Olympic and Paralympic Games: Team GB

Baroness Twycross Excerpts

Monday 4th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bassam of Brighton]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support the continued success of Team GB at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and to ensure that there is community benefit from such participation.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Twycross) (Lab)]

My Lords, I am delighted that this Government will continue to support the successes of Team GB and Paralympics GB. The Chancellor has confirmed that a multiyear investment will mean that a total of £344 million will be invested in Olympic and Paralympic success over the next cycle. This will support the teams through to the 2028 Olympic Games and provide excellent foundations for the 2032 Games and beyond.

[Lord Bassam of Brighton (Lab)]

My Lords, that is more excellent Budget news; it keeps coming. However, how people watch and are inspired by our sporting heroes is changing. During the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, the BBC had over 67 million online catch-up requests. The next two Olympics and Paralympics will be in totally different time zones. The listed events regime protects live TV viewing but does not prevent digital or on-demand clip rights being hidden behind a paywall. Can the Minister confirm the completion of the 2022 review covering this and help find a way to protect digital and on-demand clips so that everybody can enjoy LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032 despite being in a different time zone, and also be inspired?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

My noble friend makes a good point about changing viewer habits. It is important that sporting events of national importance remain available for people to view for free in years to come. Both the Olympic and Paralympic Games are rightly group A-listed events, which means that live coverage must be offered to at least one free-to-air broadcaster. I can reassure my noble friend that we will continue to consider the issue that he raises on digital rights; we will look to set out our position on that in due course.

[Baroness Sater (Con)]

My Lords, we all congratulate the successes of Team GB at both the Olympics and Paralympics. However, we must recognise the importance of supporting grass-roots sport, which helps generate essential participation. Does the Minister agree that it is vital that we have early identification and effective delivery of talent from the grass roots, schools and clubs to ensure that all-important talent pathways thrive?

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[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

Yes, I would agree with the noble Baroness. Alongside the UK’s sports funding increase, the Government have also committed in our Autumn Budget to support elite and grass-roots sport by investing in multi-use facilities across the UK and scaling up work so that DCMS can deliver on plans for the UK and Ireland to host the 2028 UEFA European Football Championship.

[Baroness Keeley (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare my interests as in the register. In praising Team GB Olympic and Paralympic athletes for their continued success, I want to mention our Olympic head coach for athletics, the wonderful Paula Dunn. On community benefit from sport, in my former constituency in Salford, investment in the park tennis project has revitalised old tennis courts and is bringing people of all ages back to tennis. So I want to ask my noble friend the Minister: will the Government continue to invest in grass-roots facilities, including tennis and padel courts, particularly in areas of higher deprivation?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

The importance of grass-roots sports facilities cannot be overstated. As I said in response to the previous question, the Government committed in the Autumn Budget to support grass-roots sport by investing in multi-use facilities across the UK. That will enable people such as those referred to by my noble friend to get the start in those sports that they need.

[Lord Wigley (PC)]

My Lords, will the Minister join me in congratulating the swimmers in both the Olympics and the Paralympics on once again doing very well? However, does she accept that disabled swimmers in particular can achieve their maximum potential only if facilities are available locally? With many local authorities under financial pressure, swimming pools are being closed. Can she give a commitment that the Government will do everything they can, in England for themselves and in co-operation in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, to ensure that the resources are there to maintain swimming pools so that we can maintain this record well into the future?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I agree. I learned how to swim in a swimming pool in south London, where my father literally threw me in at the deep end—which I am not sure is an accepted approach to teaching swimming now. This is an issue that has gone on for some time and we are acutely aware of the issue that the noble Lord refers to.

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

My Lords, following the excellent example in Paris of the Paralympics, which apparently were modelled on the London Olympics and the tone that we set, will the Government recognise that, to have young people coming through who are able to perform, we need to have rapid provision of specialist prostheses for those children? We need specialist wheelchairs for them to be able to participate. Our ordinary services need to recognise that, when those children have the potential to become Paralympians, they need rapid access to highly specialised equipment to enable them to perform.

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[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I have the privilege of giving the House a demonstration of how I have moved around the country: I now live near Stoke Mandeville, and Buckinghamshire is the home of the Paralympics. Nobody in your Lordships’ House can be in any doubt of the acute crisis facing the NHS. I recognise the issue that the noble Baroness raises and will speak to my noble friend Lady Merron about it.

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

My Lords, the whole Commonwealth is grateful to Glasgow for stepping in to host the next Commonwealth Games in 2026 and we wish Glasgow every success, as it had in 2014. However, many sporting bodies around the world have expressed concern at the reduction in the number of sports being included—seven fewer than the last time Glasgow played host. Among those that have been cut are diving, part of every Commonwealth Games since 1930; badminton, squash and table tennis, meaning there will be no racquet sports; cricket; hockey; the triathlon, and more. With the Games already billed as low-cost and smaller-scale, how are the Government supporting Glasgow to ensure that the Games are a success and that they too inspire new generations of people in a wide range of sports?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

The Commonwealth Games are a clear and key part of the elite pathway in many sports. They are a really important event, which is why the Government have agreed to provide up to £2.3 million of contingency funding to support the safety and security required. We anticipate that Glasgow 2026 will deliver over £100 million of inward investment to the city through the Games. That will support economic and social benefits for Glasgow but also be an inspiration for future generations to come.

[Lord McNally (LD)]

My Lords, the Minister should be very grateful to her father: being thrown in at the deep end is very good training for ministerial life. Has she thought that this might also be a time for some socialist planning? Should not those individual sports that receive the benefits of the lottery and other grants have plans to make sure that they are fit and ready to take up any upturn in interest caused by the Olympics? There are often reports of sports clubs not being ready when interested people start applying.

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

Being thrown in the deep end definitely prepares one for ministerial life. I will look into what specific arrangements are undertaken, but I would assume that the sports covered in these major tournaments would then anticipate an upturn. I will look into what happens and what more can be done to make sure that they are available for people when they express an interest.

[Lord Wrottesley (Con)]

My Lords, now that a fiscal event has taken place, will His Majesty’s Government urgently review the strategy for the UK’s hosting of major and mega sporting events, given that opportunities have already been, and will in future be, missed if no review immediately takes place? I declare an interest as, earlier this year, we lost the opportunity to host the International Ice Hockey Federation men’s world championship. That would have brought in over £56 million of economic benefit to the UK—not a bad return on investment—and, specifically, would have helped the levelling-up agenda by supporting regions in the north.

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I am aware of the issue that the noble Lord raises. However, we are clear that hosting major events contributes to inspiring future generations and to the economy. We have a number of tournaments coming up, such as Euro 2028, the Women’s Rugby World Cup next year and other future events. I hope that we will be able to have more success in relation to the ice hockey next time than we did this time.