Mr. Gareth ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action she is taking to encourage the(a) Football Association, (b) Rugby Football Union, (c) Lawn Tennis Association and (d) England and Wales Cricket Board to (i) increase participation in their sports, (ii) increase participation in their sports by those of Asian origin and (iii) increase participation in their sports by those living in inner city areas; and if she will make a statement. [104750]
§ Mr. CabornSport's governing bodies are essential to the Government's plans to increase levels of sporting participation.
(i) £40 million in new Lottery funding has recently been made available to national governing bodies to improve their mechanisms for delivering improvements in participation levels. In addition, the Government has taken steps to assist governing-body affiliated, and other, Community Amateur Sports Clubs in offering opportunities for people of all ages to participate in healthy recreation. DCMS worked closely with the Charity Commission on the revised guidance issued in March 2002, which will make many more local clubs are eligible for the financial benefits of charitable status;
(ii) The Government have worked closely with the Football Association, the Rugby Football Union, the Lawn Tennis Association and the England and Wales Cricket Board increase participation among Asian people. I fully support the efforts of these governing bodies in this area, which include FA projects in Leicester and elsewhere, the RFU's social inclusion programmes including its work at the Islamic High School for Girls in Central Manchester, the LTA's inner city tennis projects and the ECB's Racial Equality Intermediate Level Award-approved coaching projects;
(iii) all four of these governing bodies run sporting access schemes for children in inner urban areas, which complement Sport England's Sport Action Zones initiative in some of the most socially and economically deprived areas of the country. The Government will be investing £60 million over the three years from 2003–04 through the Community Clubs Investment Programme, the focus of which will be on increasing participation levels in deprived areas and among disadvantaged groups. The Government have funded additional and complementary sporting initiatives in deprived areas through the Positive Futures and Splash projects.