London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Amendment) Bill

Edward Timpson Excerpts

Thursday 28th April 2011 Commons Chamber

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

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.

Since 2006, when the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Bill was passed, enormous progress has been made in preparing London and the rest of the UK for the games. There is, rightly, huge cause for confidence as we look forward to next summer. Politically, the games continue to enjoy broad cross-party support from all parts of the House in the way that was first evident at the time of the bid and subsequently during the passage of the original Bill. I am particularly grateful to the right hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Tessa Jowell) for her continued support and for all the work she did to promote the Bill and during the early part of the Olympic process. I am also grateful to our coalition partners—and I was going to say to Members from the other, smaller parties, but they have clearly left early to enjoy the royal wedding.

I will briefly update the House on progress. The build programme is now 70% complete and, I am glad to say, on time and marginally below budget. The Lee valley white water centre, the first of the newly built 2012 venues, was completed last year and opened to the public earlier this month. The construction of the first Olympic park sporting venue, the velodrome, was completed in February this year and handed over to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games last month. The remaining facilities are on track and nearing completion. If hon. Members have not yet had the opportunity to tour the Olympic park, I strongly encourage them to do so. The scale of what has been achieved, particularly for anybody who remembers the site in 2005, is genuinely impressive. I should like to place on record my thanks to John Armitt, David Higgins—the recently retired chief executive—and the whole of the Olympic Delivery Authority for what they have achieved.

The deadline for applications for Olympic tickets closed two days ago. We have seen unparalleled levels of interest from people right across the United Kingdom, with over 20 million ticket applications, and public support for the games remains high, particularly in comparison with the experience of previous host cities. Almost a quarter of a million people have applied to be London 2012 games-maker volunteers. I have no doubt that the same atmosphere of celebration that we are seeing for tomorrow’s royal wedding, and which will be seen again in next year’s diamond jubilee, will be seen once again in the build-up to, and during, the games.

[Mr Edward Timpson (Crewe and Nantwich) (Con)]

A concern that has been raised about other sporting events is that, despite high ticket sales, the stadiums have not been full. What guarantees can my hon. Friend give to those who hope to receive tickets that they have the optimum chance of attending the events and, more importantly, that those who wanted to go but cannot do not see empty seats when they watch the Olympics on television?