83	82	110
USA	117	106	96	104	91	107	113
Canada	28	27	24	31	35	34	34
Singapore	5	5	3	3	2	4	3
India	7	6	7	6	8	13	7
Australia	40	36	41	37	35	34	38
Belgium	34	32	31	23	29	38	35

⁽³²⁾ Figures taken from the International Passenger Survey which is run by the Office for National Statistics. Figures for regional visits by nationality are often based on small samples, which may lead to high margins of error, and should therefore be regarded as approximate estimates.

Mr. Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what research her Department has commissioned relating to the promotion of the British countryside as a tourist destination for foreigners. [184048]

Mr. Caborn: The Department has not commissioned research of this kind. However, VisitBritain undertook a major research project in October 2003 in 11 key international markets with in-depth interviews of over 5,000 people. The aim was to work out what factors are important to potential foreign visitors for their holidays, and then assess how Britain fared on each factor.

Several aspects of the countryside were covered by the research. The results are still being processed, but initial results show that our landscape was considered in most markets, to be one of Britain's greatest strength's.

The research is used to help develop campaigns in the international marketplace to encourage more visitors to come to Britain. The countryside will feature strongly in
 
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VisitBritain's upcoming campaigns—in particular the major "Touring Britain" and "Good Living Britain" promotions.

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