§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made on the review of the British Tourist Authority. [145585]
§ Janet AndersonI am pleased to announce that Stage One of the review of the British Tourist Authority (BTA) is being published today and copies are available in the Library of the House.
The Steering Group for the review concluded that there was a continuing need for the services and functions carried out by the BTA and, having looked carefully at all the options, concluded that BTA should remain a non-departmental public body.
The report recommends that the review team should look at some issues in greater depth as part of Stage Two of the review. These include the return on investment as a measurement of BTA's performance; and rate of return issues such as data for individual offices overseas, benchmarking and the quality of measurement techniques.
The report also recommends that BTA should draw up a specific strategy to declare what services it will provide to small and medium businesses and how it will consult them. BTA should review its strategy on the balance between short and long term market investment; should seek further opportunities for partnership working; and should develop an agenda for action to ensure that the aims of Modernising Government are met.
Overall, the report finds the BTA is regarded both by Government and the tourism industry as an effective organisation, which has become more responsive over recent years.