§ 3.2 p.m.
§ Lord Montague of Oxford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ What action they are taking to assist potential British competitors in next year's Olympic Games in Sydney.
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, support for potential British competitors in next year's Olympic Games in Sydney is channelled mainly through the Lottery Sports Fund's World Class Performance Programme. In 1997–98 and 1998–99 grants totalling over £52 million have been awarded in the UK and England to support some 1,200 athletes in 19 Olympic and Paralympic sports. Additional assistance will be provided through the UK Sports Council's programmes for Athlete Career and Education, "Success in Sydney" and Elite Coach Education.
§ Lord Montague of OxfordMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for that response, which is certainly encouraging. Does he believe that there may be a link between the amount of time that schools devote to sport and our sporting performance? At the moment the average in schools is one-and-a-half hours a week. Four Olympics ago we gained 36 medals and at the last Olympic Games that figure had gone down to 17, of which only one was gold. In France during the same period the time devoted by schools to sport has doubled 1369 and the number of Olympic medals that they have won has more than doubled, and in the previous Olympic Games they won 15. Should we not devote more time to sport in schools?
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, I entirely agree with my noble friend that we should give more support to younger athletes. That is the responsibility, above all, of my department. Of the £52 million to which I referred in my main Answer, in England a substantial amount is going to younger athletes. That is the relationship to which we should look. As one who tried to avoid sport throughout my school career, perhaps I am not qualified to comment on my noble friend's other suggestion.
§ Baroness Gardner of ParkesMy Lords, can the noble Lord inform the House about the status of the Institute of Sport? Is that body operational or still merely an idea?
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness. The UK Sports Institute was launched this morning with £100 million of lottery funds. At the suggestion of top athletes throughout the UK, it will consist of a network of facilities for athletes around the country, with the hub at Sheffield, where provision will be made for such specialist facilities as high level sports medicine and other matters that can be provided only on a national basis.
The Earl of StocktonMy Lords, can the noble Lord assure the House that some of these resources will be devoted to our most successful discipline at all Olympic and Commonwealth Games; namely, shooting, and in particular pistol shooting, where competitors in this country are no longer able to practise their sport within the United Kingdom?
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, the Government play a role in the allocation of funds for sport as a whole. It is the Sports Council that determines the allocation as between different sports. I do not seek to intervene in that matter. I am instinctively opposed to what the noble Earl said.
§ Lord CheshamMy Lords, the noble Lord appears to take great pleasure in announcing the funds that are channelled into sports. He made reference to £52 million and an extra £100 million. Does he agree that those funds have come from the lottery and are not government funds at all? Further, does he agree that the Government should not have any hand in or direction of those funds under the terms of the National Lottery Etc. Act?
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyMy Lords, that was why I responded as I did to the noble Earl, Lord Stockton. The noble Lord is right that these are lottery funds, although there is a considerable involvement by government and local authorities. But if he is suggesting that we should not take credit for any of the sporting activities that we encourage the lottery 1370 to provide, he should recall that athletes themselves and sporting organisations have been giving very generous credit to the Government.