HC Deb 30 June 2003 vol 408 c33W
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many greyhounds were bred for racing in the UK in each of the past five years; how many made it to the tracks each year; and what information she has on the greyhounds that did not make it to the tracks. [122265]

Mr. Caborn

The information available from the British Greyhound Racing Board (BGRB), the governing body for 31 of the 51 licensed greyhound tracks in this country; shows that the number of British bred greyhounds for each of the last five years as: 4,278 (1998); 3,984; 4,206 (2000); 4,446 (2001); and 5,286 (2002).

The following figures detail the number of British bred greyhounds registered with the National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC), the regulatory body for these 31 tracks, to race in each of the last five years, 2,404 (1999); 2,265 (1999); 2,482 (2000); 2,250 (2001); and 2,632 (2002).

Information is not held centrally and is not readily available about numbers of unraced greyhounds or greyhounds racing at the 20 independent tracks.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much the bookmaking industry has taken in each of the last five years from betting on greyhound racing; and how much of this money was spent on retirement provision for greyhounds. [122275]

Mr. Caborn

The British Greyhound Racing Board (BGRB), the governing body for 31 of the 51 licensed greyhound tracks in this country, has supplied figures estimating the level of bookmaker turnover on greyhound racing in each of the last five years as: £1.5 billion (1998); £1.2 billion (1999); £1.6 billion (2000); £1.8 billion (2001); and £2.1 billion (2002).

Profit levels are not available for all of the bookmakers, although some of the larger public owned companies provide profit figures in their annual reports.

The BGRB has also supplied figures detailing the money allocated to the Retired Greyhound Trust (RGT), a body funded through the voluntary contribution made by bookmakers to greyhound racing, for each of the last five years as: £137,000 (1998); £175,000 (1999); £245,000 (2000); £285,000 (2001); and £600,000 (2002).

There is no centrally held information concerning the retirement provisions at the 20 independent tracks.