Written question asked by Lord Swire (Conservative) on Tuesday, 16 May 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 May 2006. It was answered by David Lammy (Labour) on Monday, 22 May 2006 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Hunting

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether (a) she, (b) Ministers and (c) an official instructed that hunting be omitted from her Department’s sponsored cultural icons survey.

Answer: No Ministers or officials in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has instructed the editorial team at the ICONS project on what to exclude from the list of nominated items. Such decisions are entirely a matter for the project’s editorial team governed by an independent Advisory Board. Fox-hunting as an icon has not been omitted from the ICONS project. Following a meeting of the Advisory Board on 4 May, fox-hunting is still under active consideration and may well feature in a future release.

Secondary information