To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what support is available for smaller professional football clubs which secure promotion to higher divisions to improve and increase their seating capacity to cope with higher attendances. [5178]
| Distributor | Date | Recipient | Amount £ |
| Arts Council of England | 13 May 1997 | South Devon College | 20,000 |
| Arts Council of England | 19 March 1997 | The Newton Abott Folk Festival | 987 |
| Heritage Lottery Fund | 21 May 1997 | Torquay Natural History Society | 26,400 |
| National Lottery Charities Board | 17 December 1996 | Exeter and South Devon Deaf Children's Society | 66,500 |
| National Lottery Charities Board | 11 August 1996 | Acorn Youth Community and Sports Centre | 48,596 |
| National Lottery Charities Board | 19 December 1995 | Torbay Child Linkline for the Southwest | 45,000 |
| English Sports Council | 6 June 1995 | South Devon Sports Association for the Disabled | 102,732 |
| Total | 310,215 |
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage, if he will publish the total awards made by (a) the Heritage Fund and (b) the Millennium Commission, by administrative counties in England. [4272]
[pursuant to his reply, 20 June 1997, c. 322]: The table of awards made by the Heritage Lottery Fund contained some inaccuracies. The correct information is contained in the following table, provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund, which sets out the value and number of awards by English county as at 27 June 1997.
| Heritage Lottery Fund | ||
| HLF Figures to 26 June | ||
| County | Total number | Total amount £ |
| Avon | 12 | 2,438,475 |
| Bedfordshire | 4 | 117,300 |
| Berkshire | 2 | 3,865,525 |
| Buckinghamshire | 6 | 1,367,750 |
| Cambridgeshire | 25 | 26,647,329 |
| Cheshire | 11 | 2,065,058 |
| Cleveland | 8 | 6,131,230 |
| Cornwall | 18 | 3,678,535 |
| Cumbria | 19 | 4,102,987 |
Financial assistance is available to football clubs for ground improvement and redevelopment work through the Football Trust. I recently announced a £55 million cash injection to the Trust for clubs at all levels of the game. I am very grateful to the English Sports Council for their contribution to this work and to the Football Association and the FA Premier League for agreeing to match Lottery funds pound for pound.
To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what proposals he has to encourage smaller professional football clubs to develop closer links with their local communities. [5177]
I am aware that many clubs have already done a lot of good work in developing links with their communities, which I welcome. This is also an area that I have in mind for the proposed Football Task Force, to see what more might he done.