Hockey

HC Deb 08 July 2002 vol 388 cc663-4W

Mr. Heald

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she last attended a hockey match in her official capacity. [67938]

Tessa Jowell

I have not yet attended a hockey match in an official capacity, although I did attend an elite training session for hockey goalkeepers at the Summer Performance Camp at Loughborough University on 10 July 2001.

Mr. Heald

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of the levels of participation in hockey by persons from ethnic minority backgrounds; and if she will make a statement. [68004]

Mr. Caborn

The following figures show participation in hockey by ethnic breakdown.

Figures only cover affiliated clubs and are taken from an audit by the English Hockey Association.

Further breakdown by age would be available on request.

	Men	Women
White	29,701	22,412
Mixed	742	285
Asian/Asian British	1,414	149
Black/Black British	136	205
Chinese/Other	132	76
Total	32,125	23,127

Mr. Heald

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what plans she has to encourage the provision of astroturf hockey pitches. [67936]

Mr. Caborn

The Government recognise the value that synthetic turf pitches have in improving the opportunities to take part in a variety of outdoor sports, including hockey.

The Government support the provision of sport and leisure facilities, including astroturf hockey pitches, through various means including funding from the Sports Lottery Fund, administered by Sport England. The provision of astroturf hockey pitches is a matter for local authorities to consider, in the light of local needs and the appropriate mixture of public and private provision.

Sport England has worked with the English Hockey Association in the preparation of a facilities strategy. This strategy deals with the provision of new artificial pitches with particular reference to water-based pitches for performance hockey. The strategy makes recommendations for the number of artificial turf pitches by population base and identifies three categories of artificial pitch provision: regional academies; satellite centres; and premier club centres.