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National Lottery

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list lottery funds made available to fund projects in British overseas territories in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement. [22241]

Mr. Caborn: I am not aware of any funds from the national lottery which have been made available to projects in British overseas territories. The distributing bodies for national lottery funds are constituted to distribute lottery funding either on a UK wide basis or in a specific home nation of the United Kingdom.

The big lottery fund's international grants programme, which is currently being developed, will support the work of UK based charities and voluntary organisations working abroad.
 
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Mrs. Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the projects which have been unsuccessful when applying for a grant from the lottery fund in the last year for which figures are available; and for what reasons they were unsuccessful. [22641]

Mr. Caborn: This Department has never collected comprehensive information on either the number or value of applications for lottery grants received by the distributing bodies.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many winning national lottery tickets resulted in a pay out of (a) £50,000 to £499,999.99, (b) £500,000 to £999,999.99 and (c) more than £1,000,000 since 2001; and what the total amount of money paid out to winners was in each of these categories. [21654]

Mr. Caborn: The information is as follows.

Since 2001:

(a) 6,252 winning national lottery tickets resulted in a payout of £50,000 to £499,999.99. The total amount of money paid to winners was £818,239,766.08;

(b) 250 winning national lottery tickets resulted in a payout of £500,000 to £999,999.99, The total amount of money paid to winners was £177,319,376.30; and

(c) 847 winning national lottery tickets resulted in a payout of more than £1,000,000. The total amount of money paid to winners was £2,653,415,644.80.

These figures include draw based games and scratchcards.

Playing Field Sales

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether it is her policy to end the sale of playing fields; and if she will make a statement. [21488]

Mr. Caborn: The Government are committed to protecting playing fields wherever possible. Recently published statistics show that the legislative changes which we have introduced are working. In 2003–04 there was a reduction in the number of playing field losses to non-sporting developments, compared with the 2002–03 figures, and a net overall gain in school and community playing field provision. This is the first year that we can say that more playing fields have been created than lost.

We will continue to explore ways in which the legislation can be tightened further so that even more playing fields can be protected.

Private Finance Initiative

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what steps her Department (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to make the private finance initiative contracting process conducted by her Department more accountable and transparent in terms of environmental sustainability; [21836]

(2) what assessment she has made of (a) the sustainability and environmental impacts of private finance initiative (PFI) projects undertaken by her
 
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Department and (b) the effectiveness of the PFI process followed by the Department in delivering environmentally sustainable projects. [21837]

James Purnell: The Department have not undertaken any PFI projects, nor does it have any current plans to do so.

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to ensure that private finance initiative projects for which her Department is responsible create the minimum of environmental damage. [21838]

James Purnell: The Department will ensure that any future PFI projects that it undertakes will follow DEFRA and Office of Government Commerce (OGC) guidance on sustainable development. The Department will also ensure that sustainability and environmental issues are considered when assessing the technical capacity of potential suppliers; and that environmental and sustainability requirements form part of its specifications in cases where the nature of the work is liable to have an impact on the environment.

Sustainable Development

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment is made (a) of the environmental impact and (b) against sustainable development criteria of bids for contracts awarded by her Department; who is responsible for making such assessments; and whether these assessments are published. [21839]

James Purnell: The Department requires bidders to complete a pre-qualification questionnaire which incorporates questions about their environmental capabilities. This is assessed prior to selection of candidates to participate in the tendering process.

The tender specification explains the Department's sustainability requirements. Sustainability criteria are weighted accordingly to the nature of the work and assessments are made by a team selected for their knowledge and experience in areas of the bid requirements, which may include environmental impact and/or sustainable development. Assessments are not published but are provided to bidders on request through a de-briefing process.

Swimming

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to increase participation in swimming; and if she will make a statement. [21487]

Mr. Caborn: £3.6 million is being provided by Sport England to the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) for the financial year 2005–06 through whole sport plans. Approximately half of this funding is to boost grassroots participation in swimming. Sport England is also working with Department of Health and the ASA to draw together best practice guidance in the provision of free swimming for key target groups, including children and older people to increase community participation.
 
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Swimming also has a significant role to play within the national strategy for PE, school sport and club links, delivered jointly with the Department for Education and Skills. We have recently carried out a pilot programme which tested out how best to support those children who reach the end of key stage 2 and are not able to swim 25metres. We intend to implement this programme nationally from April 2006 and over £5 million of funding has been allocated to support the scheme in 2006–07 and 2007–08. A further £485,000 is being invested in 2005–06 with the ASA through the school to community programmes; club links and step into sport (SiS), which are aimed at sustaining participation outside school hours.

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent meetings she has had regarding parental supervision of children in swimming pools; and if she will make a statement. [21472]

Mr. Caborn: In April this year, the Secretary of State convened a meeting of all interested parties to agree a package of measures aimed at resolving the issue of the blanket application of restrictive admissions policies at swimming pools. Following the meeting, officials have worked closely with the relevant organisations to deliver the agreed measures. On 8 September this year, the measures were published by my Department and implemented by relevant organisations. A copy of my Department's press statement has been placed the Libraries of both Houses. It can also be found at the following web link: www.culture.gov.uk/global/press_notices/archive_2005.

Timber

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to fund the maintenance of the Central Point of Expertise on Timber within the Department. [22127]

James Purnell: The Department has no current plans to fund the maintenance of the Central Point of Expertise on Timber.

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will list the refurbishment projects in her Department that (a) are in progress and (b) will start in the next six months; what action is being taken to ensure that these will procure timber from legal and sustainable sources; and whether guidance will be issued to contractors on each of these projects on ensuring that the timber used on site during refurbishment comes from legal and sustainable sources. [22129]

James Purnell: The Department plans to refurbish its main building in Cockspur Street commencing early in the next financial year. The Department has a comprehensive procurement manual which contains guidelines on purchase of timber and timber based products to ensure that they are obtained from sustainable sources. Contractors employed by the Department are required to follow these guidelines.

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether her Department's procurement policy covers timber used on and in the construction of departmental building projects; and if she will make a statement. [22130]

 
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James Purnell: The Department has a comprehensive procurement manual which contains guidelines on purchase of timber and timber based products to ensure that they are obtained from legal and sustainable sources. Contractors employed by the Department are also required to follow these guidelines.

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