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4 Apr 2005 : Column 1159W—continued
PRIME MINISTER
Audiences with the Queen
Mr. Allen: To ask the Prime Minister if he will ask Her Majesty the Queen to allow cameras to film (a) the audience he has with Her Majesty when he requests the dissolution of Parliament and (b) the audience Her Majesty has with the person invited to form the next Government. [224567]
The Prime Minister: I have no plans to do so.
Iraq War (Legal Advice)
Adam Price: To ask the Prime Minister what classification the Attorney-General's legal advice on the use of force in Iraq has under the Official Secrets Act 1989. [224458]
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The Prime Minister: The Official Secrets Act does not prescribe any classification system for Government documents.
Adam Price: To ask the Prime Minister whether the Government (a) showed the Attorney-General's legal advice on the use of force in Iraq to and (b) discussed the legal advice with the US Administration. [224459]
The Prime Minister: It is not the practice of the Government to make public details of all discussions with foreign Governments.
Lord Birt
Norman Baker: To ask the Prime Minister whether Lord Birt has requested that his position be turned into a paid one. [224024]
The Prime Minister: There are no plans to change Lord Birt's status as an unpaid adviser.
Sudan
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Prime Minister what discussions he has had with the Government of Sudan regarding the situation in Darfur. [224087]
The Prime Minister: We are in constant contact with the Government of Sudan about the crisis in Darfur, both at ministerial and official level. I visited Sudan in October last year, and since then the embassy in Khartoum has monitored commitments given to me during that visit. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development (Hilary Benn) and my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary (Mr. Straw) recently met the Sudanese Foreign Minister in London on 10 February.
CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT
Arts Council Grants (Leicester)
Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much funding theatres in Leicester have received from the Arts Council since 1997. [223639]
Estelle Morris: Total grant in aid funding from Arts Council England for theatres in Leicester since 1999 is shown in the table:
| Total grant in aid funding | |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 942,150 |
| 2000–01 | 971,965 |
| 2001–02 | 993,420 |
| 2002–03 | 1,279,151 |
| 2003–04 | 1,379,360 |
| 2004–05 | 1,467,332 |
Information regarding funding between 1997 and 1999 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Institute of Sport Reviews
Kate Hoey:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the external reviews that have been undertaken into (a) the United Kingdom
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Institute of Sport and (b) the English Institute of Sport;and if she will place a copy of each report in the Library. [222157]
Mr. Caborn: An external review of the English Institute of Sport was conducted by KPMG in June 2003. A copy of the report will shortly be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
There have been no external reviews of the United Kingdom Institute of Sport.
Licensing
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on how the new licensing regulations will apply to eating establishments. [224195]
Mr. Caborn: The Licensing Act 2003 affects eating establishments to the extent that they carry out any licensable activities—that is, the sale by retail of alcohol; the provision of regulated entertainment; and the supply of late night refreshment (i.e. the provision of hot food or drink to members of the public between the hours of 11 pm and 5 am for consumption on or off the premises). For example, the proprietor of a restaurant with a bar which currently has a justices' licence permitting the sale of alcohol under Part IV of the Licensing Act 1964 will need to convert to a premises licence. He can apply to extend his hours and/or provide regulated entertainment under the same licence. Further details of how and in what circumstances applications could and should be made can be found on our website (www.culture.gov.uk<http://www.culture.gov.uk>) under alcohol and entertainment.
Olympic Bid
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what undertakings the Government have given to the London Olympic Bid team on meeting shortfalls in the budget for a London Olympics should the bid be successful. [223707]
Tessa Jowell: The costs of staging and operating a London Olympic Games would be met and managed by the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG). In line with the requirements made by the International Olympic Committee of candidate cities, the UK Government have provided a guarantee that underwrites these costs.
Mr. David Marshall: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which locations outside London the International Olympic Committee visited during its recent visit. [224292]
Tessa Jowell:
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission decided only to visit those venue locations outside the Greater London area which have not previously held World Class Events. The locations visited were: Broxbourne, Hertfordshire (canoe slalom); Weald, Essex (mountain biking); and Eton Dorney, Berkshire (rowing and flat water canoeing).
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Playing Fields (Leicester, South)
Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many playing fields that were in use in 1997 in Leicester, South constituency are no longer used for that purpose. [223655]
Mr. Caborn: This information is not held centrally. Through Active Places we are creating a new database which, from June 2005, will be able to identify the current stock of playing pitch provision and how that changes over time.
The Government have dramatically reduced the overall number of sales of both school and community playing fields, by introducing legislative changes and improving checks to the planning system.
We fully support the recent upgrade of the rules governing the sale of school playing fields. As a result of the changes, the sale of a school playing field must now be an absolute last resort, sale proceeds must be used to improve outdoor facilities wherever possible and new sports facilities must be sustainable for at least 10 years.
Sport (York)
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assistance the Government have given to (a) amateur sports clubs and (b) sport in schools in York since 1997. [224592]
Mr. Caborn: In April 2002 the Government introduced the Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) scheme. It provides such clubs with a relief of 80 per cent. on their non-domestic rates and Gift Aid on donations from individuals, as part of a wider package of benefits intended to promote community and grass roots sport.
More than 2,400 clubs have so far registered with the scheme and received an estimated total of £5 million in tax reliefs as a result of doing so.
21 clubs in York are enjoying the benefits of CASC status.
In 2002 we launched the first ever comprehensive national physical education, school sport and club links strategy with an investment of £459 million. Two school sport partnerships involving seven School Sport Co-ordinators and 31 Primary Link teachers are based at Oaklands and Burnholme schools in the City of York.
Sport England
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what criteria are used to assess Sport England's performance in meeting the Government's criteria for (a) partnership with and (b) funding of voluntary sector organisations. [224306]
Mr. Caborn: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport assesses Sport England's performance at quarterly meetings, on the basis of our Funding Agreement. The current Funding Agreement contains no references to criteria for partnership with, or funding of voluntary sector organisations.
Hugh Robertson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what provisions are included in Sport England's contract with national
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governing bodies of sport under the Whole Sport Funding Plan concerning (a) public announcements, (b) confidentiality, (c) disrepute and (d) adverse comments about Sport England. [224307]
Mr. Caborn: The following provisions are incorporated within Sport England's contracts with national governing bodies of sport under the Whole Sport Plan funding arrangements:
There are no specific clauses in the agreement as currently drafted that refer to public announcements. The agreement does not prevent Governing Bodies from making public announcements about Sport England, although Sport England does ask for prior consultation before any press announcement is released.
The agreement requests that neither party disclose information relating to the agreement, its subject matter, the negotiations or the other party unless that information is publicly available or is required to be disclosed by law, provided that Sport England shall disclose all information it holds that it is required to disclose in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and the Governing Body shall assist Sport England if required in order that Sport England may comply with
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its obligations under this Act. The clause relating to confidentiality places reciprocal obligations and is intended to protect the interests of both parties.
The agreement provides that neither party shall act in a way that brings the Governing Body's sport, sport or Sport England into disrepute. This does not prevent adverse comments and complaints being made about Sport England through the appropriate channels. If there is any case of genuine misadministration, there is nothing in the agreement to prevent the Governing Body from raising this and pursuing any appropriate means of redress,
There is no mention of adverse comment in the body of agreement and no restrictions on Governing Bodies making adverse comments, subject to the disrepute clause. There is a requirement in Annex 3 that athletes who are funded or supported by a Sport England award agree not to make adverse comments about his or her sport, sport in general or Sport England.
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the (a) staff head count was and (b) total salary costs were at Sport England in each year since 2000. [224308]
Mr. Caborn: The table provides a breakdown of figures for the number of staff and annual salary costs for Sport England since 2001–02:
Sport England changed its accounting system for the 2001–02 year. Information is therefore not readily available for previous financial years.
The costs shown include posts funded through specific programmes by other agencies and temporary staff costs. The headcount numbers exclude posts funded through specific programmes and temporary staff as these can vary throughout the year. For 2001–02, the average number of externally funded staff was 42 and temporary staff was 96, bringing the total staff number to 573.
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State forCulture, Media and Sport what representations have been received from sports national governing bodies about Sport England's Whole Sport Funding Plan. [224309]
Mr. Caborn: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 21 March 2005, Official Report, column 558W. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has subsequently received representations about Sport England's Whole Sport Plans from the Rugby Football Union (RFU), on behalf of the RFU, the Lawn Tennis Association, the Football Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board.
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