§ Mr. FearnTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the arrangements for distributing funds to the regional tourist councils in the UK. [136770]
§ Janet AndersonThe Department for Culture, Media and Sport is responsible for funding the English Tourism Council (ETC). In the current financial year the ETC is making over £5 million of its £10 million grant-in-aid available to support tourism in the English regions. Most of this is being passed to the 10 Regional Tourist Boards under individual funding agreements with the ETC, following a competitive bidding process. The remainder of this regional money is used by the ETC, for instance, for delivering regional services such as inspections under the national accommodation scheme (which have been contracted out to a single provider). Future levels of funding for tourism in the English regions will be decided during negotiation of the next three-year funding agreement between the Department and the ETC and in the light of any further bidding competition run by the ETC.
Responsibility for funding the national tourism bodies in the other countries of the United Kingdom rests with the devolved Administrations, who also make decisions about their own regional structures and funding.