HL Deb 15 March 2004 vol 659 cc22-3WA
Lord Moynihan

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What funding is currently available for Winter Olympic sports; and whether guarantees are in place to ensure that funding will not be cut in the run-up to the Winter Olympics in Turin 2006. [HLl646]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

UK Sport currently makes funding available to winter sports from the lottery and Exchequer.

Lottery funding is currently being provided through the World Class Performance Programme (WCPP) to support those winter sports with athletes with genuine medal potential. Currently UK Sport is making lottery funds available to alpine skiing, speed skating, bob skeleton and snowboarding of approximately £490,000. In addition, UK Sport is also providing total Exchequer funding of approximately £580,000 to seven winter sports to support their national governing body (NGB) broader work and associated programmes, as well as modernisation funding for broader NGB development.

It is not appropriate to guarantee levels of lottery funding in support of world class winter sport athletes as this is reviewed annually and future funding is dependent upon performances and the athletes maintaining their position as genuine medal prospects for Turin. Lottery funding could actually increase if winter sport athletes currently not in receipt of funding improve significantly and demonstrate that they can clearly bridge the performance gap to podium in Turin.

In addition, UK Sport will be carrying out a winter sport mid-Olympic cycle review in the summer of 2004 of those winter sports supported by their WCPP, before agreeing levels of lottery and Exchequer investment for the second half of the four-year period through from October 2004 to September 2006. Alongside this review will be a reassessment of continued Exchequer funding of all those winter sports NGB's currently supported by UK Sport.