§ Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what support is available for smaller professional football clubs which secure promotion to higher divisions to improve and increase their seating capacity to cope with higher attendances. [5178]
Distributor Date Recipient Amount £ Arts Council of England 13 May 1997 South Devon College 20,000 Arts Council of England 19 March 1997 The Newton Abott Folk Festival 987 Heritage Lottery Fund 21 May 1997 Torquay Natural History Society 26,400 National Lottery Charities Board 17 December 1996 Exeter and South Devon Deaf Children's Society 66,500 National Lottery Charities Board 11 August 1996 Acorn Youth Community and Sports Centre 48,596 National Lottery Charities Board 19 December 1995 Torbay Child Linkline for the Southwest 45,000 English Sports Council 6 June 1995 South Devon Sports Association for the Disabled 102,732 Total 310,215
§ Mr. BurnsTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, if he will publish the total awards made by(a) the Heritage Fund and (b) the Millennium Commission, by administrative counties in England. [4272]
§ Mr. Banks[pursuant to his reply, 20 June 1997, c. 322]: The table of awards made by the Heritage Lottery Fund contained some inaccuracies. The correct information is contained in the following table, provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund, which sets out the value and number of awards by English county as at 27 June 1997.
36W
Heritage Lottery Fund HLF Figures to 26 June County Total number Total amount £ Avon 12 2,438,475 Bedfordshire 4 117,300 Berkshire 2 3,865,525 Buckinghamshire 6 1,367,750 Cambridgeshire 25 26,647,329 Cheshire 11 2,065,058 Cleveland 8 6,131,230 Cornwall 18 3,678,535 Cumbria 19 4,102,987
§ Mr. BanksFinancial assistance is available to football clubs for ground improvement and redevelopment work through the Football Trust. I recently announced a £55 million cash injection to the Trust for clubs at all levels of the game. I am very grateful to the English Sports Council for their contribution to this work and to the Football Association and the FA Premier League for agreeing to match Lottery funds pound for pound.
§ Mr. ChaytorTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what proposals he has to encourage smaller professional football clubs to develop closer links with their local communities. [5177]
§ Mr. BanksI am aware that many clubs have already done a lot of good work in developing links with their communities, which I welcome. This is also an area that I have in mind for the proposed Football Task Force, to see what more might he done.