Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Wednesday, 17 December 2008.

Sport: Anti-doping Agency

Question: My Lords, as the Minister has told us on several occasions that the Treasury is now taking overall responsibility for sport, why has there been a problem setting this budget?

Answer: My Lords, the Treasury believes that it takes responsibility for everything, as the noble Lord will appreciate. In this case, however, the issue relates to the DCMS budget and the budget for UK Sport and there are additional costs involved. The way in which UK Sport proposed to devote the resources it operates for the present structure to the new one is not to the Government’s satisfaction and we will continue negotiations while giving an earnest of our intentions by diverting some resources towards this objective. No one in this House thinks that Governments can idly throw money about, particularly in these straitened times, but this is a desirable objective and we intend to reach it.

Secondary information