Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Hugh Robertson

Thursday 15th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

What discussions has the Olympics Minister had about the security implications of the cuts to police funding and the changes to control orders, which will allow very dangerous people back into the capital in the months leading up to the games?

[Hugh Robertson]

We have had extensive consultations with the Metropolitan police and all the security agencies about security for London 2012. The Metropolitan police assistant commissioner with responsibility for that area, Chris Allison, gave a presentation to the organising committee before the passage of the recent London Olympic and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill, and the Met has raised no such concerns.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Hugh Robertson

Monday 29th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Hugh Robertson]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. Of course Loughborough is right at the forefront of our plans for London 2012 and the development of sport beyond then. All the elite athlete funding has been not only confirmed for London 2012, but set at precisely the same level for the start of the Rio cycle, framed by our decision on the lottery and the money that UK Sport is getting this year. That is very good news for elite athletes in this country and it means that we will avoid the trap that the Australians fell into after the Sydney games—they front-loaded the funding for their home games and it fell off dramatically afterwards.

[Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

4. What assessment he has made of the effects on financial support for theatres in regions outside the south-east of the outcomes of the comprehensive spending review; and if he will make a statement.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Diana Johnson and Hugh Robertson

Monday 25th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Hugh Robertson]

I welcome the hon. Gentleman to his place and I hope that he enjoys the position as much as I did—and, if I might say so, spends as much time doing it as I did. I understand his point, but he must admit that the amount of debt interest this country pays out every single day is the same as the entire community sport budget each year, so it is a considerable job to tackle it. By increasing the lottery shares to UK Sport and Sport England, not only have we been able to shield in full UK Sport from the effects of this, preserving elite athlete funding through to 2012, but by the end of the four-year cycle of lottery funding Sport England will have more money going through its front door than it did at the beginning. That is, I believe, a considerable achievement.

[Diana R. Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.