HC Deb 15 December 2000 vol 359 cc292-3W
Mr. Gordon Marsden

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will set out, including statistical information relating as directly as possible to the constituency, the effect on the Blackpool, South constituency of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [142231]

Mr. Chris Smith

The most readily available statistical information broken down by parliamentary constituency is that relating to the National Lottery, including the New Opportunities Fund (NOF), Millennium Award Winners and English Heritage (EH).

Blackpool, South has received 29 awards from the National Lottery since 2 May 1997 with a total value of £3,989,088 (nearly three times as much as the period prior to May 1997). Seven awards were for sports projects with a total value of £1,409,363 and five awards were for arts projects with a total value of £93,775. The other 12 awards were to promote social inclusion, lifelong learning and to provide leisure and recreational facilities for all members of the community with a total value of £1,950,749.

Blackpool, South has three Millennium Award Winners, so far, who have received £4,947.

NOF has provided £93,973 for Out of School Hours Childcare schemes in Blackpool, South and £285,180 for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Training for Teachers and School Librarians (£441,228 for the whole of Blackpool).

The largest DCMS/Wolfson Foundation Challenge Fund for public library projects, to date, was used to create a library and (ICT) Network across the North of England, linking 284 library service points; in 1998–99 Blackpool was granted a DCMS/Wolfson award of £52,000 to establish the Blackpool Community Network across all of Blackpool's libraries. The Network was created in response to both expressed demand and to support the Council's policies, in particular social inclusion and economic regeneration.

Blackpool has three Year of the Artist awards since 2 May 1997 worth a total of £10,204 and on a regional level, the North West Arts Board received an additional £9,766,313 from the Arts Council this year to support arts and cultural activity across the region.

In May 1997 EH paid £7,000 towards essential fabric repairs on the grade II Grand Theatre in Blackpool (this was the final payment of a total grant of £63,000).

There are, of course, other initiatives in the wider context of Blackpool which will have had an effect on the constituency of Blackpool, South; since 2 May 1997 Blackpool has received 48 awards with a total value of £5,219,135.

Blackpool's bid for Round 6 of the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) Removing Barriers/Creating Opportunities in Blackpool is worth £20 million (SRB). The scheme, worth a total of £96.2 million, will focus on encouraging economic growth in the tourism sector through initiatives in, for example, education, training, and crime prevention. Blackpool's previously successful SRB scheme, which focused on economy, training and education, housing, community and health, was worth a total of £68.707 million (£19.4 million, SRB).

Blackpool has also been granted eligibility under the 2000–06 programme for Objective 2 funding and is also eligible for Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) as an Assisted Area (RSA is granted in support of investment projects to secure employment opportunities and increase regional competitiveness and prosperity).