House of Commons Hansard Debates for 5 Jun 1998 (pt 16)

Mr. Banks: One of the problems that London has experienced when making a bid and competing against Manchester and other cities is that there were two London bids because there was no single local authority for London to represent the city. That was the fundamental objection that flawed our bids. That problem will be resolved by the setting up of the new Greater London authority.

It is not my partiality that is involved: the International Olympic Committee and the British Olympic Association have made it clear that the only city that they are prepared to nominate for an Olympic bid is London. As my hon. Friend must know, that is not my decision but the decision of the BOA and IOC.

Mr. Stringer: I am partially grateful for that intervention. I agree with my hon. Friend that the Balkanisation of London by the abolition of the Greater London council put London at a disadvantage and other cities made hay at London's expense during that time. The answer is to have elected mayors in other big cities as well.

I also agree that the choice is a matter for the BOA and the IOC. I am not aware that those decisions have been taken finally. They should be subject to influence so that there is proper competition and consideration when the decision is taken.

I add my tribute to Lord Howell. I competed with Denis Howell for the right to represent Britain in the bid to host the Olympic games--I represented Manchester when he represented Birmingham. He was a tough competitor and did not like Manchester getting the nomination because he had put a lot of effort into Birmingham's very good bid. Anyone who tries to bring the Olympic games or the world cup to this country should bear in mind his comment that we shall have the most immense difficulty until there are some British people involved at the highest level of international sport. We are almost devoid of representatives in all the world federations. I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister will say how he will encourage our sports administrators and politicians to get involved at that level. We all want to bring those events here, but until our people are involved at the highest level, we shall not do so.

1.31 pm

Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate): It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Manchester, Blackley (Mr. Stringer). I acknowledge the great contribution that he has made to his city and our country in championing the Manchester Olympic bids, which have resulted in a successful

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Commonwealth games bid. That is a good example of how sport can bring a community together around an objective in a wider political arena.

I declare an interest as an honorary vice-president of Raleigh International, because I want to widen our debate on sport to include adventure training and recreation, which, like sport, does much to develop an individual's sense of purpose and achievement. Our central objective as politicians is what sport can do for individuals.

When I was the organiser of a sports team in the Army, some people thought that I had become a professional cricket organiser, perhaps to the exclusion of the more military parts of my responsibilities. Much of taking part in sport depends on the enthusiasm, energy and drive of the enablers--the people who give their time voluntarily to organise sport and make it happen for others.

I should like to indulge myself a little with the Minister for Sport. I am sure that he will talk on the phone to Glenn Hoddle before England begin their world cup campaign. If I remember rightly, Germany have not lost a game of football on penalties since being beaten by Czechoslovakia in the European championship final in 1976. England have not won a game on penalties since before Italia 90. Having seen the lackadaisical performance in the recent penalty shoot-out against Belgium, I am horrified that our footballers will not have the skill of burying the ball in the corner of the net at 80 mph honed to perfection, given the likelihood that some of our games will have to be resolved in that way. I should therefore like the Minister for Sport to ask Glenn Hoddle to make sure that those skills are honed to perfection.

Many hon. Members, including the hon. Member for Blackley in his speech about the Commonwealth games, have talked about the necessity for international success, which is one of the twin pillars of the Government's policy, which I welcome. However, I hope that we recognise that, in a sense, that aim is subsidiary. We need international success to draw people into sport by example, but our aim as policymakers should be to enable people to take part. A sense of achievement, self-confidence, pride and leadership comes from taking part in sports, particularly team sports.

There has already been much discussion about the changes to the national curriculum, which are unfortunate. I would rather view the discussion in an international context. My hon. Friend the Member for Tunbridge Wells (Mr. Norman) said that in Germany the school curriculum contains three hours of sport a week. We should aim to do better than that. People who take part in sport and adventurous training activities develop themselves and that helps them achieve success in other areas, including academic subjects.

I accept that the Conservatives' record on playing fields was lamentable and that we should have protected them when we were in government. The blame, as my hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Mr. Hawkins) said, should be shared because it was in the main Labour-controlled authorities that were selling off playing fields. Let us put that behind us and make it clear that from now on we want to increase resources for playing

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fields, the curriculum and teachers to be used in the organised life of schoolchildren. We should give teachers physical and monetary resources--

Mr. Peter Bottomley (Worthing, West): And recognition.

Mr. Blunt: Indeed. That would give them the enthusiasm to take part and enable children to participate in those activities.

I want to concentrate on the contribution of volunteers, which has not been mentioned. It is they who work, outside the hours of schools and sports clubs--which are, by and large, voluntary--to enable sports and adventure training to take place. I hope that the money that we are taking out of sport by creating a sixth good cause will be replaced by allowing after-school clubs to get money for sport from the New Opportunities Fund.

My great worry is that we have already imposed on people who voluntarily organise activities for young people and others a level of regulation about how to conduct those activities--particularly in adventure training--that is driving many of them simply to give up. Last night, I attended the annual general meeting of Reigate and Banstead district scouts, where I was told that it is becoming more difficult for the scouts to organise outdoor activities, particularly at the more challenging end of the spectrum, for venture scouts. That is true not only for all adventure training pursuits but for sporting pursuits.

People will be killed playing sport and taking part in adventurous training. People will be killed on the rugby field. There will be accidents. What frightens me is that when deaths occur there is a reaction of shock and horror, and the temptation for politicians is to impose a disproportionate level of regulation. By loading that layer of regulation on to people who are giving up their time to organise activities, we make it too difficult for them to bother.

I ask the Minister to review those burdensome regulations and to be sympathetic when he is approached by sports organisations and sports organisers to do so.

Mr. Bottomley: My hon. Friend has raised an important point. However, for balance, does he agree that schemes of organisations, such as the Royal Yachting Association, to develop proficiency and train instructors--and to encourage younger people who are good at what they do themselves to become instructors--is a good way of raising standards and participation without imposing the burden of regulation? If he agrees with that, I should like to ask him whether, if he is a dinghy sailor, he would like next Thursday to join the House of Commons team at Westminster boating base? We are still short of one or two crew.

Mr. Blunt: I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention.

My request to re-examine regulation is not a cry for bad practice. Good practice should be led by volunteers themselves, who organise the organisations. It is in their own interests that their sports and recreations should be well organised and safe. Neither the organisers, nor hon. Members nor our joint objectives will be well served if the House tries to legislate, to regulate or to cover every

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contingency because hon. Members do not want the embarrassment of having to say, "We could have prevented it had we passed legislation or regulations." We have to be prepared to stand up for those people, to enable them to make the fantastic contribution that they do in enabling young people to participate in their sport.

I hope that the interests of volunteers, as the enablers of so much United Kingdom sporting activity, will be at the forefront of the Minister's mind during his tenure in office.

1.41 pm

Mr. Gareth R. Thomas (Harrow, West): It is perhaps appropriate that this debate should be held on the same day as that classic sporting event, the Oaks, at Epsom. Although I cannot give any guide to this afternoon's form, I know some men and women who can. I am delighted to have within my constituency the headquarters of Ladbroke Racing Ltd., which is playing a crucial role in ensuring that horse racing enthusiasts have high-quality races to enjoy daily.

I draw the House's attention to the United Kingdom's Olympic performance in the past 20 years. In 1980, we finished ninth at the Moscow Olympic games. Five Olympic games on, in 1996, we had plummeted to 36th place. Our decline in medals has been even more dramatic, with the British team winning only one gold medal in Atlanta, compared with five such medals won four years earlier at Barcelona. We won 34 medals at the 1988 Seoul Olympic games; in 1992, at Barcelona, we managed to win only 20. By 1996, at Atlanta, our total medal haul had dropped to only 15.

Against that background--and after listening to what athletes wanted us to provide--the decision to establish the United Kingdom Sports Institute, and the excellent world-class performance programme, offer hope that our decline as a sporting nation will be reversed. Funding of our bobsleigh team undoubtedly helped to provide the right training environment for it to achieve its excellent bronze medal at Nagano.

I pay tribute to the work of Sir Rodney Walker in the past three years at the English Sports Council. The council's funding of the world-class performance programme is helping to provide much-needed support to governing bodies in modernising their infrastructure, systems and services, and in helping them to focus on achieving the international success that we all desire.

I echo the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Blackley (Mr. Stringer) on the need to develop sports administration. We have to continue modernising and professionalising our approach in working with elite sportsmen and sportswomen. I hope that the Minister will keep up the pressure on sports governing bodies, to encourage high standards not only in sporting performance and coaching but in management and administration.

I seek specific assurances that my hon. Friend the Minister is monitoring the issues raised by the trial of the former general secretary of the Central Council of Physical Recreation and the collapse of the British Athletics Federation. We need to ensure that sports bodies that receive grant in aid money in addition to lottery money use their moneys wisely and are properly financially accountable.

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The world-class performance programme is extending opportunities to the most talented sportsmen and sportswomen, identified by sporting bodies, so that we do not rely only on those who, as well as being talented, can afford to compete. I look forward to the development of the programme. Further schemes for supporting talented young people are in the pipeline. We urgently need a talent development system that identifies future medal-winners.

Harrow School of Gymnastics, in my borough, is in an excellent position to help in such a system; in the past10 years, it has been an excellent nursery for much of British gymnastic talent. It currently has two Olympic prospects in Kanukai Jackson and Paul Morris. Recently, British Gymnastics awarded the school's head coach, Carol Ford, the status of elite coach of the year.

As many of my hon. Friends have said, in the approach to the general election we knew that grass-roots sport in communities and schools was under considerable pressure. In schools, extra-curricular sporting activities had declined by more than three quarters under the Conservatives and, thanks to the previous Government's now notorious policy on playing fields, more than 5,000 fields had been lost. I commend the hon. Member for Reigate (Mr. Blunt) for having the courage to take responsibility for that failure.

I welcome the plans of the Minister for Sport, in conjunction with the Department for Education and Employment, to develop proposals for community sports co-ordinators, to build and support links between schools and sports clubs. I hope that, in his speech, he will detail the progress of those plans.

It is essential that local authorities produce a leisure strategy, setting out their plans to encourage and facilitate sport in their area. Sadly, not every local authority does so. I hope that the Minister will take action to encourage local authorities to develop their sport strategies as a matter of urgency.

Encouraging young people to take up sport is always made easier when high-profile sporting events take place in our country. I commend the Minister for Sport on the excellent campaign that he is waging to host the 2006 world cup. It holds out real hope that, at long last, the world cup will return to Britain.