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Mr. Campbell : The hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde corroborates what I say. If we are right, Opposition Members appear to have made a convert. Conversion is always welcome, however late it comes. However, in the case of the hon. Member for Luton, North, it occasions some surprise among those of us who have heard him speak on the topic in debates of this nature over the years.
We have long argued--I think that I speak for other Opposition parties in that--that sport needs to be an accepted priority for the Government. Clearly, we must enthusiastically welcome the creation of the new Department, and I should like to set it a task. I suggest that the Minister's first task should be a comprehensive audit of sports facilities in conjunction with local authorities throughout Britain, so that we can discover what facilities--whether private or public--exist and satisfy ourselves that they are being used to maximum advantage.
Reference has already been made to school facilities. In 1965, I attended my first meeting of the United Kingdom Sports Council. I was appointed by Denis Howell, as he then was. I remember an extended debate about dual community use of existing school facilities. We spent a long time discussing the deeply significant principle of who would pay the janitor if the facilities were made available to the public. The tragedy is, I suspect, that people still argue about who will pay the janitor. Often, that argument is the last obstruction to proper use of school facilities. After all, such facilities are paid for with public funds and are designed for public use.
Mr. Nigel Evans : Does the hon. and learned Gentleman agree that it is criminal that, during the long summer breaks, tennis courts and sports facilities in schools, colleges and universities are locked up and young people--indeed, people of all ages--are denied access to them? It is hardly surprising that we do so badly in sporting championships such as Wimbledon when people are denied access to such facilities.
Mr. Campbell : The hon. Gentleman makes a penetrating point. How many times do we drive or walk past colleges, universities or other institutions of higher education and see remarkable facilities unused, when, out in the street, children try to play with a ball while they dodge the passing cars? The hon. Gentleman makes a profound point, and I hope that the Minister will do his best to ensure that action is taken on a view strongly held on both sides of the House. The hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) raised an issue on behalf of the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation. He makes a strong point, not least because the communities served by the facilities are often geographically remote. The villages were built close to the coal. Sometimes, the facilities are the only recreational facilities in the community. If one started from scratch, it might be difficult, for many different financial reasons, to build equivalent facilities in those locations--indeed, one probably would not embark on building such facilities in those communities now.
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If the facilities already exist, surely everthing should be done to preserve them. If local authorities cannot purchase them, is it not possible to consider some form of leasing or some imaginative use of public resources to ensure that the facilities continue to be available to the communities they serve?I unequivocally welcome the creation of the United Kingdom sports commission. I hope that the Minister will not think me mischievous if I say that it makes more than a passing nod to federalism, a concept which does not always find favour among Conservative Members. Its success will depend on the extent to which its policies accurately reflect the needs of the United Kingdom as a whole.
I further argue that we should establish a United Kingdom institute of sport to complement the commission and create a coherent structure for the development of coaching, sports science and sports medicine. It could bring together the work of the Institute of Sports Medicine, the British Olympic Association, the National Coaching Foundation, the British Institute of Sport Coaches and the British Association of Sport Scientists.
As the hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde said, we should never forget the importance of sport in the economy. It accounts for almost 400,000 jobs in the United Kingdom. It generates a £9 billion turnover annually. It also generates healthy revenue for the Government. Before I move on from a brief consideration of the financial significance of sport, I remind the Minister yet again that the case for charitable status for amateur sport remains wholly convincing. Those of us who believe that the Government should proceed in that way will continue to press the Minister and Treasury Ministers to bring about that modest relaxation. It would have an extraordinary galvanising effect on amateur sport throughout Britain.
I turn to international events. The hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde gave an example of the young man who won bronze medals in the archery competition but was denied public funds. That is monstrous. I do not know whether the Minister was embarrassed, but I felt embarrassed on behalf of the United Kingdom and the House of Commons. We are all quick to praise sportsmen, and by association to derive some of the glory which attaches to their achievements. The young man is a record breaker not only because he has won medals which Britain has not won for 84 years but because he is aged only 17 and therefore something of a prodigy. It is monstrous that he was denied access to public funds for the period during which he represented his country. I hope that the Minister will do something about it.
Mr. Key : Whatever the rights and wrongs of the issue, one can be legalistic and say that, by statute, one is bound to take a certain course of action, and such actions were duly taken. No errors or exceptions were made in that case. Nevertheless, I share the hon. and learned Gentleman's sense of embarassment about it. He will be interested to know that I am in correspondence with my colleague at the Department of Social Security, and I shall meet him soon to discuss ways in which such issues may be handled more sensitively.
Mr. Campbell : I am grateful to the Minister for that intervention. If that is to be his attitude when such issues
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arise, he will receive a warm welcome and considerable support from Opposition Members interested in such matters.On the question of financial support for individuals, it is assumed that all international sportsmen are at least able to support themselves by practising their sports, if they are not rich. The truth is that the position varies from sport to sport, and there are great variations within some sports at international level. How can a man or woman give of his or her best at international level, if they are worried about their financial circumstances ? How can a man or woman hope to compete at his or her best at international level, unless they can afford the time or the commitment which international sport now requires ? There is an interesting illustration. A member of the rowing eight needs the same commitment as someone who competes in an individual event, such as the Olympic 100 metres. I know that the accessibility of financial support is very different for those two people, who give the same time, effort and commitment. I do not suggest that there should be public financial support for sportsmen, but we must try to create an environment in which such support can be made available for promising sportsmen, who will be the medallists of the future, as well as for the best sportsmen. On support for international events in the United Kingdom, the last time that we debated sport, the then Minister treated as risible my suggestion that the Government should give massive financial support to Manchester. If the Under-Secretary looks at the Official Report, he will be able to read the response. Yet, within weeks, and no doubt partly due to the influence of an imminent general election, the Prime Minister announced support to the tune of £55 million. I welcome that support--one could not do otherwise-- not least because I know Mr. Bob Scott. The bid that he has mounted, and the care and skill which he has demonstrated in carrying it through, has been remarkable, and he deserves the congratulations of the House. However, we need unequivocal support from the Government.
I witnessed the unhappy events of the last Commonwealth games in Edinburgh at close quarters, and I was also aware of the difficulties caused as a result of Sheffield hosting the world student games. There is no doubt that our international reputation was not assisted by either of those events, and we have much resistance to overcome. I draw the Under-Secretary's attention to the fact that one merely has to consider the resources being put into the Atlanta bid to realise what we are up against. We have no Coca -Cola company to stand four square behind the bid and to offer to meet every deficit however it may arise. Perforce, we shall have to look to the Government to lead support for the Manchester bid, which is clearly worthy of support, not merely for the geographical area in which it is located, but for the United Kingdom, as hon. Members have said.
Drug abuse in sport concerns me greatly. As some hon. Members may be aware, I have several times tried to persuade the Government to legislate to make anabolic steriods controlled drugs, under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, and to make it a criminal offence to possess them or to have the intent to supply them. I have succeeded in
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persuading Ministers to some extent, because Home Office Ministers have made at least two public announcements that such legislation was to be promoted. Along with Colin Moynihan, I received a favourable reference in a leader in The Times about the success of the campaign in which we had both been involved.I am sad to say that there has been no legislation. There has been a promise to introduce legislation to protect those under 18, but that would be insufficient. I believe--I say this advisedly--that the abuse of anabolic steroids is widespread in United Kingdom sport, both in organised sport and in informal recreation based on gymasiums.
The Sports Council and governing bodies, with Government assistance and encouragement, have a programme of random testing, within and outside competitions, which I welcome. I also welcome the idea that the education of young sportsmen and women is an essential component. However, I understand that sportsmen and women are willing to take the risk which the use, or abuse, of anabolic steroids necessarily involves.
Mr. Key : That is certainly a live issue, and the Home Secretary has lead responsibility for the legal control of drugs and has said that he is reviewing the position. My view is that anabolic steroids should become controlled substances. The evidence of the extent of their misuse and their harmful medical effects is sufficient to warrant their control under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Mr. Campbell : Yet again, the Minister earns our support and thanks for his sensible and speedy acknowledgement of a matter which has occupied the minds of some Opposition Members for some time. I hope that he will not demur if I develop the reasons why our views are correct.
It is said that anabolic steriods are being supplied in virtually every gymnasium in the country, and because such recreation is informal there is no question of those people who have access to and take such drugs being tested. The hon. Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Mr. Hargreaves), who is unhappily unable to be here because of a constituency engagement, spoke to me in the Lobby last night. He has made a study of the subject and has acquired considerable information, which I am sure he will be happy to make available to the Under-Secretary if he has not already done so.
How can one tell that someone is abusing anabolic steroids? There are a number of tell-tale signs : first, a sudden and unexplained improvement in performance ; secondly, a dramatic increase in muscle bulk ; and thirdly, sudden unexplained bouts of aggression. Why do I believe that those drugs should be controlled under the 1971 Act? First, they are known to have the potential to damage health ; they are known to carry with them the risk of cancer, especially of the liver. They are known to affect the sexual characteristics of both men and women and to give rise to blood clotting.
So far, we have no experience of the long-term effects of the abuse of anabolic steroids, but there is evidence of at least one death caused by steroid abuse, that of Tom Hawk, a body-builder, who, upon post-mortem examination, having died suddenly and without explanation, was found to have a grossly enlarged heart which the cardiologist responsible for the examination considered could be attributed to abuse of anabolic steroids.
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There is also increasing evidence of psychological effects, of sudden bouts of aggression, and there is evidence that the drugs may be the cause of personality change. Dr. Priscilla Choy and her colleagues at the department of psychology in the university of London have carried out some of the most interesting and innovative work in that field.These drugs are dangerous, but there is a risk that naive or ambitious sports men or women will believe that taking them is the only way to win. When the Olympic gold medal in the 100 metres is won by a cheat, drug abuse goes right to the heart of sport. I am afraid that there is hardly a sport in the United Kingdom in which power is the predominant factor that does not supply some evidence or in which there is not at least some suspicion of steroid abuse. I have believed for some time that legislation is necessary, and I welcome the Minister's intervention, making clear his personal position. Subordinate legislation should be enough and it is high time that such legislation was introduced. I look forward to the Government doing so.
12.30 pm
Mr. Anthony Coombs (Wyre Forest) : I take pleasure in participating in the debate and welcome the Government's action, and especially that of the Prime Minister, in setting up the Department of National Heritage which, for the first time, gives sport a place at the Cabinet table. I pay tribute to the former Secretary of State for National Heritage, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Putney (Mr. Mellor). I was proud to be his Parliamentary Private Secretary for three years. He showed great dynamism in setting up the Department and, despite the qualities of the present Secretary of State, he is greatly missed by sporting organisations.
The inclusion of sport in the Department of National Heritage recognises its importance, because it is not a pigeon hole of our national life but integral to our economy and culture. We have heard that sport provides 476,000 jobs and about £10 billion worth of gross national product. It has an important role to play in the nation's health, as set out in the Department of Health document. A recent Mori poll found that 83 per cent. of people felt that sport was important for health. As hon. Members have said, sport is important in promoting a sense of social stability, cohesion and character development. The Mori poll also found that eight out of 10 people thought that sport was increasingly important in that regard. It is also right that the Department of National Heritage should be responsible for tourism, because it has been calculated that 15 per cent. of tourists come here specifically to pursue sporting opportunities. Over the past 20 years the improvement in sports facilities and in participation has been impressive. The general household survey shows that in the past five years alone 29 million people--some 2 million more than before--take part in some form of sport once a month. That is about two thirds of the population, and the increase applies across the social scale and to the ethnic minorities.
Sporting facilities are probably at their best ever level. The west midlands has 158 sports halls, and in the past two years two sports halls have been built in my constituency, one in Kidderminster and the other in Bewdley. We have 412 athletic tracks and 116 swimming pools, which is a record. More significantly, over the past 10 years the number of artificial grass surfaces, which have led to a
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massive increase in the interest in sports such as hockey, has risen from 30 to 282. It is no coincidence that one third of the current capital budget for the West Midlands council for sport and recreation is committed to the provision of articial grass surfaces. That improvement is a good example of genuine co-operation between county and district councils, the Government, the Sports Council, voluntary bodies and the private sector. It is interesting to see that over the past 10 years the amount of private sponsorship money has risen from £129 million to £230 million a year.In all, in terms of participation and facilities, the sporting sector is burgeoning, vibrant and improving. Equally, given the fact that the sporting sector has been characterised by a multiplicity of initiatives, one of its weaknesses is that it has no strategic body overviewing sports strategy throughout the United Kingdom. No fewer than 400 governing bodies are associated with the Central Council of Physical Recreation. The Sports Council, the UK sports commission to be set up shortly, the British Olympic Association, the Foundation for Sport and the Arts and a myriad county and district councils are all involved in the provision of sport.
It is interesting to see that the Sports Council shows that, although there are 150,000 sports clubs in the United Kingdom--about the same number as in France--the average number of members of those sports clubs is only 43 against double that in France and about seven times as many in Germany. That multiplicity of small clubs may lead to a weakness in co-ordinating sport strategy in the future. I hope that the United Kingdom sports commission will confine itself to strategy, to facilitating development, rather than trying to produce it itself. I was slightly concerned to hear the Minister say that the split of funding between the United Kingdom sports commission and the English sports council was likely to be about £18 million for the United Kingdom sports commission and £22 million for the English sports council. I was under the impression that the sports commission would be a co-ordinating body rather than one that provided facilities. The £18 million must be looked at and more funds given to the English sports council.
A diversity of provision can be a strength and I was delighted to see recently, for example, that the Birmingham city council, the Sports Council, the National Coaching Foundation and governing bodies of sport are all involved in producing the West Midlands regional performance centre. In my constituency, the county and district councils, together with the Foundation for Sport and the Arts and the West Midlands council for sport and recreation, hope to build a sporting centre of regional significance. In Birmingham, we have recently seen initiatives, such as "Fit for the Job", which encompass initiatives by the Confederation of British Industry, Birmingham city council and the Sports Council.
Most important in terms of co-ordinating sports activities is dual use. Certain authorities are good at ensuring that leisure facilities are put in schools, as my hon. Friend the Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) mentioned earlier. In other authorities, dual use has not got off the ground and, as a result, there is an enormous waste of facilities. I urge the Government, through the Department of National Heritage and the Department for Education, to ensure that every local education authority follows the example of Birmingham city council, which I
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have criticised in many other respects. It has been in the forefront of providing dual use facilities. Recently, I visited the Cocksmoor Woods centre in Birmingham, which is probably a paradigm of its kind.If grant-maintained status is to take hold--I am sure that it will-- education access boards must take a more constructive view of the ownership of assets that would otherwise be transferred from local authorities to individual grant-maintained schools. The Opposition have a point when they say that we cannot expect a local education authority to invest large amounts of capital in dual use facilities in a school, only to see them shuffled off into a grant-maintained school without opportunities for access by the community.
There are three sectors in which co-operation between the myriad sporting organisations can be improved : finances and resources, marketing, and general attitudes towards sport.
My hon. Friend the Member for Luton, North (Mr. Carlisle) was correct to say that, whether we like it or not, the finances of both central Government and local government will be tighter than ever over the next few years. That is already evident in local authority expenditure on revenue account, which has dropped from £1.5 billion in 1985 to £1.3 billion in 1990 at constant prices. The same applies to capital expenditure which has dropped, albeit from a high level. Although large numbers of new facilities were established in the 1970s and 1980s, many of them are now coming up for major repairs, maintenance and refurbishment. The Sports Council estimated that in 1988 the ratio of expenditure on new projects to that on repairs was likely to be 15 : 1 ; by this year the likely ratio will be 1.8 : 1, and no less than £1.3 billion will be needed over the next five years for spending on the refurbishment of swimming pools.
The only way to tackle such problems, given the stringencies on public sector financing, is by greater involvement by the private sector, not only in the provision of new facilities, but in refurbishing existing ones. I was pleased to hear my hon. Friend the Minister announce encouraging news about "Sports Match". It is important for local authorities to be allowed to use--albeit on a controlled basis--a greater proportion of their capital receipts for refurbishment, particularly in relation to investment by the private sector.
We must reconsider the tax treatment of sporting organisations such as the Rugby Football Union, Wimbledon and the British Olympic Association--which are effectively non-profit making
organisations--given that the Government receive £3.3 billion a year from sport. There is also a case for a sports enterprise allowance in some parts of the country to be given to private companies that were prepared totally to refurbish sports facilities that would otherwise not attract private capital. That policy could apply in the same way as it does in our industrial strategy.
The national lottery will be important in future, and I have some sympathy with the argument of the Foundation for Sport and the Arts and other organisations that the lottery and existing pools organisations should compete on a level playing field. However, we cannot have a successful and vibrant national lottery if it is continually
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shackled by taxation and artificially close competition from existing organisations. If the lottery is to be successful, we must give it 100 per cent. support as it is a new concept in this country. It will be of tremendous benefit to the country and we should bear that uppermost in our minds when discussing its future.The second sector in which there needs to be close co-operation is marketing. One of the items that the Sports Council identified as needing improvement in the marketing of sport was ensuring that policy documents issued from the Sports Council at national level reached local level. The message of "What's your sport" and "Ever thought of sport?" has not trickled down to the myriad sports clubs and individuals as it should. There is a case for greater co-ordination of marketing at local level between tourism information centres, centres run by the Arts Council and those run by sporting organisations. It is important that the Foundation for Sport and the Arts should become involved in promoting international events with local sporting organisations. It is even more vital that, through sports scholarships, by emphasising the importance of the sports links scheme and as a result of improvements in the national curriculum, we encourage greater investment in sport in schools. My final point relates to attitude. One of the most important speeches that I have heard recently was that delivered by Judy Simpson, who used to be an Olympic athlete, and who conveyed to people the message that sport was not only good for health but fun and an opportunity to meet people. Athletes can ram that message home. Judy Simpson emphasised the importance of health--indeed, she made the speech on a health day that I had organised.
I regard as appalling the findings of the Allied Dunbar national fitness survey, which was alluded to by the hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Mr. Pendry) in a very good speech. That survey showed that 80 per cent. of the population believe themselves to be fit, yet a third of men and two thirds of women cannot continue to walk at a reasonable pace on a one-in-20 slope. That suggests that the nation is suffering from delusion on a massive scale. When we add to that the fact that 50 per cent. of women aged over 55 regard sustaining a reasonable walking pace--three miles per hour-- for several minutes on level ground as severe exertion, it is hardly surprising that we have the worst cardiac problems in Europe.
The Health Education Authority and district and local authorities, including my own, are trying to get the health message across. It is crucial that the Department of Health should set specific targets for exercise among different age groups in the community to reduce significantly the incidence of cardiovascular problems. That activity must not be confined to older people but must encompass younger people, not least because an horrific survey by Exeter university showed that 50 per cent. of girls and a third of boys of school age did not do enough exercise to avoid cardiovascular problems later in life. The health message is crucial, and the Government as a whole--not just the Department of National Heritage but the Department for Education and the Department of Health-- must take that on board. Sport encourages the team spirit and, if properly supervised, encourages the spirit of fair play. Given my attitude to so many of the activities of Birmingham city council, it may seem incongruous that I should commend its department of recreation and community services on its
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community sports club project whose purpose is to try to encourage the development of team sport and team spirit over that of the casual sport encouraged by many of the policies to which we have referred this morning.In sum, the problems of sport are problems of growth, success and co- ordination. If we involve the private sector more in funding in the ways that I have described, if we make the lottery a success, if we co-ordinate sports, arts and tourism marketing activities, and if we push the health message, we shall have a more sportsmanlike, healthy and active population, which can only be to our advantage. I recognise the crucial role that the Department of National Heritage has to play in all this. That is why I was so delighted to be asked by the previous Secretary of State to serve as his PPS. I will remain closely interested in the Department's activities and I wish its Ministers the very best of success.
12.48 pm
Mr. Jim Callaghan (Heywood and Middleton) : Having served on several Committees with the Minister, and being aware of his dedication and hard work on those Committees, I congratulate him on his promotion. I am sure that, with the same dedication and hard work, he will be an excellent Minister for Sport.
I took particular interest in the beginning of the Minister's speech, when he said that, as a teacher, he had done much sterling work on behalf of children. He nudged my memory banks, because I, too, was a teacher many years ago. It was my privilege to run three schoolboy football teams voluntarily for many years. It was hard work, but it was extremely rewarding for a variety of reasons, one of which was when a youngster achieved international recognition. My deep concern each year was the lack of good facilities. My boys played on a local authority park situated some miles away from the school. The changing facilities comprised little more than a cubicle in a converted whitewashed cowshed. There was no electricity --I used candles for light during the dark months--and no hot or cold water, but the cubicle did have a bin toilet and a wooden trough urinal. Hon. Members will recognise that facilities were excellent ! I felt ashamed, particularly in wintry weather, that I had to send the boys home caked in freezing mud. My frequent protestations to the local authority about the state of the facilities resulted in their being closed down. We were punished for protesting.
Years later, it was my privilege to visit South Korea with the Select Committee on Transport. I asked whether it was possible for members of the Committee to see the facilities provided by the South Korean Government for the Seoul Olympic games. The authorities quickly agreed to the request. On one of our days off, they took us to the Olympic campus. I was staggered and amazed at the superb facilities provided. I realised that I had been overtaken in my ambition to obtain light and water in my whitewashed cowshed for my schoolboy footballers. Obviously I had not aimed high enough. I asked what use was now being made of the magnificient stadiums. I was informed that the facilities had been used for a variety of subsequent asiatic games, but it was also pointed out that in the middle of the campus was a large college of education, similar to Loughborough, in which hundreds of students were studying to be sports instructors. As a result,
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the facilities for sport were in constant daily use. With that in mind, and as a Mancunian born and bred, I am delighted to support Manchester's Olympic bid for the year 2000 and to bring to the Minister's notice the consequent bid of Hopward Hall college in my constituency for Olympic 2000 satellite venue status.For the third time in succession, Britain is bidding to host the Olympic games. Manchester, the British candidate, has the backing of the Government, national and international business and local authorities. For the first time, a bidding city, Manchester, has the active support of the Government, who have committed £55 million to develop the venue. I thank them for that. As a result, Manchester will have two major facilities under construction by September 1993--a £50 million complex comprising a major indoor arena seating 18,000 people and a £9 million covered velodrome. The 121-acre east Manchester site for a £12 million complex will have been acquired and reclaimed by the time the bid is ready. It will comprise the Olympic stadium, which will seat 60,000 people and will be capable of an increased capacity of 80,000 seats.
Decisions on other venues that are strategically distributed across the north of England will be made later, and that is the point of my speech. As the International Olympic Committee decides in September 1993 on the nomination to host the 2000 games, Manchester must submit a fully documented bid to the IOC by then. The Manchester bid is based on the development of an Olympic ring, with as many venues as possible within a motorway ring around Manchester. Therefore, the bid will be considerably enhanced by the evidence that facilities to host the Olympic games exist or that future development is committed in the area.
Hopwood Hall college, which is located in my constituency and set in the most beautiful and magnificent grounds, has accordingly produced a feasibility study on the college becoming a nominated satellite venue before the scheduled visit by the international Olympic representatives. If the Minister wants a copy of that feasibility study, which is supported by three Members of Parliament--one Labour, one Conservative and one Liberal Democrat, who attended meetings during the summer recess--I shall gladly let him have one.
Hopwood Hall college is a local authority tertiary college, formed in September 1990 and funded by the Rochdale metropolitan borough council. The campus is situated south of Middleton in my constituency, close to the M62 at junction 19 and has a frontage to the A664, leading to the M66 motorway ring around Manchester. The campus is three miles from Rochdale and six miles from Greater Manchester city centre. A new station on the Manchester railway line is proposed at Slattocks, which is within walking distance of the college. The college's draft business plan sets out a number of strategic objectives for the campus. It must develop a new sports centre to satisfy Olympic standards specifications and achieve selection as a small area satellite venue. There will be a training complex for the 1996 European football championships which will provide the facilities necessary to secure the continued involvement of Bobby Charlton Enterprises in delivering residential and one-day courses in soccer skills.
Hopwood Hall college is designated within the Manchester venue strategy to host the Olympic judo competition and some of the preliminary rounds of the
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Olympic handball competition. The college can satisfy the Manchester Olympic bid committee on the after-use of the venue, and that the venue is practical and does not have grandiose, unrealisable plans. The venue is easily accessible to spectators, competitors and officials in terms of travelling times from the major venues, the athletes' village and the major hotels and airports. The college venue is of the highest quality, both in terms of the competition and the ancillary facilities such as training and warm-up areas, medical and first aid suites and meeting rooms.I could go on and list all the superb facilities already in the campus, but that would take up too much time. However, I shall say that the overall technical requirements of the Olympic handball competition are that we need one handball playing hall, with a connected warm-up hall, seating for 7,000 people, changing rooms for teams and officials, medical and dope testing rooms. For the judo, we need a competition hall seating 8,000 spectators.
The predominant users of the complex after the games will be the college, with surplus capacity being used by the community, clubs and organisations that have their own operational requirements and resources. Effective programming of use will realise spare capacity which, in turn, will provide the opportunity for bodies such as Bobby Charlton Enterprises, sports clubs and the community at large to utilise the facilities to deliver the services that are demanded of them. The research done into the feasibility of the satellite venue has been carried out by York Consulting Ltd. of Leeds and its research has shown a significant demand from clubs and organisations in the north Manchester area. Some 400 football teams, for example, are registered in the area. The Oldham Owls disabled sports club seeks to establish a permanent home base for its sports and social activities. It believes that its requirements can be satisfied by the facilities to be provided at the college.
The college will be able to provide facilities for tennis, bowls, basketball, volleyball and martial arts. The proposal is for a feasible, flexible facility which will be used on a long-term basis for the college's core purposes of education and training, but which will also have the capacity for use by a wide range of users, such as the 9,000 students and members of the community, engaged in a wide range of sports.
The Minister said of the Manchester bid :
"A successful bid, well executed, would be a great boost to the regional economy and urban regeneration in Manchester and the north-west. I have, for example, seen estimates that suggest that the event could add £0.5 billion to the United Kingdom invisible exports Partnership is a common theme of our whole approach to investment and regeneration ... We expect local commitment, participation, value for money and well-constructed ideas that are capable of implementation."--[ Official Report, 4 July 1991 ; Vol. 194, c. 540.]
The Hopwood Hall college bid for the satellite venue status meets all those requirements.
On 22 June 1992, the Secretary of State for Education agreed an additional capital resource of £2.5 million to enable the local education authority to discharge all outstanding liabilities relating to the purchase of the
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Hopwood Hall site and to the convenanted refurbishment of the college buildings. On Friday 17 July 1992, the Queen officially opened the college.Accordingly, I can do no better than to invite the Minister to follow in the Queen's footsteps and to visit the college. I shall introduce him to the principal, Mr. Wailes, to Mr. Ronnie Todd, the resources manager, and to Mr. Peter Jackson, the sports development officer. All of them, together with York Consulting Ltd., have contributed so much to the college's bid for satellite venue status. I am sure that the Minister will be impressed when he tours the college campus. To coin a phrase, the college intends to go for gold. There are no medals for coming second. I ask the Minister please to pay us a visit.
1.2 pm
Lady Olga Maitland (Sutton and Cheam) : I am delighted that sport has now been energised and given a top priority by the Government. It has had a lead from the Prime Minister and I was delighted to see that sport has now been raised to Cabinet level, as has been mentioned this morning. Much has been achieved and a long catalogue could be recited, but much still needs to be done.
There is bad news about national fitness as was pointed out by the hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Mr. Pendry) and by my hon. Friend the Member for Wyre Forest (Mr. Coombs) who referred to the Allied Dunbar report. They could have added a few more facts. One in three of all men and two thirds of all women were unable to continue walking at a reasonable pace--3 mph--up a one in 20 slope without becoming breathless and having to slow down or stop. They could also have said that 8 per cent. of men and 13 per cent. of women are obese. In a survey on 16 to 24-year-olds, 70 per cent. of the young men and 91 per cent. of the women were living lives below the activity level necessary for a fit and healthy life.
If we cast our eyes around the Chamber, could we in all honesty claim that we maintain a proper fitness record? I had better come clean. My own record is one of running up and down stairs in the House, a spot of gardening, mothers' tennis, and sailing boats and turning them upside down. Perhaps I have a long way to go. In no other country can there be such a gap between the theory of a fit and healthy populace and the actual practice--we are crying out to get something done. Never has more brain power, never have more pens pushing paper, been devoted to telling us how we can become fitter, but we still need to do more and continue our efforts to encourage health and fitness. We must persuade our citizens that they need to exercise at least 20 minutes three times a week if they want to increase their fitness. At first sight that seems rather demanding, but we must bear in mind that our starting point is very low and that we still have a long way to go. Many people could quickly move up the activity ladder from the lowest rungs by taking more brisk walks, using stairs, not lifts, walking to the shops instead of going by car, and spending more time doing heavy work in the house and garden. Active living begins in childhood--hence the importance of sport in schools. Interestingly, during the past four years successive reports have established that most 16-year-olds do not even have one exercise period a week. Most school leavers do not take part in organised exercise, certainly nothing the equivalent of a 20-minute walk.
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I congratulate the Government on recognising the importance of sport in schools. I declare an interest as a member of the Education Select Committee. I am delighted to see that the Education Department is liaising closely with the Department of National Heritage. Physical education is now a foundation subject in the national curriculum. I was pleased to see that in 1990 the Select Committee moved this issue up the political agenda, notably stressing the importance of children learning to swim and taking part in team games, which have now become compulsory up to the age of 16.We need to bear it in mind just how important these sports in schools are. They induce not only physical but mental health. A child who does well on the sports field but is a low academic achiever will feel his morale lifted. He will feel better and that will reflect in his school work. It will raise self-confidence all round. We all know that if people believe that they can do something, they can. By lacking faith in themselves, many people fail to achieve, but sport enables non-academics to flourish. That is most important for children who think that they are failures and who may become problematic later in life. Sport can identify and develop special talent. It can divert potential hooligans by channelling their energies constructively in the sports hall.
Above all, let us remember the moral aspect of sport. Team sports teach leadership, responsibility, respect for rules and fair play, and good behaviour. The expression, "Be a good sport," has great value. We should not underestimate the importance of teaching manners in schools.
Although games and physical education lessons are now part of the core curriculum in school hours, it is a pity that we have such a struggle to provide enough back-up sport, with teachers helping with competitive matches between school teams outside school hours--when children play soccer, rugby and cricket after the school day or at weekends. As has already been said, those problems are compounded by the selling of school playing fields for development. There has been a decline in the number of state school teachers who are willing and able to maintain a commitment to teach sport outside school hours. I must take issue with the hon. Member for Oldham, Central and Royton (Mr. Davies). He complained that teachers' pay and contracts had become overdefined and that they were unable to devote their energies and resources to extra-curricular activities. I must stress that it was the teachers' unions who boxed them in, not the Government. I must also pay a tribute to the magnificently dedicated teachers who uncomplainingly and without seeking reward devote an enormous amount of time to help sport outside schools. There is also a minor cultural problem in that we must get children away from television sets and from their sedentary lives. We must make them accept that sport is a natural way of life.
Physical education is a subject in its own right. It is important that we recognise that physical education is now part of the core curriculum, but we must ensure that it is properly timetabled so that we know how often it is happening and what the pupils are doing. I hope that the independent inspectorate for schools will consider that matter very carefully and not accept sweeping statements like, "Oh, yes. The children are doing sport." Commitment and action are sometimes far apart.
I want to stress an education issue which stretches into sport. The Education Department supports the idea of
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specialised schools and vocational studies. However, no mention has yet been made of the fact that schools could add sport to the list of studies including languages and technology. I hope that the National Heritage Department will press for a greater recognition of the importance of sport as a special subject.We should also bear it in mind how we balance physical education in schools. There is a tendency in the teaching establishment to believe that time spent on sport is wasted because pupils are not concentrating on academic subjects. Academic work is as important as sport and pupils should be able to devote equal time to both.
Dr. Spink : Does my hon. Friend agree that a healthy body can produce a healthy mind? The link between good achievement in sport and good academic achievement is not lost.
Lady Olga Maitland : I agree with my hon. Friend. The Swedes have devoted an enormous amount of effort to ensure that children with academic inclinations spend as much time on sport as they do on their studies. Sport is given a higher priority.
If we want more sport in schools, it must be paid for. That is a difficulty because every nation has its priorities. We must consider how to encourage teachers to play a role in out-of-school hours. I believe that it would make a lot of sense to give teachers a special payment in that regard.
Local authorities play an important part in sports provision. However, there is a danger that some local authorities may go overboard on sport at the expense of essential social services partly because people who need such services--the elderly, sick, vulnerable and handicapped--do not have the voice or numbers to state their own case. It is very important that local authorities have a balanced view of their priorities and how they should be funded.
I endorse the comments by the hon. and learned Member for Fife, North-East (Mr. Campbell), who called for a national audit of local authority sports facilities. That is the nub of the matter. Are local authority sports facilities properly monitored? Are we getting value for money? Is there access for all to school facilities whether they be grant-maintained or under the local management of schools system? Are we making sure that the waste of resources is being monitored? Are new schemes properly costed? Do local authorities want to spend first and worry later? Will a scheme or facility be properly used and is it what the local community wants or needs?
I certainly would encourage the joint venture commercial schemes that my hon. Friend the Minister mentioned and also the need to monitor compulsory competitive tendering. Above all, I support the call for an national sports authority to co-ordinate all sport. Things have become far too haphazard because there are many rival authorities.
We have talked about business sponsorship of sport. Sponsorship is important--sport cannot live on thin air--but it is haphazard, although I welcome the Government's Sports Match initiative and the Institute of Sports Sponsorship.
In my constituency of Sutton and Cheam, we have the excellent Sutton United football club. It has rightly achieved recognition. I shall soon attend one of its games--I might even have the opportunity to do a kick-off. What has been exciting and encouraging about the
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football club is that it is well-managed, there is no hooliganism and it has organised its own sponsorship. It approached Securicor, a locally based company, when it did particularly well in 1989 and won a famous victory over Coventry City in the FA cup series. As a result of that, a deal has been struck. That is a one-to-one relationship. I should like more pro-active Government involvement to help companies and sports in local communities.Sport has many roles, but one role that has not been mentioned is the role in the political world of healing sectarian passions. I have just returned from a visit to Northern Ireland. In Ulster, sport is the one sane activity which has been going on steadily over the past 20 years. International sportsmen have attended the Ulster games. The one piece of good news in Northern Ireland is sport. There is always a winner, and it is always Northern Ireland.
Mr. Pendry : I am sure that it was not lost on the hon. Lady when I mentioned that one of the reasons for that is that there is mandatory rate relief, which I have been asking the Government to consider for many years. That is one of the reasons--as a former Northern Ireland Minister, I agree with the hon. Lady--why there is so much sporting activity there, which is very good for the Province.
Lady Olga Maitland : I thank the hon. Gentleman for his comment. I am stressing not just the important financial input in sport in Northern Ireland but the spirit of the people. Although society might be divided, each culture has its sports, of which it is proud. In the same way as Yorkshire is famous for cricket, the Catholic community in Northern Ireland has sports at which it is successful such as Gaelic football, hurling and a sport which is new to me called Camoge--a women's stick-and-ball game halfway between hockey and lacrosse. Those sports are taught in Catholic schools. Protestant schools have their own sports at which they excel. They tend to be the English-oriented sports such as rugby and cricket.
It is encouraging that when the name and voice of Northern Ireland are at stake, everyone, whether Catholic or Protestant, routs for Northern Ireland. That is an exciting factor. When the football team headed by Billy Bingham plays against Denmark at Windsor Park stadium in Belfast the Protestants, and indeed the whole Province--even though the team is mainly Catholic--will root for the team. That is good news.
When other events such as county sports between the northern counties and those in the republic take place it is exciting to see that both the Protestants and the Catholics in Northern Ireland crowd around their television sets and watch, for example, the Down team triumph and beat in Gaelic games its rivals in the south. Sport in Ireland is important. It is important to recognise that sport can bring people together. We can explore that factor further in the future.
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Geoffrey Lofthouse) : Order. May I remind hon. Members that five hon. Members hope to catch my eye in the time available. I hope that they will bear that in mind and keep their speeches short.
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1.21 pmMr. John Denham (Southampton, Itchen) : I hope that hon. Members will forgive me for referring to a constituency matter that I mentioned earlier. I know that the Minister will take a personal, as well as a minsterial, interest in it. Many of his constituents sensibly choose to watch premier league football in Southampton. I should like to explore some of the problems that surround the conflict between the planning process and the efforts of clubs and local authorities which genuinely seek to meet the demands of the Taylor report. The Southampton football club, the Saints, has been located for many years at the Dell. The Dell is a city-centre ground with no car parking facilities. It is now very difficult to improve that site to provide modern spectator facilities.
When the Taylor report was produced, the football club and the city council responded enthusiastically to the challenge in that report. They worked together to draw up plans for a new community stadium on the northern fringe of Southampton at Stoneham. The aim of the exercise was to provide not simply modern facilities for the Southampton football club but a wide range of other sporting facilities such as running tracks and other leisure facilities for the people of Southampton and the surrounding area.
The plans were drawn up after a careful exercise by the city council to select a site, and discussions were initiated to raise city council funding, private funding and funding from the Football Trust as well as funding from the club itself. The difficulty is that those ambitious and good plans have not progressed anything like as fast as either the club or the city council would have liked. The reason for that is the basic failure of the strategic planning authority in Hampshire, the Hampshire county council. It displayed an obstructive attitude to the proposals from the beginning. When the proposals were launched the first response of the county council was to condemn them, then refuse to discuss them.
There was at last an agreement between Hampshire county council, Southampton city council and Eastleigh borough council, which covers part of the site, to have a joint expert study by officers to look at all the possible locations for a new football stadium. That official report, which was supported by professional planners from each of the three authorities, endorsed the Stoneham site as by far the best available. Since that date, the county council has ignored the report and, equally, failed to identify and back any alternative site for a replacement stadium. The Dell was identified as the worst possible site that one could find in Southampton. Because of the lack of strategic planning guidance, Eastleigh borough council--perhaps egged on by lurid and fantastic notions about the behaviour of football fans--also objected to the proposals.
The club and the city face the difficulty that they will not be able to get planning permission before the public inquiry. I am convinced that the planning arguments are so strong that they will win permission, but that is too far down the line to enable the club to meet the 1994 Taylor requirements.
The club has therefore been forced to introduce proposals, costing up to £2 million, to redevelop its existing site, which is an unsatisfactory solution. Although the club is putting a brave face on it, there must be some doubt whether it will be financially viable with reduced capacity at its existing stadium.
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