§ Mr. Peter AinsworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the level of industry participation in the new harmonised accommodation rating scheme for England. [97476]
§ Mr. Chris Smith[holding answer 5 November 1999]: Almost 49 per cent. of serviced accommodation providers in England have now signed up to the new standardised ratings being run by the English Tourism Council, the AA and RAC that were introduced in September.
This is an encouraging start, but we want more providers to sign up to the new schemes since we believe this will help drive up quality standards in accordance with the aims of "Tomorrow's Tourism". The ETC are responsible for encouraging and measuring take-up of the schemes and also identifying how it can be increased.