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2012 Olympic Legacy

Thank you, Mr. Caton, for allowing this debate on the UK school games and the 2012 Olympic legacy. A quiet revolution has been going on in this country in school sports, particularly over the past decade. In 2000, around 25 per cent. of our young people experienced two hours of quality physical activity or sport a week, and by 2009 that had increased to over 90 per cent., which means just under 4 million hours more of sport and physical activity a week in our education system. When I was Minister for Sport I discovered the real depth of talent we have in our schools. Although we had, and still have, competition managers who do a fantastic job in the school sports partnerships, many said that they wanted to try to find a system in which we could bring the very best of our young people together to perform against each other, and in doing so we would sharpen up the competition. However, we would also be able to do something else. Those who have been able to go to the Olympics or the Commonwealth games will undoubtedly know that they are totally different from any other sports event. In single sports events one goes to see one event, such as athletics or hockey, but when one brings all the sports together—there are 27 in the summer Olympics—and the athletes live in the camp, eating together and socialising, and then competing against one another, many of them are often put off by that atmosphere, particularly in their first experience of a multi-sports event, such as the Commonwealth games or the Olympics. Therefore, there was some discussion about how we could reproduce for our young people that type of experience: to come in, have an opening ceremony and then compete. In the margins of that we could bring Olympians in to do mock anti-doping—I hope it is mock—so that the young people get all that experience. The person who epitomised all that is none other than Darren Campbell, a good friend of the UK school games. Darren stated in an article on those games:""The Games are paramount to the success of future world champions...Some superstars will be born here...it replicates what happens at the Olympic Games, so if these young people get there they won't be scared. I think that the sooner you get over the fear of whatever you want to do in life the more successful you will be"." He summed up well what we are trying to achieve by giving the young people the experience of participating in the UK school games. Two important events in this regard came together in 2005: London, as many people know, won the right to stage the 2012 Olympics; and the Millennium Commission, which I happened to chair at the time, was winding down. It had a few bob in the bank that it did not plan to spend, so the longest serving trustee, Michael Heseltine, and I got together and decided, because 2012 was on the horizon, that it would not be a bad idea if some of that surplus money was put to good use by trying to create a platform of a legacy for our young people in schools and taking that forward. Those two things came together, and the board agreed that some of the commission's surplus would be used to develop a sports event for young people that would run up to the Olympics, and hopefully beyond. That was in part how the UK school games came into being. At the same time, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr. Brown), was very supportive and chucked a few bob into the pot. There was a suggestion that we call the event the school Olympics, and I can assure you that there was absolute hell on that point, because one cannot use the coveted word "Olympics". What I want to make clear for the press in particular, and to those of the press who have not come to the debate, is that they tend to criticise us, including the Sports Minister, my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Bradford, South (Mr. Sutcliffe), and claim that we do not have enough competitions in schools and do not do enough to provide the facilities for competition, but I have never heard such claptrap. First, as I have said, the participation rate among young people in education has increased here more than in any other country. Secondly, we have competition managers. Thirdly, we are developing new types of structures, such as the UK school games. The latter is not a glorified sports day; we are trying to give the very best to our young people in order to equip them for the international stage and to give them confidence and experience. Together, experience and confidence result in a winning team. I therefore say to the press, "Instead of carping, come to the UK school games. Come and see what our young people are doing. Come and experience it." It will be in Gateshead this year and in Sheffield, the centre of the universe, in 2011. I shall speak later about 2012. The press ought to start reporting on our young people. Since Glasgow in 2006, many have gone into the Olympics. Many performed in the Beijing Olympics, and have gone on to the international heights in their sports.