Olympic Games and Paralympic Games 2012

Lord Shutt of Greetland Excerpts

Monday 14th June 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Shutt of Greetland]

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have contributed to today’s debate. The delivery of an Olympic and Paralympic Games has been referred to as the world’s biggest peacetime logistical operation—the equivalent of 26 world championships back to back, followed two weeks later by another 20. It will be a defining moment, when the focus of the world will be on the United Kingdom and when the people of the UK and UK business can show to the world what they can deliver. There will be many challenges along the way but I am delighted that, two years out, the key parties responsible for delivering the Games are working together to overcome them.

Many interesting points have been raised by noble Lords today, and I will do my best to respond to them in as much detail as I can. There have been two forms of speech today. I am not talking about quality, you understand; rather, there have been those who have been giving information and those who have been seeking it. Both have been welcome. It has been helpful to have givers of information; there are many people in this House in positions of influence in the whole business of the Olympics, their preparation and their aftermath, and we are fortunate that we have all these talents who can take part in this way.

People have different enthusiasms, too. Some are looking at the wonders of present-day construction, others are concerned about the Olympics themselves and some are excited about the aftermath—for them it may be a little incidental thing to host the Olympic Games, but what wonderful things we can have afterwards. Others, too, can see other things alongside these considerations, such as the culture that the Games can bring with them.

If I might look at specifics, the first speaker was the noble Baroness, Lady Ford. She told us that we had a strong hand to start with; I hope she is right. Everything that I read tells me that there is a certain strength here, so perhaps she is. Yet it was very interesting to hear from her of all the work that she is doing for the OPLC, for which we congratulate her, and of the news about the residential field study centre that she mentioned. The one question that really concerned her was on the whole business of the company that she operates obtaining a freehold without debt. All I can say there is that Ministers are aware of the strong arguments in favour of that deal and I am sure that I, and others, will encourage the review that has been undertaken to be completed quickly. In the end, it is a Treasury decision; all I can do is to hope that that goes right, because it is important that the work that she is doing goes forward.

The noble Lord, Lord Patten, warned us of the snow, with two potential winters before we get to the date of the Olympics, and mentioned sticking to the last. Yet it is quite interesting how so many people have referred to areas where perhaps a little bit could be done, here or there, that has just not been thought of. I will refer to the noble Lord, Lord Bates, later, because that brings other opportunities, but the noble Lord’s main concern has been on security. Safeguarding London 2012 and the rest of the country during the Games is one of the largest and most complex security operations ever undertaken. The noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Jones, is currently undertaking an audit and review of Olympic security planning to ensure that that is on track, which will provide a platform for a transition to a security test and exercising, looking into where things are over the coming period.

There is a very substantial budget for security—and this is a public figure—of £600 million. Some of that is contingency and not yet committed, but the whole business of security is of tremendous importance. If we look at it as a percentage, at 6 per cent or so of that which is being spent on the whole of the Olympic preparations, it is a very high figure. The noble Lord also referred to cybercrime, which the Government are keeping under review and planning accordingly. To that end, additional funding has been provided to build capacity in the police central e-crime unit and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

The noble Lord, Lord Patten, also referred to transport, as did the noble Lord, Lord Hoyle. Of course, the aim is for 100 per cent of spectators to get to the Games by public transport. London 2012 will leave a legacy of permanent, major improvements to the transport infrastructure. We are determined to ensure that Londoners are not negatively impacted by the Games and will publish during this summer a consultation on plans for the Olympic route network—the means by which athletes and officials will travel to and from the events.

I move on to the noble Lord, Lord Pendry, who referred to the opportunity to inspire. I mentioned in my opening speech that Sport England has been asked to develop plans for the delivery of a mass-participation sports legacy. That work will necessarily consider the role of community sports clubs. The Government will be making further announcements on these plans in due course. My noble friend Lord Addington also referred to that. If one thing struck me as a theme during the debate, it has been that whole business of building up the concern about athleticism and imbuing that spirit, making certain that what is done with schools does not somehow come to a full stop when someone leaves school, but that there is a follow-through. If there is one thing that this Government must consider if they are not doing it, it is that. Reference was also made by the noble Lord, Lord Pendry, to the possibility of budget cuts. I do not believe that the Olympic budget is immune and I agree with him that any cuts to the budget should be sensible and strategic, but it has to be efficient.

I move on to the speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson. It was indeed a splendid speech and I must congratulate her not just on the speech but on her skill in making a maiden speech when the right topic for her came up bang on cue. The noble Baroness, Lady Morgan of Huyton, was one of those who were able to give us information. She spoke of the impressive people she had come across during this and went into great detail about the excitement of the velodrome.

I think that I have indicated that my noble friend Lord Addington referred to the need for the follow-through and the fact that that is the one of the biggest challenges we face in developing a truly sporting nation. Keenly aware of the need to address this, we are looking to ensure that there are strong links between schools and the national governing bodies as we develop plans for delivering a new, national Olympic-style school competition. Further information will be given in due course on that issue.

I then come to the noble Lord, Lord Hoyle, who had a splendid list of questions—yes, he hit the jackpot on questions. He talked about there being 2 million participants by 2012 and asked whether that has been abandoned. On that, all I can say is that those targets are currently being considered. There are no particular guarantees on that but they are looking at targets. I think that I covered the point earlier about the routes—

[Lord Hoyle]

Excuse me. My question on the routes was about the athletes and officials; that was all.

[Lord Shutt of Greetland]

Yes, indeed; I think that I did cover that. Something is going to be put out during the summer for consultation about those routes and on getting the VIPs, as it were, from various places to the stadiums. On the issue of homes, the likelihood is that the Olympic village will become 3,000 homes and that 50 per cent of those will be affordable. Wider developments in the Olympic park will be of mixed tenure, with homes available for sale and rent, and 35 per cent of what is believed to be 10,000 to 12,000 new homes will be affordable housing. Those are the existing plans on that.

On the numbers of people employed locally, I have seen those figures in depth somewhere. I am pretty certain that the figure is that 20 per cent of the workforce on the ODA construction is people who live locally. Bearing in mind that the jobs are open for anybody to go for, that is a significant figure. Yes, it is here; of 6,442 at the end of March, 20 per cent were host borough residents and there was a target of 10 to 15 per cent, so it has gone beyond that. Currently, 199 apprenticeships have been placed with contractors. The ODA is on track to place 350 by December 2010.

The noble Lord referred to the wind turbine being abandoned. It was thought that it was safe and feasible to deliver the turbine, but new safety legislation for the particular turbine design and feedback from the industry mean that this wind turbine will not be appropriate at the Olympic park. The decision was taken on 30 April, when many of us were off electioneering. Nevertheless, a significant proportion of the renewable energy target will be met by the state-of-the-art energy centre at the Olympic park, which is due to be operational in the autumn.

The noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, was one of our speakers who by and large gave us information. He referred to security, transport and legacy. For him, there are three elements of legacy: urban regeneration; a sporting sense in the locality; and sport generally. I found the points that he made interesting. I also found it interesting to hear the noble Lord, Lord Hall of Birkenhead, warm to the theme of the Cultural Olympiad and of a summer to remember.

The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, referred to the budget and worries about cost. When I saw the percentages, the figure of what was complete was 54.4 per cent. The idea is that, when that was written, the figure should have been 54.7 per cent, but I thought, “Well, that’s about the same”. For the infrastructure of the eight venues, the figure is 65 per cent. The difference arises between the figure for the totality of things and the figure for the venues—65 per cent and 54 per cent. Lend Lease won a contract to build the village. Given the economic downturn, it was unable to raise funding for the project, so the Government committed contingency funds to ensure that the project was built on time. The Government now own the village and will benefit from its sale post-Games.

The noble Lord, Lord Bates, referred to the Olympic truce. In many ways, his was one of the most fascinating speeches that we heard, as it was totally unexpected by me. He gave the historic context of the Olympic truce. He said that the Games began in 776 BC and lasted for 1,168 years, after which they started again in 1894. I was wondering whether all these numbers divide by four. If anyone has done the sum, please let me know. It was well worth while putting the historical context. People talk about piggybacking on something else, but perhaps piggybacking is possible. Down the road from me is the University of Bradford’s peace studies department. We could ask it whether there is an opportunity for peacemaking. That may be the opposite of sticking to the last in putting on an Olympic Games, but perhaps this is a real opportunity to look for peacebuilding.

The noble Baroness, Lady Campbell of Loughborough, was another of our speakers who gave information, showing her enthusiasm for sport, particularly youth sport.

Like me, the noble Lord, Lord Graham of Edmonton, has been impressed by the information that he has received. As he spoke about 1948, I was thinking that one of my earliest childhood memories is of the Festival of Britain in 1951. I did not come down to London—I went to Woodhouse Moor in Leeds—but I remember it. The noble Lord talked about people’s pride in being able to say, “I was there and I remember the Olympics”. Going even to one of the cultural events, if not to the Olympic park in the East End, will stick in the memory. The ability to say, “I was there”, is important.

The noble Baroness, Lady Billingham, thanked me, so I thank her and I welcome her to her role. She said that she would be hawk-eyed. Well, perhaps I will be, too. I endorse the five points that she raised, relating to the sporting nation, east London, inspiration, sustainability and the UK. Most of them had been raised by others, which is the position in which one finds oneself in summing up debates, as I know. Nevertheless, I thank her for her contribution and look forward to further opportunities of hearing from her.

I conclude by saying that now is the time for some of the final decisions to be made that will ensure a lasting sporting legacy of the Games. Along with a continued focus on ensuring the delivery of a safe and successful Games, ensuring a lasting sporting legacy for young people in the UK will be a key focus of this Government over the next two years and beyond.

Motion agreed.