§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many honours nominations her Department has received for people involved in rugby league football in each of the last five years; how many have been awarded in each of those years; and if she will make a statement. [148743]
§ Mr. CabornWe cannot provide the number of nominations for people involved in rugby league football as we do not keep records in this form. Three awards have been made to people involved in rugby league football since New Year 1999.
We receive nominations for people from a broad spectrum of sports and there is always stiff competition for the limited number of awards available in each Honours List. Individual nominations are considered strictly on merit: the discipline in which the individual has achieved success is not a factor in the decision-making process. We are always interested in receiving nominations from the public and sports bodies and the Rugby Football League is one of many of sports organisations invited on a regular basis to make nominations.