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Olympic Games and Paralympic Games 2012

After those two very important Statements, I return to the Olympics debate. First, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Grey-Thompson, on her wonderful speech. It brought to the House her experience in her particular field, and the fact that she is working so hard to make the Olympic Games a success. I thank the noble Baroness very much indeed, and all of us here look forward to hearing from her in future; I hope that she will keep us informed on progress. We have talked about the achievement of the Olympic legacy. My noble friend Lord Pendry said that that is one of the most important things that will come out of the Olympics. I agree with him completely. I do not want, any more than he did, to go down the path of the pessimists who are saying that nothing can be done and that the Commonwealth Games did not bring any more participation. That is not the way to look at it; we must look at how we are going to improve it and what we are going to do about it. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Addington, whose expertise in sport I have listened to on so many occasions, that it is about bringing together schools and sports clubs and, if I may say so, the important role of local authorities in this direction. We have already seen the success in the provision of free swimming; more than 80 per cent of local authorities participate in that. All those roles must come together if we are to achieve the result that we all desire: that more people participate. According to last figures that the Sports Council produced, although there was an overall increase in the number who were participating—and a very welcome one, if I may say so, in non-white groups participating in sport—there was a drop in the number of women and people with disabilities who were participating, so we have a lot of work to do there. I have one or two questions for the Minister. Have the Government now abandoned the target that we gave to Sport England of 2 million people participating by 2012? Is that still a target or not? I would welcome anything that he has to say about that. The noble Lord, Lord Patten, dealt with transport. I agree with him to some extent: we must not be complacent about that. We have to move a lot of people to and from the Games, as well as keeping up the normal public transport services. We cannot rely on saying that there will be fewer people or cars on the road in August. A lot of work has been done, but I hope it is sufficient to move those people. I want to ask the Minister about the VIP routes which are being set up. As we know, there are many venues, including Wimbledon. I say to my noble friend who will reply to the debate that playing the tennis there will be a world’s first in that it is being played on grass. I know that she will correct me if I am wrong about that. There is Wembley, Earls Court, Eton and all the other areas. What is the position of the VIP tracks which are being established for the athletes and officials to move quickly from one venue to another? As I understand it, a lot of people would not mind disruption to their normal life for a few days, but if it is to go on for six weeks, we might find a lot of opposition. If the Minister could update me about that, I would be very pleased. Another thing is the transformation of east London. We have heard a lot of the positive aspects about that. How far are we going in relation to the additional housing that will come after the Olympics have finished—not only taking over where the athletes have lived but expanding—and the social housing, of which more than one half is scheduled? Are the plans going ahead? Are we on schedule to achieve that? While we are talking about construction—I am sorry that my noble friend Lady Morgan is not here at the moment—I am very pleased that construction is going to British companies, but it was also said that local people would be employed by the contractors. Is that happening? Equally importantly, how many unemployed local people are now working on those sites and how many of the apprenticeships are going to local youths? Those are the kind of measures by which we can judge how positive the results are. We are all proud of what is being achieved in the Olympics themselves, and we all want to make it a blueprint for the future. We want to demonstrate—we have made a very good start on this—that it is wonderful not only to live in the United Kingdom but to visit it. The Olympics provide us with a lot of business opportunities. Our companies which are participating are gaining expertise for future world events that I hope will stand them in good stead. I am also pleased that there will be a future for the stadium. In instances in the past, stadiums have been neglected after the Games are over. What has been a showpiece at the time has been quickly forgotten. None of us wants that, and it looks as if there is a future for the stadium. In the Commonwealth games in Manchester, there was a future for the stadium, where Manchester City now plays. That has been a very useful development, because it means that events are taking place there all the time, crowds are going there, and work has been brought to the area by people coming to watch the game. It is important that we mention what might happen to the stadium. I know that I have asked the Minister quite a few questions, but what about green sustainability? I am sure that he has something about that in his notes. We know the record of his colleagues in that part of the coalition: they have always been interested in sustainable energy. Therefore, why has the green turbine being abandoned? After all, 20 per cent of the renewable energy was going to come from it. I would be very pleased to hear from him why they have gone down that route. Overall, all of us must say, so far, so good; it is a real success story. I believe that, the way that things are going, we can present something of which we can be proud. Many of the Olympic Games of the past have been wonderful events for the country that staged them. In our case, I want to see not only that it is a magnificent event at the time but that we look to the future and sustain what has happened for the development of the East End of London for the wealth of the people who live there and for the benefit of the country, and that having invested so much money in this project we get a return from it.