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1.49 pm
Mr. Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath): It is a great pleasure to speak at the Dispatch Box when you are in the Chair, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I know of your strong enthusiasm and support for sport. Your son--who is a successful sportsman--and I attended the same school at different times, and it is good to know that you have sporting connections.
I join the tributes rightly paid from both sides of the House to the late Lord Howell. I got to know Denis Howell over the past six years, and particularly well in the past 12 months when I became one of the three deputy chairmen of the all-party sports group. He was a great man and a great sportsman, and I am sure that he would have been pleased by the high calibre of today's debate. The Minister may be interested to know that, on the day that Lord Howell's death was announced, I was on my way to Stamford bridge with my two sons to watch Chelsea beat Sheffield Wednesday. The car radio was tuned in to BBC Radio 4 and at the beginning of the one o'clock news it was announced that Denis Howell had collapsed. The programme was then interrupted to announce that Lord Howell had died, and many tributes were paid to him.
All who knew Denis Howell will acknowledge that we must carry on his work in the House. It is good to see that every member of the all-party sports group has participated in today's debate. I know that Denis Howell would have approved of that. My last memory of him is from just before the Easter recess when he left me a message saying that he agreed with a letter that I had drafted jointly with the hon. Members for Stalybridge and Hyde (Mr. Pendry) and for Cheltenham (Mr. Jones) to the Secretary of State on the important subject of listed sporting events. Lord Howell said that he was looking forward to seeing us again shortly after Easter, but, sadly, we did not have that meeting.
I must send a message of congratulations to another great sports personality. Hon. Members may have noticed in yesterday's papers that our great Olympian, Sally Gunnell, has had a baby. I gather from the press reports that mother and baby are doing extremely well, and I am sure that all hon. Members send their best wishes to Sally, her husband and their baby.
I turn to the important subjects that have been raised in this debate, and in particular to the concerns expressed on this side of the House. I shall expand upon the remarks of my hon. Friends, and in particular on the speech of my
hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Mr. Spring) in opening the debate for the Opposition. We believe that the structure of sport in Britain needs further attention. The Secretary of State referred to the recent rather sudden departure of Howard Wells and wished him well in the future. We also send those good wishes, but wonder whether the Minister and his right hon. Friend the Secretary of State agree that the proposed review of the current administrative arrangements requires a radical overhaul of the sports councils so that the governing bodies, member clubs and local authorities can work more efficiently. The Secretary of State and the Minister will be aware that that is the view of the Central Council of Physical Recreation. I am sure that the Minister shares my view that David Oxley and his colleagues at the CCPR, such as Nigel Hook, do a terrific job promoting important issues in sport and furthering the debate.
It is a pleasure to look across the Dispatch Box at the Minister. I do not know whether he remembers, but he followed my maiden speech in the House in 1992 and he will now follow my second appearance at the Dispatch Box. So there is a certain accidental continuity at work. Even though the Minister and I disagree slightly about some issues, as my colleagues said earlier, he is genuinely committed to sport. He is probably the best known football fan in the country and he has carried on the important work of the hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde to whom I pay tribute and with whom I always enjoy working. It is fair to say that there is much common ground on these issues, but I hope that the Minister will consider the concerns raised by hon. Members, including many Labour Members, in the debate. In particular, at a time when the national governing bodies of sport are being asked to devote more of their energies to developing programmes for youth sport, the sports councils have reduced the levels of grant in aid. Does the Minister agree that the governing bodies of sport deserve that grants be maintained, at least in line with inflation?
I am especially concerned about the position of the British Olympic Association. Unlike most other countries, our Olympic association receives no Government funding and must therefore raise its own funds. It does a fantastic job, raising funds primarily through sponsorship. In addition to the representation of Britain at the Olympic games, the BOA has an extensive education programme in schools, in which I take a particular interest, and uses most of its income to provide services to governing bodies' elite squads.
As the hon. Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Thomas) rightly said, we are all concerned about the reduction in the number of medals that we have won at recent Olympics. There must come a time when the BOA plays a more central part in the Government's thinking and perhaps in Government funding. I hope that the Minister will deal with that. If we are to bid successfully for a future Olympics and for the world cup, the BOA will as has rightly been said, play a key role.
I echo the comments of several hon. Members about the importance of Paralympic sport. In recent years, there has been widespread support, including support from all parties in the House, for our Paralympic athletes. The Minister is well aware from conversations that we have had on the subject that I have been involved in fund raising for our Paralympic fencers and swimmers. My contact with Paralympic athletes has reinforced my view
that we must continuously improve facilities. I know that the current Government are committed to that, as were the previous Government.
I am particularly concerned that all our sporting arenas should be made accessible to Paralympic athletes and spectators. We heard earlier about the importance of ensuring access for the disabled at all our sporting venues. I hope that the Minister will comment on progress in that regard.
I hope that we can continue to improve facilities for sport for all. I agreed with the remarks of the Secretary of State, but it is clear from subsequent interventions and speeches, while he was understandably absent from the Chamber, that there has been a reduction in the Government's commitment to sport in schools. Whatever the Secretary of State, the Minister and Labour Members may say, the decision by the Secretary of State for Education to remove compulsory PE from the core curriculum--the crucial word is core--was a step in the wrong direction.
Chairmen and deputy chairmen of local authority education committees will pay close attention to this debate and will want to know that PE is valued as much by this Government as it was by the previous Government.
Mr. Chris Smith:
I hope that the hon. Gentleman will give me the chance to clarify the matter once and for all. The distinction that the Opposition are trying to draw between a core curriculum and a non-core curriculum with regard to physical education is fallacious. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment announced that there will be one specified hour of literacy and one specified hour of numeracy in the school day every day in primary schools. There will be flexibility for the school in determining when during the school week the other subjects, including PE, are taught, but there remains a clear requirement for schools to teach it.
Mr. Hawkins:
I hear what the Secretary of State says, but it does not wash. None of the sporting bodies accept what he has just said. He does not have to take that from me. He has only to consider all the concerns that have been expressed by all the national sporting bodies about the decision announced by the Secretary of State for Education. As my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk said, it sends all the wrong signals. It says that this Government, unlike the previous Government, no longer regard PE as fundamental and compulsory. It makes sport discretionary, rather than compulsory.
Mr. Chris Smith
indicated dissent.
Mr. Hawkins:
The Secretary of State may shake his head, but he should look at the reaction of the sporting bodies. We know that the Secretary of State lost the battle to the educationists in the Department for Education and Employment. That is what really happened. The Secretary of State's weasel words will not get him out of that.
I turn to a subject on which I agree with the Secretary of State. In this instance, I accept that the right hon. Gentleman and I are singing from the same hymn sheet. The right hon. Gentleman sent his congratulations on the successful first day and best wishes for continuing
progress for the England team in the test match. Earlier in the debate there was news from the front--[Interruption.] I gather from the Minister for Sport that the score, when he last received news, was 326 for four.
Mr. Peter Ainsworth (East Surrey):
It has gone up.
Mr. Hawkins:
I understand that it is now 344 for five. As usual, the Conservatives are first with the news and more accurate than Labour.
In getting the score brought to them, the Secretary of State and the Minister for Sport are following in a great tradition set by my right hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon (Mr. Major). I remember vividly when I happened to be in the House for a meeting in the Committee Room Corridor, long before I was lucky enough to be elected to this place. My right hon. Friend had just become Chief Secretary to the Treasury and was taking his first Finance Bill through Committee in that role. I saw large numbers of civil servants rushing in and out of the Committee Room, and wondered what dramatic developments were taking place.
It happened that one of the civil servants had been a university friend and contemporary. I asked her what all the rushing backwards and forwards was about. She replied, "It's all right. The Chief Secretary just wants to make sure he knows exactly what the current test score is every five minutes." I am sure that the Secretary of State and the Minister will continue to recognise, as was said earlier in the debate, that far more people in this country are interested in sport than in politics. That is something which no politician should ever forget.
It is important that we have these debates, and this has been a good, well-attended debate. The debates show that we as Members take an interest in the interests of those we represent.
I recognise that we need to consider carefully some of the issues that will be of great interest to voters in future. One of those issues is undoubtedly the continuing debate about our national sporting events on television. I think that the Secretary of State would accept that he has delayed his decision on more than one occasion. I was told only a few weeks ago by the hon. Member for Selby (Mr. Grogan), who cannot be in the Chamber today, that he had been promised by the Secretary of State that the final decision--the right hon. Gentleman's response to his own advisory panel--would be taken by mid to late May. We understand that, yet again, the decision will be delayed for a few weeks. I hope that the decision, when it comes, will be in the interests of all sports enthusiasts.
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