Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Evans of Rainow and Hugh Robertson

Thursday 3rd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

14. What steps he is taking to encourage young people to participate in competitive sport.

[The Minister for Sport and the Olympics (Hugh Robertson)]

It feels a little like the aftermath of the lord mayor’s show, Mr Speaker.

The Government are committed to encouraging young people to participate in competitive sport, principally through the introduction of the new school games tournament. The school games will roll out this September and give pupils of all abilities the chance to compete regularly against each other in a wide range of sports at local, county and national level. The first national finals will take place in the Olympic park in 2012.

[Graham Evans]

I thank the Minister for that reply and welcome plans for the school games, which should help to provide a lasting sporting legacy for London 2012. Such a lasting legacy was under threat from the previous Government’s constant diversion of national lottery funding away from sport to other pet projects. What have this Government done to prevent that from happening in future?

[Hugh Robertson]

The simple answer is that we have increased the amount of money that sport gets though the lottery back up to the 20% originally envisaged in the mid-1990s.