THIRD REPORT
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee
has agreed to the following Report:
STAGING INTERNATIONAL SPORTING EVENTS
I. INTRODUCTION
1. In the near future Ministers and public bodies
concerned with sport will need to consider the following issues
that will be crucial to future strategy and policy on staging
international sporting events in the United Kingdom:
- whether policy on sporting events is accorded
the right level of priority in relation to sports development
and public policy more generally;
- whether the appropriate lessons are being learned
from the staging of recent events and from the unsuccessful England
bid for the 2006 FIFA World Cup;
- whether the Wembley National Stadium project
will be completed in accordance with its latest timetable and
what role the Stadium can play in staging major events;
- whether the necessary measures are in place to
ensure that the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games are the striking
success that they can and should be;
- whether the necessary steps can be taken to enable
the 2005 World Athletics Championships to be staged at Picketts
Lock;
- whether the Government should support a bid to
stage the Olympic Games in London in 2012 or 2016; and
- whether sport in the United Kingdom and public
sector support for it are organised so as to optimise the effectiveness
with which major events are secured and delivered.
These are the matters with which this Report is concerned.
2. We first considered the subject of the present
inquiry in late 1998 and early 1999. On 19 May 1999, we published
a Report on Staging International Sporting Events which
examined events then in preparation and bids then underway and
made particular recommendations about Ministerial support for
the Manchester Commonwealth Games and Wembley National Stadium.[6]
We returned to consider the latter project early in 2000 following
the Government's decision to review Wembley's suitability as a
venue for athletics. On 2 March 2000, we published a Report on
Wembley National Stadium in which we recommended that Wembley
National Stadium be constructed with a platform in place to enable
the Stadium to be the venue for the 2005 World Athletics Championships.[7]
3. We began the present inquiry by seeking written
evidence in the Autumn of last year. In December 2000, we sought
further written evidence from certain organisations to clarify
or expand upon the initial submissions of those organisations.
We held four oral evidence sessions at Westminster in the course
of March 2001, hearing evidence from Mr Ken Bates, former Chairman
of Wembley National Stadium Limited, from the current Chairman
and Chief Executive of that company,[8]
from UK Athletics and Lee Valley Regional Park Authority,[9]
from Sport England,[10]
from Professor Alan Tomlinson of Brighton University, from Mr
Tony Banks MP, from the Football Association,[11]
from the British Olympic Association,[12]
from UK Sport,[13]
from Sir Nigel Mobbs, Chairman of the Wembley Task Force, and
from the Rt Hon Chris Smith MP, Secretary of State for Culture,
Media and Sport, and Kate Hoey MP, Minister for Sport.
4. On 19 and 20 March, we visited Manchester to be
briefed on the progress of arrangements for the 2002 Commonwealth
Games and to visit facilities completed or under construction
for that event. We held an evidence session at Manchester Town
Hall on 20 March, when we heard evidence from the Rt Hon Ian McCartney
MP, Minister of State in the Cabinet Office, and representatives
of Manchester 2002 Limited and Manchester City Council.[14]
5. We received a great range of written evidence
from sports governing bodies, public bodies and other organisations
and individuals, some of which has been published in Volume II
of this Report and the remainder of which has been reported to
the House and is available for inspection by Members of the House
of Commons in the Library of the House and by members of the public
in the House of Lords Record Office.[15]
6. We sought some unpublished material as part of
this inquiry. Lee Valley Regional Park Authority provided us with
two feasibility studies on the Lee Valley Stadium at Picketts
Lock. All references to those studies in this Report are to the
executive summaries which have been placed in the public domain.[16]
The BOA has provided us with a copy of its draft feasibility study
on a London Olympic bid. This document contains commercially sensitive
information and, although this study has informed our consideration
of Olympic issues, we respect its confidentiality in this Report.
We asked the Government to provide us with a copy of the Minutes
of the first meeting of the Government and Agencies Committee
on major events. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport declined
to do so, on the grounds that "the terms of the discussion
should be afforded confidentiality".[17]
7. We are most grateful to all those who gave evidence
to the Committee and assisted us in the course of our inquiry,
and in particular in the course of our visit to Manchester.
6 Fourth Report from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee,
Staging International Sporting Events, HC (1998-99) 124-I. Back
7 Fourth
Report from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Wembley
National Stadium, HC (1999-2000) 164. Back
8 Sir
Rodney Walker and Mr Bob Stubbs. Back
9 Mr
David Moorcroft OBE, Chief Executive, UK Athletics, Mr Len Hatton,
Chairman London 2005, and Mr Terry Colton, Championship Director,
UK Athletics, and Mr Shaun Dawson, Chief Executive, and Mr Simon
Evans, Director of Development, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority. Back
10 Mr
Trevor Brooking CBE, Chairman, Mr Derek Casey, Chief Executive,
and Ms Brigid Simmonds, Council member. Back
11 Mr
Geoff Thompson, Chairman, Mr David Davies, Executive Director,
Mr Alec McGivan, Director of the 2006 Bid Campaign, Sir Bobby
Charlton CBE, Ambassador for the 2006 Campaign, Mr Nic Coward,
Company Secretary, and Mr Frank Wheeler CMG. Back
12 Mr
Simon Clegg, Chief Executive, Mr Robert Datnow, Lawyer, and Mr
David Luckes, Projects Officer. Back
13 Sir
Rodney Walker, Chairman, Mr Richard Callicott, Chief Executive,
and Mr John Scott, Director of International Relations and Major
Events. Back
14 Mr
Charles Allen, Chairman, and Ms Frances Done, Chief Executive,
Manchester 2002 Limited, and Councillor Richard Leese, Leader,
and Mr Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive, Manchester City Council.
Mr McCartney was accompanied by Mr Robert Raine, a senior civil
servant in the Cabinet Office. Back
15 For
a list of Appendices to the Minutes of Evidence published in Volume
II, see pp lxii-lxiii, and for a list of papers placed in the
Record Office and guidance on how these papers can be inspected,
see p lxiv. Back
16 HC
Deb, 25 October 2000, col 128W; Executive Summary of the Lee
Valley Stadium Business Plan; National Athletics Stadium:
Summary of Drivers Jones Technical Feasibility Study. Back
17 Evidence,
p 201. Back
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