§ Mr. MacShaneTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what funds are available from(a) sports foundations sponsored by his Department and (b) the National Lottery to support travel by schoolchildren to playing fields for the purpose of participating in team sports. [108131]
§ Kate HoeyThe travel costs to playing fields for schoolchildren is eligible for support under the National Lottery Awards for All programme provided the travel is undertaken outside of school hours and is part of an overall project for which funding is being sought. This programme provides lottery grants of up to £5,000 to support short-term revenue as well as capital schemes. To date, Sport England has made around 2,000 awards totalling £4.8 million under the Programme, although it is not possible to say how much of this relates specifically to travel costs.
The Sportsmatch scheme, which is funded by my Department through Sport England, encourages business sponsors to invest in grass roots sport by matching their investment pound for pound up to £50,000 for eligible projects. Since its introduction eight years ago more than £20 million of Sportsmatch funding has been awarded in 72 sports, the majority supporting youth development programmes. Many of these involve the provision of coaching to youngsters, with a proportion of the funding allocated to transportation from home or school to playing fields and other facilities, although no details are available of the specific sums spent on travel.