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Sport in the Community

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Pendry for initiating this debate, and for his continuing championing of in your Lordships’ House the cause of sport. We share a passion for football, as he has been chairman and president of the Football Foundation and its predecessor body the Football Trust, the funds for which came from contributions from the pools companies and which did so much to implement football ground safety following the Taylor report. I declare an interest as the chairman of Liverpool County FA’s Local Football Partnership and trustee of the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, which is now entirely funded by Sportech, the parent company of Littlewoods Pools. I pay tribute to the work of Everton’s Football in the Community scheme. All Premiership clubs put great store by developing links with their local communities. As a past director of Everton, and a continuing shareholder, I am pleased that Everton is still in the forefront of community schemes. Everton’s scheme became a charity in 2004, and for the second year running has been recognised by Business in the Community for a number of activities, including work with both primary and secondary schools, soccer camps across Merseyside, Saturday morning coaching courses for 5 to 12 year-olds and women’s and girls’ football programmes, while also running eight disability teams. Liverpool County FA’s local football partnership, in conjunction with the local authorities and other partners, continues to develop the FA’s four-year plan for football, which is its response to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s challenge to improve the nation’s health through sports activities. The LFP focuses the continuing development of club football through the FA’s chartered standard programme as well as continued improvements in the delivery of football inside and outside the school curriculum, and the improvement of football facilities, with pitch improvements being a priority. Liverpool County FA’s local football partnership has invested around £5 million towards those aims. Sport continues to play a crucial role in the community at all levels. It provides a safe recreational environment, positively encouraging behaviour and attitudes, and inspiring both young and old of all abilities to maintain health or develop new goals. We live in a world whose pace of change is ever-increasing. People change jobs more often and consequently move house more often. More students spend informative years away from home. Sport clubs provide a healthy environment to meet and develop new friends, thereby bringing together communities through shared experiences and understanding. Last week in your Lordships’ House, via a Question tabled by my noble friend Lady Massey, we were made aware of developments in cricket. We were all thrilled this year by the Ashes win. Our sporting heroes are increasingly treated as celebrities. They play a large part in people’s lives and help to develop participation. I was interested in the Minister’s reply that 46 per cent of schools have links with local cricket clubs. I support the contention that sports links are developing from the situation in Cheshire. I can report that at grassroots level cricket is booming in the community. The decline in cricket in schools in the past, which is reflected in the fact that this year’s Ashes win was the first since 1986, has gradually been filled by clubs, spurred on by the pyramid structure following the McClaren report. Cheshire now has nine divisions, whereby a small club—Oulton Park Cricket Club is a concrete example—can progress from the lower echelons to the top. Last year Oulton Park, a small rural club in mid-Cheshire, won the double, topping the county’s premier league, and won the Cheshire Cup. David Humphage, the chairman of Cheshire County Cricket paid tribute to Oulton Park, saying that it had raised the bar in county cricket. That result came from a small rural club. That has been done in conjunction with the initiatives and schemes of DCMS and the ECB. Critical to that is the development of Clubmark, the equivalent of football’s charter club programme whereby clubs must demonstrate child protection policies as well as good management, coaching standards, and so on. The Treasury has responded by instigating Community Amateur Sports Clubs—CASC—which enable clubs to claim gift aid on grants and income. Sportsmatch has also enabled clubs to raise standards by matching pound for pound club sponsorships. The result is visible. Cheshire, a minor league county, shared the national title with Suffolk in the minor counties final. It was shared because the English weather washed out the event—some things take time to change. Sports development links between clubs and schools have been instrumental in consolidating success. Oulton Park cricket club now has links with nine primary schools, and is developing winter coaching in schools. The ECB has responded by making its £750 per premiership club dependent on that club fielding three players under 21. The funds to minor county cricket are dependent on the teams having an average age of under 26. Clubs now run teams down to under nine level. In all that, we must not forget the progress of women’s success. All that places a huge burden on infrastructure and facilities, and the Foundation for Sports and the Arts has responded with a successful pilot scheme in Cheshire to fund equipment purchases, such as mowers, seeders, rollers, sight screens, and so on. It is now looking to roll out a national scheme. We have the prospect of the London Olympics in 2012. Already sporting opportunities have been identified, and must be shared across the nation. The structures have been developing under the Government’s encouragement of the participation of all in sport. Each member of the community can find an appropriate sporting opportunity, and through achievement can build self-confidence. I am confident that we shall continue to enjoy those benefits.