UK Sport: Elite Sport Funding

Debate between Lord Ashton of Hyde and Lord Bradshaw

Thursday 23rd February 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I agree that every elite athlete has to start at the grass roots. That is why the Government, using National Lottery funding as well, spend about four times as much on grass-roots sport as they do on elite sport, as I said. As a result, 340,000 more people play sport once a week than did so a year ago.

[Lord Bradshaw (LD)]

My Lords, UK Sport, which funds our chase for medals, is funded by the National Lottery. Does the Minister know—perhaps he could write to me—what other national lotteries, such as the health lottery, contribute? They compete with the National Lottery. Do they send an equivalent amount of money to the courses that they purport to represent?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

First, it is not true to say that the National Lottery is the only thing that funds elite sport. The Exchequer funds it as well and increased its funding by about 29% in the 2015 spending review. As for the potential problems for the National Lottery from the health lottery, it is very important that people should be able to spend their own money on the good causes that they want to, be it health lotteries or sport. To put this in perspective, the health lottery had sales of £81 million in 2015 and, in the same period, the National Lottery had sales of £7.2 billion.