Sporting Legacy

Hugh Robertson Excerpts

Tuesday 21st May 2013 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Hugh Robertson)]

Through the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, and other major sporting events, we have raised the level of ambition for sport in this country for people in every community. I would like to update the House on progress with the delivery of the Government’s 10-point sports legacy action plan (my statement of 18 September 2012, Official Report, column 35WS). My last progress report was issued on 24 January 2013, Official Report, column 18WS. Since then, LOCOG has handed over its games maker database to Sport England working in partnership with UK Sport and London Partners and Join In. The consortium partners are now reaching out to the 5.3 million people currently on the database, with information about volunteering opportunities across the UK. This includes advice on how to volunteer at major sporting events such as the international cricket champions trophy in June and the rugby league world cup in November to ensure that we build on the success of the London 2012 games makers at future events.

On measuring sports participation, I can now confirm that there will be one set of data released through Active People. The next release of data will be in June 2013.

Elite Sport

Elite Funding

UK Sport has recently agreed the medal targets for summer Olympic and Paralympic sports for their targeted competition events in 2013. In June, UK Sport will publish these agreed medal targets as they are used to track progress towards success in Rio in 2016. Further information on this will be included in my next update.

World Class Facilities

Good progress is being made on the transformation of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic park. In preparation for the reopening in July 2013, all eight of the park venues, including the five sporting venues, now have operators in place.

East village (previously the athletes village) will be London’s newest neighbourhood; it will provide 2,800 new homes for Londoners from 2014 including outstanding free schooling for all ages at Chobham academy and an advanced medical clinic. Delancey and Qatari Diar have invested £557 million in the athletes’ village, and will provide the long-term management of the site. The joint venture will work alongside Triathlon Homes who have invested £268 million in this project to date, and will manage the affordable housing in the village.

Major Sports Events

Since my written statement of 24 January, the UK has successfully delivered three major events:

All England badminton champs;

BMX Supercross world cup; and

FINA diving world series

We have also won the right to host the following major sports events:

IPC para athletics grand prix final 2013

UCI track world cup 2013

FIH hockey world league 2013

The Tour de France Grand Depart 2014

We are currently bidding to host more events including:

The track cycling world championships (2016);

The European judo championships (2015);

The rowing world cup (2015);

The world figure skating championships (2016);

The youth Olympic games (2018).

Community

Places People Play

Sport England has again increased the funding for Places People Play raising it to £155 million. Sports facilities have now been improved and updated as a result of the programme.

Since my last update, 11,747 new sport makers have been recruited, bringing the total to 50,704.

The Sportivate programme has now given 225,000 young people the chance to try new sports, an increase of 84,445 since January. The programme has also been extended until 2017 with an additional £24 million of lottery funding.

Youth Sport Strategy

In May, a £1.8 million a new year long pilot to test new and innovative approaches to the delivery of women’s sport was launched in Bury. Also, as part of the strategy the first £5.1 million of the £40 million community sport activation fund has been allocated to 32 projects. StreetGames has created 46 door step club pilots, designed to offer sustainable clubs for young people in disadvantaged areas.

A total of 80,000 students have participated in active universities, an increase of 35,000 since the first year and we now have 153 college sports makers in place in further education colleges. In addition, a pilot in Birmingham has led 18 schools to open up their sports facilities for community use.

Join In

Join In 2013 will run for six weeks over the anniversary period. This year there will be 10,000 events, attracting 70,000 volunteers—these events will span the UK and 25% of them will focus on community activities. Since my last update, Join In have also become members of the consortium who own the LOCOG database, allowing them to build on their ambition to become the home of the games makers. In addition, Join In will host the “Go Local” event at the Olympic park on 19 July which will not only bring together those who volunteered in 2012, but also encourage them to inspire others to volunteer and to undertake projects in their own community.

School Games

As of 6 May 2013, a total of 16,918 schools had registered for the school games, of which 13,271 are fully engaged in the programme. A total of 450 school games organisers are in post with funding extended until 2014-15. Around 70 county festivals of sport are taking place during the summer, and I would encourage as many Members of the House to support their local community schools as possible.

An exchange of young athletes with Brazil will take place again in 2013—helping to build on our excellent relationship in the lead up to Rio 2016. In September, Sheffield will welcome a mixed team of both able-bodied and disabled Brazilian athletes to compete alongside our elite, young athletes at the school games national finals. In return, the UK will be send a team of some of our best, young disabled athletes to compete at Brazil’s school Paralympic-style games in November, providing them with valuable experience in competing against high-class international competition at a major sporting event.

PE/School Sport

On 16 March this year, the Prime Minister announced details of the new school sport premium, which will see £150 million a year going directly to primary school head teachers to improve the quality of PE and sport available for all their pupils. This will complement the £1 billion already being invested into youth and community sport—helping to ensure a lasting legacy of the London 2012 games and providing all young people the chance to begin a lifetime’s habit of playing sport.

Disability Sport Legacy

Sport England have just announced funding of £1,984,203 for the English Federation of Disability Sport for 2013-15. This will provide more opportunities for disabled people to take part in sport and deliver programmes to meet the needs of disabled people.

International Development

In February, Lord Coe was appointed chair of the International Inspiration Foundation (IIF). Following the creation of the new merged charity, the full board of trustees was appointed including Katherine Grainger CBE; Terry Miller and the right hon. Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell). As of March 2013, the charity International Inspiration’s programme has contributed to or influenced 40 sports or education policies in partner countries, helping to promote sustainable change in these countries’ sports systems.

My next update to the House will be in July, to mark the anniversary of the opening of the London 2012 games.