HC Deb 26 February 2001 vol 363 cc571-2
7. Mr. Simon Hughes (Southwark, North and Bermondsey)

Pursuant to his oral answer of 11 December 2000, Official Report, column 334, when he will be able to announce further initiatives for encouraging sport and artistic talent among schoolchildren. [149391]

The Minister for Sport (Kate Hoey)

We announced last month our intention to offer children an entitlement of two hours a week of high-quality school sport and physical education. Earlier this month, the appointment of a further 55 school sport co-ordinators in 12 new areas were announced, including in the London borough of Southwark, and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced the location of 16 areas for the new creative partnerships. The London borough of Southwark—in which, of course, the hon. Gentleman"s constituency lies—was again one of the areas chosen.

Mr. Hughes

Obviously I am grateful to the Minister for those initiatives and the Government"s interest. Today, we will debate criminal justice measures to deal with young people, many of whom go off the rails during their school years. Does the Minister agree that one of the best things that we could do to ensure that they stay on the straight and narrow and become good—rather than troublesome—citizens would be to give them opportunities to get involved in an activity that they want to pursue and which motivates them? Will she talk to her colleagues at the DFEE and the Home Office to see whether every youngster who leaves primary and secondary school can be given the chance of finding out what he or she would like to do and provided with the chance of doing it? That would enable youngsters to box, swim, sail, dance or get involved in drama instead of hanging around on street corners and getting into trouble.

Kate Hoey

The hon. Gentleman is right about the motivation that sport gives to young people. Clearly, that is happening in schools. However, he is talking about young people who are alienated from school, perhaps through truancy. Many such youngsters are in our constituencies and they are precisely the people whom the school sport co-ordinators try to influence through their outreach work. More importantly, we are using some of the money for young offenders to put in hand work with the Home Office. Some of the young people who concern us are not yet offenders, but we need to get access to them before they are. I take the hon. Gentleman"s point, and we will be working closely with the Home Office and the DFEE on that matter.

Mr. Phil Hope (Corby)

My hon. Friend will know that the quality of pitches is one barrier to participation in football that young people experience locally. Grassroots football cannot take off if pitches are flooded, fences are broken or pavilions are in disrepair. I recently chaired a meeting of football club representatives in my constituency. They want investment in pitches to get young people playing football and to raise talent at the highest level. The difficulty is the lack of resources. The Football Foundation provides some resources, but will the Government work with it to ensure that cash is available year on year to support and help grassroots football, so that we can get young people back into sport?

Kate Hoey

The Football Foundation will make a significant difference to grassroots football, particularly to the facilities that many of our young—and older—people have to use for weekend matches. It has £18 million in the first year to invest in grassroots football. The working group that will make the decisions will be closely involved with county football associations, local authorities and schools. Change will not happen overnight, but the investment, coupled with the money that is being provided through the space for sport and the arts programme and the improvement in school sports facilities, will mane a long term difference to the opportunities that our young people have to play not just football, but other sports as well.