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12 Dec 2005 : Column 1640W—continued

National Lottery

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on what basis moneys allocated to the Big Lottery Fund will be distributed between the nations of the United Kingdom. [36934]

Mr. Caborn: The Big Lottery Fund allocates their funding between the nations of the UK using a formula based on census data and modified by various deprivation factors. The current allocations used by the Big Lottery Fund are 77.5 per cent. for England, 11.5 per cent. for Scotland, 6.5 per cent. for Wales and 4.5 per cent. for Northern Ireland.

Newspaper Advertisements

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what responsibilities newspapers have to check on the legality of services advertised in their publications. [35588]

James Purnell: Marketers have primary responsibility for ensuring that advertisements are legal. Advertisements, and other marketing communications, should comply with the law and should not incite anyone to break it. Complaints about advertising should be made to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Olympic Sports (Young People)

Peter Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with local authorities on allocation of resources to promote involvement of young people in Olympic sports events; and what plans she has to create centres of sporting excellence in (a) Wales and (b) Blaenau Gwent in relation to participation in the 2012 Olympics. [35767]

Mr. Caborn: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no specific discussions with local authorities on this issue, but they will be fully involved in plans to maximise the benefits of hosting the Games by encouraging more young people to become involved in sport.

We have established a Nations and Regions Group to ensure the whole of the UK is engaged with and benefits from the Games in 2012. Each nation and region is also establishing a regional working group which will draw together all those who have a role to play in securing the benefits from 2012.

The Welsh Assembly Government is responsible for sport in Wales, including capital investment and funding support for talented athletes and centres of excellence. The Welsh Assembly Government will be discussing further proposals for support to talented young sports people to ensure Wales can claim its share of medals at the 2012 Games.

The Welsh Assembly Government is also committed to maximising the wider benefits of the 2012 Olympic Games. They have already established a dedicated Unit to take forward a co-ordinated approach to ensure Wales benefits from the sporting and economic opportunity of the Olympic Games. Local authorities in Wales will play a key role in this co-ordinated approach.
 
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Olympic Games

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to ensure that adequate preparations have been taken to ensure that skilled labour will be available to finish the construction of the Olympic Village and other Olympic facilities in a timely manner. [31554]

Mr. Caborn: The 'Procurement Principles' published by the interim Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) in September—which underpin the development of the ODA's procurement strategy—identify the importance of a programme of skills and training to maximise local benefits and secure the wider economic dividend.

The Department is working closely with the London Development Agency (IDA), the sector skills council for construction, Learning and Skills Council and other partners to quantify the detailed construction skills and employment requirements needed to deliver the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and to develop appropriate responses to address any gaps.

The Office of Government Commerce is undertaking a 2012 Construction Demand/Capacity Study which will bring together existing research and data across the construction industry, including that relating to skills issues. This will enable us to assess the ability of the industry to deliver significant capital development programmes, including the Olympics.

In addition, the LDA is in discussion with the local London boroughs to finalise a framework of initiatives which will assist residents in accessing employment opportunities in construction relating to the Games and also help the construction industry to meet the challenges of the project. Proposed interventions include brokerage services to assist residents from all sections of local communities to access skills training and construction employment, support for local construction businesses and a construction work force training programme.

Race Equality Impact Assessments

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many Race Equality Impact Assessments her Department completed between (a) April 2004 and March 2005 and (b) April 2005 and November 2005; and how many assessments in each period resulted in a change of policy. [32831]

Mr. Lammy: My Department has not completed any Race Equality Impact Assessments during these periods. We are currently looking at training needs within the Department to ensure that staff are fully aware of the importance of carrying out these assessment in relevant cases.

Sporting Facilities

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what targets her Department has set for the use of sporting facilities in England. [35712]

Mr. Caborn: We do not have a target specifically on use of sports facilities. But our aim is that by 2008 almost no one should be more than 20 minutes travel time from a range of good quality sports facilities.
 
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More and better facilities are an important part of our wider sports policy participation objectives. DCMS has an ambitious PSA target to increase participation in sport among priority groups by 3 per cent. by 2008.

Tourism Bodies

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what changes (a) have been made and (b) will be made to the allocation of expenditure as identifiable or non-identifiable in the Department's Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis (PESA) as a result of the English Tourism Council being subsumed into Visit Britain; and what criteria were used for the allocation of identifiable and non-identifiable expenditure for VisitBritain in the most recent PESA. [35817]

James Purnell: Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses (PESA) shows expenditure by region based on the expenditure aggregate Total Expenditure on Services (TES), which excludes certain grants and transfers within the public sector. A full definition of TES is shown in annex E of PESA 2005 or on HM Treasury website at:

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/45E/2D/pesa2005_ appendixe.pdf.

Grants to VisitBritain and its predecessors have not been included in the regional analyses in PESA. This position is under review.

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the value was of grants paid to the (a) English Tourism Council, (b) Greater London Authority and (c) Scottish Executive and VisitScotland in each year since 2001; and how these were allocated in terms of identifiable and non-identifiable expenditure in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses. [35818]

James Purnell: Table 1 gives details of the grants paid to the English Tourism Council (ETC) for the period 2001 to 2003 and Greater London Authority (GLA) for the period 2001 to 2005. My Department does not hold data for the Scottish Executive or VisitScotland, this data would be held by their offices.
Table 1

	ETC	GLA
2001–02	14.591	1.9
2002–03	14.125	1.9
2003–04	merged with VisitBritain	1.9
2004–05	n/a	1.9

In PESA 2005 expenditure on tourism by VisitBritain (which succeeded the British Tourist Association and the English Tourism Council) is classified as non-identifiable. However, this is under review. The criteria for classifying expenditure as identifiable or non-identifiable is published on the HM Treasury website http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/e13/8B/CRA%20 memoranum.pdf in the annex B of the memorandum issued by HM Treasury and ONS. Treasury Government Expenditure by Region.
 
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