Sport: Team GB and ParalympicsGB

Jim Dickson Excerpts

Thursday 10th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Jim Dickson (Dartford) (Lab)]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) for that moving speech, and indeed to all Members who have made such amazing maiden speeches this afternoon. I particularly associate myself with the tribute paid by my hon. Friend the Member for East Kilbride and Strathaven (Joani Reid) to Tessa Jowell, who was also an inspiration to me. I know that she would want, like others, to offer congratulations to the GB Olympic and Paralympic teams, and also to the Three Lions squad—and not only on their successful performance at this year’s Paris games and in Germany, but on the inspiration that they provide for people throughout our country and beyond to explore their own potential for sporting achievement, physical activity and wellbeing, enabling them to unlock in themselves the life-changing satisfaction of competing, staying healthy, and being part of a wider grassroots sporting community.

Let me also offer my congratulations to Liam McGarry from Dartford on his fine achievement in taking fifth place in the 107 kg powerlifting at the Paralympics, and on showing us the greatest example of someone who strives to be the best he can in his discipline.

I want to praise the national lottery for its continued investment in our Olympic and Paralympic athletes. It is truly the case—the evidence is clear—that this funding has transformed UK performance in the Olympics and Paralympics, and other international competitions, since the days of underachievement pre-2000. It is critical for this Government, working in partnership with sporting bodies, to build on that success and help to transform the UK into the most physically active nation in Europe. This has been called for by the newly re-formed all-party parliamentary group for sport, brilliantly supported by the Sport and Recreation Alliance—here I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Spen Valley (Kim Leadbeater) for her amazing chairship of the APPG over many years—and it is important for us to get behind that call.

We should not be starting from a point at which school sport, for 90% of our population, has been decimated over the past 14 years, and nearly a third of children and young people are now inactive. We should not be starting from a point at which children and young people from the least affluent families remain the least active and are falling further behind, or a point at which more than a third of adults are not meeting the chief medical officer’s minimum requirement for physical activity, with obesity and cardiovascular disease the inevitable result.

There are so many reasons why becoming a more active nation is vital for our country’s future. We can reduce the burden on the NHS by cutting spending on preventable disease by £1 billion per year. More important, we can take up the challenge laid out by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care by shifting the focus from treating disease to preventing it; moving from being an increasingly unwell population to being a healthier, happier and more prosperous one as a result. In that we must categorically include mental health and the huge wellbeing benefits to individuals from being fit and active, calculated at £71 billion per year but, in reality, priceless to the individuals concerned. Having served in local government for many years leading public health programmes to tackle health inequalities, I can vouch for the power of sport and physical activity to reach those who public services sometimes find it hard to support, and to promote attainment, inclusion and, above all, good health.

To make those transformative steps forward a reality, we need, among other things, to protect public and national lottery funding for grassroots community sport, recreation and physical activity so that the sector can continue to focus efforts on driving up participation, supporting its volunteers and reducing inequalities. We need to incentivise growth in participation by simplifying and enhancing tax arrangements for sports clubs, gyms, pools and leisure centres. We need a new long-term, joined-up plan to give every child 60 minutes of sport and play a day, and we need to boost our workforce with locally led skills development that aligns with education provision, employee needs, local health and wellbeing, and economic priorities.

Let us build on the amazing legacy of our elite sports teams and the huge commitment of our grassroots sports infrastructure, such as Dartford football club, Dartford Valley community rugby club, Dartford cricket club and our great basketball clubs, the Sharks and the Tigers, as well as Dartford’s Central park parkrun, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Let us give our huge commitment to these grassroots sporting organisations to transform the UK into the fit, active and healthy country that we can and need to become.