Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether the Government has made an assessment of the relative merits of the possible training facilities for Team GB urban sports athletes ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of Olympic sports are responsible for the training of their athletes during the period leading up to the Olympic Games, and with it the facilities they choose. UK Sport is working closely with NGBs to determine the appropriate level of facilities needed to sustain Olympic success ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games, which are set to run from 24 July to 9 August 2020. The British Olympic Association (BOA), as the National Olympic Committee (NOC) for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is responsible for Team GB’s participation at the Olympic Games.
UK Sport’s high-performance system and investment approach is admired the world over, and Great Britain is now recognised as one of the world’s most successful sporting nations. Decisions over which sports to fund in each Olympic and Paralympic cycle are made independently of Government by UK Sport. This helps ensure that funding decisions are made free from political influence with a view to the best overall outcomes for our elite athletes.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what negotiations have taken place for the selection of training facilities for urban sports ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
Olympic sports' National Governing Bodies (NGB) are responsible for the training of their athletes during the period leading up to the Olympic Games, and with it the facilities they choose. UK Sport is working closely with NGBs to determine the appropriate level of facilities needed to sustain Olympic success ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games, which are set to run from 24 July to 9 August 2020.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timetable is for the announcement of the preferred training facilities for Team GB ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The British Olympic Association (BOA), as the National Olympic Committee (NOC) for Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is responsible for Team GB’s participation at the Olympic Games. The BOA – a privately funded organisation - has already announced its preferred training facilities for Tokyo 2020. Each sport’s National Governing Body (NGB) is responsible for the training of their athletes during the period leading up to the Olympic Games, and with it the facilities they choose. However, in the immediate run-up to each Summer Games, the BOA secures facilities for a multi-sport preparation camp within or near the host country. In 2017, the BOA secured three multi-sport facilities in the Greater Tokyo area to act as a multi-sport preparation camp for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The three sites, all based in the Greater Tokyo area in the cities of Kawasaki and Yokohama, will make up the BOA’s biggest ever pre-Games preparation camp, allowing athletes the opportunity to acclimatise and complete their final preparations for Tokyo 2020 a short journey from the heart of Tokyo in dedicated International Federation standard venues. These facilities will provide Team GB’s athletes with optimal pre-Games training in world-class facilities ahead of the Games, which are set to run from 24 July to 9 August 2020.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 May 2016 to Question 37198, how many of the leaflets entitled Why the Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is the best decision for the UK have been returned to his Department; and what the postage cost to the Government has been of such returns.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
I refer the Hon Member to the Prime Minister's response of 25th May 2016. This information is not collated centrally by the Department.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make it his policy to extend the protection granted to playing fields to any community leisure facilities, by ensuring that Sport England must be consulted before the sale of any such facility; and if he will ensure that Sport England is sufficiently resourced to carry out that role effectively.
Answered by David Evennett
Government recognises the important contribution that opportunities for sport and recreation make to the health and wellbeing of communities. Planning policies should be based on robust and up-to-date assessments of community needs. Any change of policy to allow Sport England (or any other public body) to have similar responsibilities for community leisure facilities, as it does for playing fields, would be a matter for DCLG.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to publish further details of his Department's draft plans to change the way sports funding is allocated, with reference to pages 16 and 17 of Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation.
Answered by David Evennett
Sport England's new strategy, which is due to be published in Spring, will set out how the actions in Sporting Future will be delivered at grassroots level. This will set out the way in which funding will be allocated, in accordance with the principles set out in the government's strategy for sport.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the contribution of recreational spaces to local sporting and community life.
Answered by Tracey Crouch
The government is committed to supporting recreational spaces across the country. Our new sport and physical activity strategy recognises that these spaces can be crucial in getting people active and are an important part of the nation's sporting infrastructure.
Asked by: Tom Pursglove (Conservative - Corby)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many civil servants in his Department are members of trades unions; how much working hours facility time is claimed by each such civil servant; and what the cost of that facility time is to his Department.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Department does not actively collect information around trade union memberships.
The Cabinet Office publishes data relating to Civil Service facility time on a quarterly basis. The latest data is Quarter 4, 2014 at and is available athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trade-union-facility-time."