Written question asked by Nigel Evans (Conservative) on Thursday, 21 June 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 26 June 2007. It was answered by Richard Caborn (Labour) on Tuesday, 26 June 2007 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Sports: Finance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much she has allocated to the development of British sportsmen and women until 2012; how many recipients of such funding live in Ribble Valley constituency; and what proportion of the funding allocated to the 2012 Olympic games is for the development of sporting talent.

Answer: UK Sport, the Government's lead agency for high performance sport, is scheduled to allocate £600 million to the development of British sportsmen and women between now and 2012. £252 million has already been allocated to supporting Olympic and Paralympic sports and athletes through to the Beijing games in 2008. £216.4 million has been awarded directly to the national governing bodies and the athletes via UK sport's world class pathway programme, with the remainder funding key athlete support services such as sports science and medicine, and technology research and innovation.The world class pathway programme supports athletes at three different levels: World class talent, world class development and world class podium. Of the total through to Beijing, approximately 50 per cent. of funding is focused on the world class talent and development pathways.Funding for each sport beyond 2008-09 will be decided after a comprehensive review of its performance at the Beijing games, and assessment of its potential for future success at London 2012.At present there are three athletes from the Ribble Valley area on the world class pathway programme.

Secondary information