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Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

With this amendment we go slightly away from the main thrust of most of the discussion. The Bill is entitled Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill, and I consider that sporting activity is covered under skills, children and learning. The Government should provide greater financial resources for sporting activity given that they are encouraging everybody to be more active and they have a target to encourage 2 million people to take up exercise or sport. Further, if you train people properly and they know what they are doing, they tend to enjoy what they are doing more and tend to continue doing it. They also have a skill base that can be reignited later in life. That is why I suggest that the wording of Amendment 211 should be added to Clause 98. If we make resources available to the volunteers who are achieving a government objective with no financial reward, we shall save money in the long term, certainly as regards health costs. In addition, such a measure would assist the Government to achieve one of their immediate objectives. The Government may well tell us that money is being put into other areas, but I am talking about volunteers, who comprise most of the grass-roots participation. Those who volunteer their services in community amateur sports clubs are not the only group in this regard but they have a legal identity and we know what we are dealing with. It is a containable group and constitutes a way into this issue. This is a probing amendment to see whether two parts of Government can join together to implement the designs of Government as a whole. I look forward to hearing what the Minister says. I beg to move.