Mr. Gareth R. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what further action she is taking to improve sports medicine facilities for athletes. [37818]
§ Mr. CabornI refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 31 October 2001,Official Report, column 758W.
In addition to this he will wish to note that over £180 million of lottery money is being committed to develop the UK Sports Institute (UKSI) to provide athletes with modern facilities which will include world class sports science and medicine facilities. Many of these facilities are now up and running and the UKSI is able to offer a wide range of services including biomechanics, massage, nutrition, medical consultation and screening programmes to elite athletes in the UK.
The UKSI has set up a number of programmes to ensure that elite athletes stay healthy, recover quickly and remain fit. These include the Athlete medical scheme, run in partnership with the British Olympic Committee, which provides access to medical consultations and treatments. There are currently over 1,000 athletes on the scheme.
The UKSI central services team is currently auditing the sports medicine support services in UK Sport's priority 1 and 2 sports. The findings of this audit will enable the development of a sports medicine strategy for each priority sport.
UKSI is also developing a sports medicine mentoring programme, currently being trialed by the Scottish Institute of Sport, which will provide training and development opportunities for sports medicine professionals.