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18 Apr 2006 : Column 67W—continued
Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme
Mr. Philip Hammond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what her Department's employer contribution rates to the principal civil service
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pension scheme are; what assumed rate of return underlies those contribution rates; and what the contribution rate would be if the assumed rate of return was in line with current redemption yield on index-linked gilts. [62006]
Mr. Lammy: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Cabinet Office (Mr. Murphy), on 29 March 2006, Official Report, columns 1030–31W.
Queen's Birthday
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to obtain sponsorship for expenditure on events for the Queen's 80th birthday. [62963]
Mr. Lammy: DCMS is not organising any special events for the Queen's 80th birthday. As usual, DCMS will arrange for Union flags to be flown in the Mall for Trooping of the Colour (Queen's Birthday Parade) which marks the Queen's official birthday and the costs will be funded by the Department.
Schools Olympics
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport by what criteria the location of the annual Schools' Olympics will be determined; and if she will make a statement. [62937]
Mr. Caborn: Events in future years are planned to be held in Northern Ireland, Wales and the North, South and Midlands of England. It is envisaged that the likely location for the Games in 2011 will be London. The exact criteria have yet to be determined.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what sports will be included in the Schools Olympics; and if she will make a statement. [62938]
Mr. Caborn: The first UK School Games will be run by the Youth Sports Trust. They will include athletics, swimming, gymnastics, table tennis and fencing plus disability events in athletics and swimming. It is envisaged that more events will be added to the games after 2007.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans her Department has to reimburse schools competing in the Schools' Olympics for the costs of (a) travel, (b) accommodation and (c) subsistence arising from the event; and if she will make a statement. [62939]
Mr. Caborn: The Youth Sport Trust (YST) is responsible for staging the first UK School Games in Glasgow in September 2006. All travel, accommodation and subsistence for competitors and team officials will be fully covered and has been included in the budget for this event
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions her Department has held with representatives of (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools on the (i) timing of and (ii) choice of sports to be included in the Schools' Olympics; and if she will make a statement. [62940]
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Mr. Caborn: The Youth Sport Trust (YST) is responsible for staging the first UK School Games in Glasgow in September 2006. Therefore there have been no direct communications to date between schools representatives and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Sports Facilities
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of the value for money of public private partnerships to regenerate grassroots sports facilities; and if she will make a statement. [62934]
Mr. Caborn: Access to good quality sports facilities is essential if we are to encourage people to lead healthier, more active lives. In ensuring that we meet the challenge, it is essential that we provide a climate in which the potential weight of private sector investment can be brought to bear, including through public private partnerships (PPP). In 2005, a total of £66.5 million was awarded in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) credits by DCMS for community facilities. To date a total of £182.17 million of PFI credits have been awarded to 14 local authorities for sport and leisure facilities. The 4ps are currently undertaking a project to evaluate the success of sport and leisure PFI projects. This is due to be published in May 2006. In addition, the Audit Commission has undertaken a study into local authority sports facilities management which, among other things, looks at the effectiveness of PPP in delivering local authority leisure services.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what representations her Department has received on public private partnerships to regenerate grassroots sports facilities; and if she will make a statement. [62935]
Mr. Caborn: Access to good quality sports facilities is essential if we are to encourage people to lead healthier, more active lives. In ensuring that we meet the challenge, it is essential that we provide a climate in which the potential weight of private sector investment can be brought to bear, including through public private partnerships. In 2005, 30 local authorities applied for PFI credits, 14 of which were for community ports and leisure facilities.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department has taken to encourage (a) independent schools, (b) private companies and (c) other non-public bodies to allow the community use of their sports facilities; and if she will make a statement. [62936]
Mr. Caborn:
There is already significant community access to privately owned sports facilities and the Government are keen to promote this further. Through the National School Sport Strategy, we are encouraging links between independent schools and the network of School Sport Partnerships. This includes, where appropriate, the sharing of facilities. Both Sport England and local authorities are looking at ways of building community access into their plans for sports facilities at the local level. Access to good quality sports facilities is essential if we are to encourage people to lead healthier, more active lives. This is why we have a
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commitment that people should be no more than 20 minutes away (walking distance in urban areas and driving distance in rural areas) from a range of good quality facilities. The Active Places database lists publicly available sports facilities across the whole of England covering both public and private sector facilities.
Sportsmatch
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much private investment has been secured for Sportsmatch for each year since its creation; and if she will make a statement. [62933]
Mr. Caborn: The following table details the amounts of private investment into sport each year through Sportsmatch since 1992.
The total of £45 million has been generated by approximately £35 million of awards from Sportsmatch funds.
The higher figures for 1993–94, 1994–95 and 1995–96 reflect that at that time Sportsmatch could co-fund, up to £75,000, capital as well as revenue projects and the commercial input was often substantially higher than the Sportsmatch award.
A reduction in grant to Sportsmatch in 1995 to 1996 led to an adjustment in their rules to reduce their maximum award to £50,000 and to focus on revenue rather than capital projects.
Commercial investment in each year has continued to exceed the value of Sportsmatch awards.
Windsor Castle
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to increase tourism to Windsor Castle. [63028]
James Purnell: My Department funds the work of VisitBritain in promoting tourism, which includes Windsor Castle, to both the domestic and international markets.
VisitBritain promotes tourism to Windsor Castle as part of the rich historic landscape and as one of a number of attractions that Windsor itself has to offer.
Windsor Castle is ranked the first 'Must See' in Windsor on the visitbritain.com website and the first of 'things to see and do' on the enjoyengland.com website.
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Windsor Castle, Windsor Great Park and the Royal Landscape are currently promoted domestically in the 'castles' pages of enjoyEngland's 'great ideas 2006' brochure.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people visited Windsor Castle in each of the last eight years. [63029]
Mr. Lammy: The numbers of paying visitors to Windsor Castle Precincts for the past eight financial years are as follows:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 1,253,000 |
| 1998–99 | 1,439,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,224,000 |
| 2000–01 | 1,094,000 |
| 2001–02 | 876,000 |
| 2002–03 | 935,000 |
| 2003–04 | 858,000 |
| 2004–05 | 914,000 |
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