§ Mr. FaberTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will list the dates of attendance of(a) ministers and (b) officials of his Department at the Sydney Olympic Games and the total cost of attendance in each case. [134846]
§ Kate Hoey[holding answer 26 October 2000]: As Minister for Sport, I visited the British Olympic Team Holding Camp on the Gold Coast and attended the Sydney Olympic Games between 9–29 September 2000. I was accompanied by a Private Secretary. The total cost of this visit is not currently available as some invoices have yet to be received, but the flight costs for both of us totalled £8,021.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State attended the Games in Sydney on 15–17 September 2000 as part of a wider trip which also included official Government visits in Auckland, Wellington and Canberra. He was accompanied by his Principle Private Secretary. Again, the total cost of these visits is not currently available as some invoices have yet to be received, but the flight costs for the entire visit totalled £11,022.20
The Permanent Secretary of the Department was in Australia on Departmental business from 13–17 September 2000. He attended the Olympic Games with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State from 15–17 September 2000 and accompanied him on official engagements in Sydney and Canberra. His flight costs were £5,946.
In addition, I also attended the Paralympic Games between 14–22 October 2000 accompanied by my Assistant Private Secretary. The flight costs for this visit were £10,670.
144Wpurposes of comparison, the table includes a column (6) which shows the annual share of Lottery proceeds which it was originally thought that each distributing body would receive over the lifetime of the licence. These figures have been adjusted to reflect changes in functions when the UK Sports Council and Film Council were established.