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Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012

Yes, of course. I shall attempt to write a comprehensive note of a wind-up speech that I might have delivered if I had had half an hour in which to do it. If the House was gracious enough to accept that, it would make all our lives a lot easier. I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in this remarkable and interesting debate. One of the privileges of being a Member of this House is the opportunity to hear speeches from noble Lords who really know what they are talking about and are the foremost experts in their field, and this has been one of those occasions today. As we debate the preparations for London 2012, it is important that we do not lose sight of the sheer scale of what we are working to achieve and the outstanding level of our ambition. As the noble Lord, Lord Coe, said, this will be one of the world’s biggest peacetime logistical operations, the equivalent of staging 26 world championships back to back, with the security demands of holding two Wembley cup finals, the Wimbledon tennis championship and a G20 summit all on the same day. I was pleased to hear the contribution from the noble Lord, Lord Patten, asking about the security challenges. Security planning is well advanced. The appointment of Sir Ian Johnston is an important element in that. I will write to the noble Lord, and will put the answer in the Library so that it is available to everyone else, on the detailed issues that he raised on cyber and chemical threats, both important matters that I know feature in our 2012 planning. My noble friend Lady Morgan was right to refer to the enormity of the construction project. I am sure that we were pleased to hear her contribution from the standpoint of the ODA; both it and LOCOG have made first-rate progress so far, but 2010 will see the pace of delivery increase still further. One of the important elements of this year will be the stepping up of the volunteer recruitment programme. The noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, referred to the desirability of encouraging volunteers in this area. There will be up to 70,000 Games-time volunteers, and LOCOG will start to procure £700 million worth of goods and services for the Games and finalise the ticketing strategy and sporting schedule. In terms of gold medals won, Beijing was our best Olympics in 100 years and our best Paralympics in two decades. Our target this time is to reach the top four in the Olympic medals league and be at least second in the Paralympics, winning more medals in more sports. In a way, that answers one of the questions that the noble Lord, Lord Addington, asked, about what works and whether we are doing this in the right way. A medals target is certainly an important element but there are many others, including the participation by young people on a long-term basis in sport. The success of 2012 will be judged by the legacy that it leaves behind and the benefits that it continues to deliver to people around the country long after the Olympic flame has been extinguished. The noble Lord, Lord James, also quick-fired a number of questions to me, all of them interesting. Some of them are not matters for the Government; some are for the ODA and some for LOCOG. If he permits me, we will see that he gets a reply, which other noble Lords will be able to read, on the interesting questions that he raised about Hackney Marshes, the Olympic village, radioactive material, religious provision, Roman remains in Greenwich Park and the restoration of the park to its pristine state. On the latter point I can tell him that LOCOG has been working with interest groups in Greenwich and submitted town planning applications before Christmas, with the purpose that it will make good the impact that the event will have on the park. This will be the subject of a detailed letter that will address the other points as well. The noble Lord also raised the issue of the media centre. Its first job is to house the 20,000 journalists that will descend on east London during the Games. Afterwards it will be transformed into a mixed-use office and business space, a facility designed to attract the creative media and digital industries, which we believe will be an essential part of the industry, a source of employment in Hackney and part of the stunning transformation of east London that will come about as a result of the Games. The noble Baroness, Lady Valentine, spoke about upgrading the Northern Line and other transport links and urged me to persuade my noble friend the Secretary of State to bang heads together. He is quite good at doing that and I will certainly convey that message to him. She also asked about advertising restrictions. Certainly, striking the right balance in allowing businesses to benefit from the Games and protecting LOCOG’s sponsors’ rights is a fine judgment. Again, that is something that could be covered in a lengthier letter, but we are clear that protection must exist if we are to guarantee the private sector funding that is so crucial to fund the staging of the Games. I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Coe, would be happy to listen to and respond to the noble Baroness's concerns. I thank my noble friend Lord Pendry for his kind words about me and I am happy to reciprocate by paying tribute to his work as president of the Football Foundation. He was right to draw attention to the benefit the Games will bring to other parts of England and Wales—for example, the football competition being staged in some of our most famous stadia such as the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Old Trafford in Manchester and St James' Park in Newcastle and the final at Wembley. The sailing events will be at Weymouth. That is the first 2012 venue already to be completed—again on time and on budget. There will be opportunities for people across the UK to see sporting events in their own communities by the time 2012 comes along. A number of noble Lords referred to training centres and training camps for the visiting teams, which will be in such varied places at Loughborough University, Stoke Mandeville and other centres. Those visiting teams will, I am sure, receive a warm welcome from local communities in their training camps in the months leading up to the Games. The noble Baroness, Lady Coussins, made an important point about the need for language skills to be exercised so that the warmth of the welcome for visiting teams is conducted not only in the single language of English. She was right to draw attention to that issue and I am sure that the organising committee will look very carefully at it. The noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, raised three important and major points. He raised an issue about the rationalisation of sporting bodies. With respect to him, that is not directly related to the Games but I am happy to answer it in writing. The Government take the view that there is a difference between UK Sport, which is responsible for elite sport, Sport England, which is responsible for community sport and the Youth Sport Trust which is responsible for sport in schools. We believe that that has already delivered results and indeed some of those results were due to his legacy as Minister for Sport a little while ago. I am happy to pay tribute to that as someone who worked with him in a modest way at that time. However, I do not believe that it is sensible to reinvent the wheel and completely reorganise sports administration in this country, particularly in the run-up to the Olympic Games. The noble Lord asked a sophisticated question about the sports infrastructure spend. I will write to him about that if I may because the answer is quite complicated. He also referred to his impending Private Member’s Bill on anti-doping. We are not terribly happy with the proposals that it contains, which I know will come as no surprise to him. Perhaps it would be better to wait for that debate when the Bill comes before the House. My noble friend Lord Berkeley asked about air quality in particular. Again, it was a complicated question, to which I hope he will allow me to respond in writing. The commitment on air quality in terms of the Games as a whole is very firm. We recognise that good air quality makes the Games a platform for demonstrating long-term solutions to how you can improve air quality and the Olympic sites need to meet stringent requirements in the London Best Practice Guidance to reduce emissions from demolition in construction, ensure that buildings are energy-efficient, emissions are lessened and that public transport services are improved, reducing or, in the case of spectators, eliminating the need to travel to events by car. The noble Lord, Lord Addington, wants a rather detailed answer on what works and what does not work. I should like to think about that and respond to him in a letter, although I make the point that there is a cross-government commitment involving the Department of Health and DCMS to get 2 million people more active by 2012. That is certainly part of the measure of success for the Games. Sport England has backed 46 sports governing bodies with substantial sums—£480 million—and is monitoring through its active people survey to find out the answer to the question that the noble Lord asked: what works and what does not.