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15 Nov 2004 : Column 965W—continued
Mr. John Peel
Ms Atherton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will hold discussions with national lottery distributors on the purchase of the late Mr. John Peel's music collection. [196342]
Estelle Morris: Lottery distributors work independently of Government and so we do not ask them to fund individual projects or ideas. However, it is open to anyone or any organisation to discuss ideas like this with the Heritage Lottery Fund or the Arts Council England.
Olympic Athletes
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport pursuant to her answer of 4 November 2004, Official Report, column 379W, on Olympic athletes, what the names were of the competitors from Northern Ireland who competed for the Republic of Ireland at the (a) Sydney 2000 and (b) Athens 2004 Olympics; in which sports they competed; and how much Lottery funding each received. [197462]
Mr. Caborn
[holding answer 11 November 2004]: The following table provides the names, sports and funding awarded, through the governing body, to those Northern Ireland athletes who competed for the Republic of Ireland at the last two summer Olympics.
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| Name | Sport | Amount awarded |
|---|---|---|
| David McCann | Cycling | 10,000 |
| T. Smith | Equestrian | (7)— |
| Andrew Bree | Swimming | 5,200 |
| Emma Robinson | Swimming | 3,000 |
(7) No individual award was made to T. Smith, although an award of £81,709 was provided to the Equestrian Squad as part of their 4-year plan.
(8) Jessica Kurten received an award but did not draw any funding.
Olympic Games
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether training camps for the proposed London Olympics will be sited (a) in Scotland and (b) outside London. [194173]
Tessa Jowell: Decisions on the location of training camps will be taken by those National Olympic Committees choosing to hold them. As far as we are aware, no decisions have yet been taken about the location of training camps for a 2012 Olympics. We certainly hope, however, that venues across the UK will be chosen as training camps, should the London bid succeed. In promoting the bid, London 2012 are assembling information on the UK's facilities, and a UK Opportunities Conference on 17 January is designed to help all parts of the UK prepare to maximise the benefits a London games would bring them.
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether she has made an assessment of the level of support for the proposed London Olympics in (a) each country and (b) each region of the UK. [194210]
Tessa Jowell: London 2012 undertake regular polls, using a nationally representative sample of 1,040 12 to 65-year-olds, to gauge the levels of support for the bid, which are broken down by region. These suggest that support for the bid is least strong in Scotland.
Paralympic Games
Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action the Government (a) has taken and (b) intends to take to influence the outcome of the International Paralympic Committee Extraordinary General Meeting to be held on 25 November, in Cairo, to prevent a permanent ban on the participation of learning disabled athletes in the Paralympic Games. [198017]
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Mr. Caborn: The exclusion of athletes with a learning disability from the Paralympic Games is entirely a matter for the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
The IPC has charged the international community of learning disability sporting organisations to come up with a satisfactory system of classification.
This Government are hopeful that a solution can be found that will secure a future for learning disability sport in the international sporting arena.
Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions the Government had held with (a) the International Paralympic Committee and (b) the International Sports Federation for People with Intellectual Disability about the future eligibility of learning disabled athletes to participate in the Paralympic Games. [198018]
Mr. Caborn: The future of learning disability sport within the Paralympics can only be decided by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The international community of learning disability sporting organisations has to provide a satisfactory response to the request from the IPC for an international system of classification.
I sincerely hope that the IPC discussions at the meeting in November prove satisfactory to the International Sports Federation for People with Intellectual Disability.
DCMS officials are in regular contact with the English Federation for Disability Sport and I have every confidence in the EFDS (EPDS) continuing to do everything it can to improve sporting opportunities for people with learning disabilities.
Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action the Government has taken to seek to ensure that learning disabled athletes will be able to participate in future Paralympic Games. [198019]
Mr. Caborn: This Government are committed to ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to participate in sport and physical activity and we fully support all efforts to involve people with disabilities.
The Government is also aware of the complex issues of classification within disability sport and the need for the international community of learning disability sporting organisations to provide the International Paralympic Committee with a satisfactory international classification system.
Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on reports she has received on progress in negotiations between the International Paralympic Committee and the International Sports Federation for People with Intellectual Disability on the future participation of learning-disabled athletes in the Paralympic Games. [198020]
Mr. Caborn:
The future participation of people with learning disabilities within the Paralympics is strictly a matter for the International Paralympic Committee and the international community of learning disability sporting organisations.
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This Government are hopeful that a system of classification will be found that will see athletes with a learning disability return to compete in the international sporting arena.
Mr. Caton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether it is her policy to ensure that learning disabled athletes would be eligible to take part in Paralympic Games if they were to be held in London in 2012. [198021]
Mr. Caborn: The participation of athletes with a learning disability at the Paralympics can only be decided by the International Paralympic Committee and not by the Government of the host nation of the Games.
Sports Clubs (Licensing Fees)
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment has been made of the effect of the new fees for licensing on sports clubs. [197459]
Mr. Caborn [holding answer 11 November 2004]: The fee levels to be set by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State under the terms of the Licensing Act 2003 have not been finalised. On 4 November, we announced the publication of a consultation on fee levels. We welcome the views of sports clubs as part of that public consultation, which ends on 23 December. All responses will be carefully considered before the fees are finalised. The proposal is that fees for grant of a club premises certificate will range between £80 and £500 and annual charges between £40 and £225. These fee levels have been proposed to ensure that licensing authorities are able to recover fully their costs of administration, inspection and enforcement under the terms of the Act and no more. In proposing fee levels and the allocation of premises to a band based on its non-domestic rateable value we have considered the impact of the approach on clubs, including sports clubs. We do not therefore consider that the impact on such clubs would be significant.
The Government's commitment to amateur sport is further illustrated by the introduction in 2002 of a scheme which gives registered Community Amateur Sports Clubs mandatory rate relief at 80 per cent. and tax relief through Gift Aid on donations from individuals. So far the scheme has given amateur sports clubs an extra £5 million. This is in addition to the £60 million we have put into the Community Club Development Programme.
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