Written question asked by Lord Cotter (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 8 September 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 15 September 2004. It was answered by Richard Caborn (Labour) on Wednesday, 15 September 2004 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Dept for Culture Media and Sport

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the level of Government grant-in-aid was to the English Tourism Council in each year since 2000. - Inc table and figures.

Answer: Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the level of Government grant in aid was to the English Tourism Council in each year since 2000. [188742] Mr. Caborn: In April 2003, functions of the British Tourist Authority and the English Tourism Council (ETC) were merged to form VisitBritain. Grant in aid for the ETC for the period 2000-03 was as follows: Grant in aid to ETC _________________________________________________________________________________________________. £ million 2000-01 11 2001-02 9.6 2002-03 11.6 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. In addition, £3.8 million was awarded to the ETC in 2001-02 and further £1 million in 2002-03 from the Reserve to help tourism recover from the impact of foot and mouth and the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. In 2002-03, the ETC was also awarded £3.6 million over two years from the Invest to Save Budget to support the development of the EnglandNet project to establish an on-line tourism network for England. Grant in aid allocation to VisitBritain for the domestic marketing of England was £10 million in 2003-04 and £12.9 million is available for 2004-05.

Secondary information