Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by John Greenway (Conservative). It was answered on Monday, 11 July 2005 on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Sports Scholarships

Question: Having called almost three years ago for London to make a bid for the 2012 Olympics, I thank the Minister for his work. Everyone else seems to have been mentioned, but not the Minister for Sport and Tourism. The point of getting the Olympics in London is to inspire young people to participate in sport. Is the right hon. Gentleman satisfied that we have the number of coaches that we need to train our young athletes and young sportsmen? Does he agree that, in the next five to seven years, we have a great opportunity to train more coaches and ensure that they have the right professional qualifications?

Answer: Absolutely. The hon. Gentleman knows that we had a taskforce on coaching. When I came into the job four years ago, the position of coaching was deplorable. I am pleased that all the governing bodies have come together and that the coaching taskforce's recommendations have been implemented. We have five levels of coaching certificate, which Sports Coach UK is policing. We will provide 3,000 community coaches—I believe that 300 or 400 are already in place. Coupled with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's announcement earlier this year about providing competition managers for each school sports partnership, we are building a sustainable sports infrastructure for this country. It will mean not only many more people playing much more sport but bringing through talent, not in an arbitrary but a managed way, so that potential can be realised, with our athletes standing on the podiums in 2012 in London.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 436 c557
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons chamber
Subjects: Greater London Grants Olympic Games Training Athletics Young people World class performance programme
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk