§ Llew SmithTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the reason is for the delay in the publication by her Department of monthly figures on the number of playing fields sold off; and when she will publish the figures. [15854]
§ Mr. CabornStatistics on playing field sales were not collected until our playing fields legislation came into force. The Playing Field Monitoring Group was established to agree which statistics would be most useful in informing playing field policy. The Central Council of Physical Recreation and the National Playing Fields Association are members of the group to help that process. Figures from the Department for Education and Skills on applications made by state schools to dispose or change the use of school playing fields are published monthly, and those from Sport England giving details of planning applications affecting playing fields which have been referred to them as statutory consultee are published annually. We are aiming to produce combined figures including relevant data from the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions shortly. The differing time frames and areas covered by each set of figures, along with double counting in some areas and 195W gaps in the data have complicated the issue and delayed publication. We hope to publish the first set of statistics, agreed by the monitoring group, early next year.