§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if she will publish the dates of all telephone conversations her Department has had with Patrick Carter since 1 January; and if she will state the nature of what was discussed and place a note of each conversation in the Library; [16668]
(2) if she will publish the dates of all written communication her Department has had with Patrick Carter since 1 January; what the nature of the communication was; and if she will place a copy of each communication in the Library; [16669]
(3) when her Department had meetings with Patrick Carter since 1 January; and if she will state the nature of what was discussed; and if she will place a note of each meeting in the Library; [16667]
(4) if she will publish the (a) instructions and (b) guidelines that she has given to (i) Patrick Carter and (ii) others about aspects of his reviews into (A) the National Stadium project and (B) the Lee Valley National Athletics Centre. [16670]
§ Tessa Jowell[holding answer 20 November 2001]: The terms of reference for Patrick Carter's review of the English National Stadium were published on 25 June 2001, Official Report, column 37W. They were:
In the light of the FA's announcement on 1 May 2001 about the project to develop a new English National Stadium at Wembley for Football and Rugby League, to examine if the project can be funded and managed at Wembley, or if that proved impractical. at another location in England. The review should report to the Government within eight weeks.The terms of reference for the review which Patrick Carter carried out for Sport England into the Lee Valley Stadium were published on 2 July 2001, Official Report, columns 79–80W. They were:
319WIn light of the Government's manifesto commitment to ensure that a first-class athletics stadium is available for the World Athletics Championships in 2005, Sport England needs to assess whether the Lee Valley National Athletics Centre project can be funded and managed in its current format and if not, what alternatives might be feasible. The review should report its findings within seven weeks.Following the receipt of Patrick Carter's report of his initial work on the National Stadium I asked him to undertake follow-up discussions with the Football Association about the options which he had examined in his report. That work continues.
Patrick Carter has been assisted in his reviews by officials from my Department as well as others and has therefore had frequent contact with them since the English National Stadium and Lee Valley National Athletics Centre reviews began. He has also been in contact with Ministers and Sport England on a number of occasions during the course of his work. The disclosure of the nature and content of discussions and meetings with Ministers, officials and Sport England, would fall within the exemptions on internal discussion and advice and commercial confidences that are set out in Part ii of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) if she will publish the criteria by which Patrick Carter's appointment to conduct a review of(a) the National Stadium project and (b) the Lee Valley National Athletics Centre was made; [16672]
(2) how many names were considered at each stage of the process to find a person to conduct a review of (a) the National Stadium project and (b) the Lee Valley National Athletics Centre. [16671]
§ Tessa Jowell[holding answer 20 November 2001]: The Government announced on 8 May that Patrick Carter had been asked to lead a review of the National Stadium project. That decision was taken in the light of his thorough review of the Commonwealth Games which Ministers had recently considered. No other candidates were considered to lead such a review.
The decision to appoint Patrick Carter to carry out a review of the Lee Valley project was taken by Sport England and endorsed by me.