Asked by: Hugh Robertson (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department has taken to implement the conclusions and recommendations of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee's Seventh Report of Session 2010-12, HC 792-I, on football governance; and what further such steps it plans to take.
Answered by Helen Grant - Shadow Solicitor General
This Government is dedicated to continuing the implementation of this report.
I continue to press the football authorities for improvements in their governance of the sport, however significant improvements have been made. For example, the FA Board now meets Sport England governance requirements. Both the Premier League and The FA are providing funding to the supporter groups, including the Football Supporters Federation and Supporters Direct. All Premier League and Football League clubs are now required to have a designated Supporter Liaison Officer and Financial Fair Play rules. These requirements aim to improve financial stability and management across the Leagues. The Expert Group on barriers to supporter ownership and engagement, were proposed by Supporters Direct, and recently launched on 21 October.
Following the 2012 Downing Street summit on racism in football, The FA are also now delivering against a whole sport Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Plan called “Football’s for Everyone”. This plan seeks to build equality and inclusion in football.
Lastly, I am also pleased to note that the FA Inclusion Advisory Board reports quarterly to DCMS on their progress.
Asked by: Hugh Robertson (Conservative - Faversham and Mid Kent)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his most recent estimate is for tourist (a) numbers and (b) spend delivered as a result of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Answered by Helen Grant - Shadow Solicitor General
The most recent estimate for tourism numbers and spend delivered as a result of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games was set out in VisitBritain’s ‘Shifting the Dial Report (July 2013). This showed there were 685,000 visits from overseas to the UK in July, August and September 2012 primarily due to, or involved attending an official ticketed event at the London 2012 Olympic or Paralympic Games. This rose to 871,000 visits if you include live free to view or cultural events such as the London 2012 Festival. These visits resulted in spend of £925 million. Overall for 2012, there was an increase in visits from overseas to the UK of 0.9% on 2011 to 31.1 million.
Supported by VisitBritain’s GREAT Britain campaign, established as a means of promoting Britain as a great place to visit, study and do business with on the back of London 2012, there was a record 32.8 million inbound visits in 2013, up 5.6% on 2012. This also resulted in record spend (in nominal terms) up 12.7% on 2012 to £21 billion.