§ 2. Mr. SkinnerWhat assistance is to be given to young people to widen the activity base of (a) athletics, (b) tennis and (c) other sports. [17976]
§ The Minister for Sport (Mr. Tony Banks)Before I answer the question, I am sure that my hon. Friend will join me and the House in paying tribute to the memory of Billy Bremner, who died on Saturday. Billy was one of the great characters of post-war football and an inspiring captain of both Scotland and Leeds United. He will be sorely missed.
The main initiative to promote young people's participation in sporting activities is the English Sports Council's national junior sport programme. It provides a framework within which schools, local authorities, governing bodies of sport, sports clubs and youth organisations can work together to provide quality sporting opportunities for four to 18-year-olds in a planned and co-ordinated way.
§ Mr. SkinnerDoes my hon. Friend agree that one of the problems about the past 18 years, among other things, is the fact that many school playing fields have been sold off? That has to stop. Secondly, when they closed the pits, they closed many of those centres of culture and sporting activities, the miners' welfares. That has to be stopped as well. Thirdly, there is the gap where youngsters leaving school find that there are no opportunities to carry on with athletics, unless they live in cities with athletics clubs.
We need a fresh start. My hon. Friend has got the job, and if he can deal with some of the things that I mentioned, plug the gap and get rid of the culture of the blazer, the bag and the twinset brigade, especially in tennis, he will be doing a decent job.
§ Mr. BanksI thank my hon. Friend for his supplementary question, and for noting that I am here doing the job—and still doing the job, which is sometimes as great a surprise to me as it is to others.
My hon. Friend is right to say that we must have a coherent plan to stop the further sale of playing fields as their sale means losing a prime asset essential to the encouragement of grass roots sports. The facilities in former mining communities are worth looking at it would be a shame to waste those facilities It my be that we can join together in a plan that I have for discussing with 650 companies, for example, the use of their sports facilities, which are grossly underused. We do not want to lose any sports facilities.
On my hon. Friend's last point, we want to provide opportunities for everyone to get involved in sport from the earliest age, at primary school. Sport for all means right the way through from primary school until they carry us out in a wooden box. We want to eliminate the chance factor. Facilities are distributed unevenly, which means that some youngsters do not get opportunities. By the time we have finished our period of office, which is so far into the future that even I cannot imagine it, we shall undoubtedly have addressed that imbalance.
§ Mr. SpringDoes the hon. Gentleman recognise that the pursuit of excellence must be at the heart of encouraging young people into greater sports participation? Why have the Government reneged on the previous Government's commitment to extending the sportsmark scheme to primary schools?
§ Mr. BanksWe are as concerned as the Opposition about the pursuit of excellence. We must recognise that it is necessary to encourage the involvement of the very youngest. That is what we shall do. If we do not encourage the youngest, we shall not get elite athletes winning medals for this country. On the previous Government's initiatives, where we feel that they were in the interests of primary schoolchildren, we shall do all that we can to encourage them.