§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what decisions were reached by the Advisory Committee concerned on the 13 applications received from governing bodies of sport asking for grant-aid for teams competing in overseas 3 events and being considered by the Committee prior to March 23 last; and whether any decisions were reached too late to be of benefit for any particular application.]
THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EDUCATION AND SCIENCE (THE EARL OF BESSBOROUGH)My Lords, except that two further applications have been received, I have nothing as yet to add to the position which I described on March 23. Progress has been made with some of the applications but not yet to the stage of decision. As regards the last part of the Question, I am advised that there is little risk of this occurring.
§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRYMy Lords, in thanking the noble Earl for that reply, I wonder whether he realises how disappointing it is to everyone concerned that he is never in the fortunate position of being able to give any concrete information. I am wondering whether I may take it from the last part of his reply that should any application be likely to be in jeopardy because of the date concerned, that application will be dealt with in plenty of time.
§ BARONESS BURTON OF COVENTRYMy Lords, may I ask the noble Earl, having obtained that one grain of comfort, whether he could hazard a guess as to when it might be useful to put down a Question, so that we may get some concrete information on some of the applications?