§ Lord Moynihanasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which UK sport and recreation programmes and initiatives the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has promoted through its diplomatic missions abroad since the year 2000; and whether they will place in the Library of the House any briefing notes available for distribution through United Kingdom Embassies on the London 2012 Olympic Bid. [HL4554]
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has supported the following sporting projects and initiatives through its missions abroad since 2001:
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Title of project Amount Post 2001 Football equipment for disadvantaged young people £3,175 Abidjan Cricket in Suva £3,000 Suva Athletics coaching in Grenada £2,285 St George's The High Commissioners rugby sevens £ 800 Kampala Football coaching in Grenada £2,635 St George's Sponsorship of FA Cup Final on Ivorian TV £ 100 Abidjan Sports Medicine Specialist £6,000 Honiara Great North Run in Ethiopia £5,000 Addis Ababa British books for coaching resource centre £ 550 Valetta Cricket equipment for Ivorian Schools £1,643 Abidjan
Title of project Amount Post 2002 Rugby Workshop £2,000 Montevideo Youth football training £2,500 Doha Botswana athletics training £1,716 Gaborone KAYEC youth cricket £5,310 Windhoek Snooker in Cambodia £3,500 Phnom Penh Great Ethiopian Run £5,000 Addis Ababa Boxing in Suva £4,416 Suva Football project, Cuba £1,000 Havana Baseball Project, Cuba £1,248 Havana Rugby development in St Vincent £5,000 Kingstown 2003 Great Ethiopian Run £10,000 Addis Ababa Promoting Cricket in Belize £8,000 Belmopan Inclusion through Sport Seminar and British Finnish Youth Web Forum £5,000 Helsinki UK/Caribbean Sporting Partnerships £150,000 Caribbean Football in the Community £7,310 Prague Zimbabwe Goals for Fun £3,000 Harare 2004 Football United Iraq £250,000 Baghdad Moscow Inclusion Through Sport £55,240 Moscow International Football Task Force for Afghanistan £39,000 Kabul Don't Mention the Score—Building British/German Links through Sport £22,500 Berlin The FCO created a dedicated sports budget in 2001, subsequently subsumed into its public diplomacy challenge fund. No central records of FCO-sponsored sporting projects are held for the period before 2001. In addition, missions overseas may have funded further projects since 2001 for which records are also not held centrally; obtaining details of these would incur disproportionate cost.
UK missions have not yet distributed any London 2012 briefing notes overseas, since this would be in contravention of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules on promotion outside the territory of the bidding city. These rules have restricted what we can do before the IOC accepts London's candidature file. My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the FCO (Bill Rammell) will now be co-ordinating the lobbying efforts of FCO missions overseas as well as other existing FCO support to the London bid. Posts have already received briefing on what activities they may undertake when the overseas promotion rules are relaxed and I will arrange for a copy of this to be placed in the Library of the House.