§ Mr. SpringTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the future of Sportsmatch; and what effect the changes in its operation will have on his departmental budget. [58019]
§ Mr. BanksSportsmatch is a successful scheme which brings in much needed business sponsorship to the previously neglected area of grass roots sport. We have made it clear that we would like to see distributors come forward with new ideas for opening up Lottery funds to smaller community sports initiatives and we believe there may be links here to be made with the Sportsmatch approach. We have consulted on the future of Sportsmatch in England on this basis.
The starting point of the consultation was that greater synergy would best be achieved by transferring in full responsibility and funding for the Sportsmatch scheme from the Department to the English Sports Council with effect from April 1999. The funds would be ring fenced for the first financial year at least while the Council reviews with the scheme's managers the options for the future. Longer term arrangements would be decided following discussion of the review with Ministers. The aim would be to ensure that the grant-in-aid, lottery funding, and Sportsmatch money could be deployed in a synchronised way. Responses to the consultation have now been received and are being considered.