asked Her Majesty's Government:

When UK Sport last reviewed its role and responsibilities under the Royal Charter. [HL94]

Since its establishment in 1996, UK Sport's roles and responsibilities under the Royal Charter have not been formally reviewed. However, from 1 April 2006 a number of elements of elite athlete support were transferred to UK Sport from Sport England following a review of the sporting landscape. This reaffirmed UK Sport as the sole non-departmental public body responsible for funding elite sport.

UK Sport holds regular operational reviews as part of its annual business planning process, based on its published four-year business plan. Furthermore, UK Sport jointly agrees and reviews its funding agreement targets with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

UK Sport also conducted a formal review of its internal structure and governance in 2004.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether paid advisers to the Department for Education and Skills and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport are eligible to chair lottery fund distribution panels; and, if so, what procedures have been put in place to ensure the distribution of lottery funds is independent of government influence. [HL95]

There are no rules that would prohibit such an appointment. All non-departmental public bodies should have in place arrangements for identifying and managing real or perceived conflicts of interest. Provided potential conflicts of interest are declared and arrangements are put in place to manage them, they need not present an obstacle. Funding decisions are entirely for lottery distributing bodies to make and under the National Lottery Act 2006, they are required, in their annual reports, to set out their policy and practice in relation to the principle that the proceeds of the National Lottery should be used to fund projects, or aspects of projects, for which funds would be unlikely to be made available by Government.