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Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD):
I realise that the clock is against us. The allocation of little more than two hours to debate such an important subject indicates that those who set the rules of the House do not regard the matter as highly as those of us who are in the Chamber. I suggest that the Minister discuss with his colleagues whether we should have more time for such a debate. Although there are differences among us on emphasis
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and issues around the edges, there is clearly more that unites us. I urge him to continue with the consensual approach that the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid-Kent (Hugh Robertson) also adopted.
School sport is a great idea, but not everyone agrees with that. Hon. Members in the Chamber agree with the Minister that sport should be at the heart of what schools do, but I suspect that the mandarins at the Department for Education and Skills and those at Nos. 10 and 11 Downing street do not share that view, because I have seen no evidence that sport is at the heart of what schools do. I was grateful to the Minister for his response to my intervention, because the evidence shows that schools that promote sport, physical exercise and health have better academic achievements than those that do not promote a healthy lifestyle. One of the problems of recent years has been an emphasis on academic achievement and school league tables to such an extent that head teachers and the educational establishment in general has felt that sport and music must be excluded or pushed to the sidelines so that schools can concentrate on academic subjects. However, a sporting environment promotes both greater academic achievement and young people's enjoyment. I sometimes get the impression that young people are not supposed to enjoy life, so we must get away from that.
Not all people want to engage in competitive sports, so we must cast the net more widely and loosely. "Sport for all" was a great slogan, but it might have discouraged those who did not think that they were good at sport and thus considered that it was not for them. Our aim should be participation regardless of ability. I would hope that that would create a broad-based pyramid that would lead to different degrees of attainment ranging from beginners and those who simply want to engage in sport for fun through to elite performers.
Obesity could be good news for sport. Thanks to the Health Committee's report on obesity, the ticking time bomb of a looming health crisis provides sport with a chance to get its rightful place on the political agenda. Schools must use the report as a means to do that, and the Department for Education and Skills must take the lead. Hitherto, successive Governments have seemingly only shown an interest in sport to bask in the glory of an international sporting triumph.
Sport is a neglected activity and has been for years, locally and nationally. Sport provision has been the Cinderella and one of the first things to face cuts. The educational establishment has failed sport. Different figures have been given, but however we look at it, a large number of the nation's children do not get the minimum two hours' physical recreation a week that they should. I am concerned that the Minister repeated the Government line that the two hours should be within and beyond the curriculum. For many parts of the country, anything beyond the normal school day is not an option. School buses do not hang around. Public transport does not exist. Safe cycle routes do not apply. So the two hours must be the minimum within the school curriculum. Anything beyond that is a bonus, but
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unless we get those two hours in the curriculum, everything else we talk about cannot come to pass for a vast number of children.
I recognise that many other hon. Members wish to participate in the debate. The subject is not party political in the broadest sense. I finish by urging the Minister to go back to his business managers to get longer and more frequent debates. If sport is at the heart of what schools do, we must prove it. The only way to do that is to have more discussions, more debates and more conclusions. The Government must get going on all the good things that they say they want to do, so that after seven years we see more fruit than we have hitherto.
4.52 pm
Mr. Doug Henderson (Newcastle upon Tyne, North) (Lab): I agree that the subject is not party political. It is about lifestyle and is beyond politics. I have always taken part in competitive sport and still do. I love competitive sport, but my comments do not relate entirely to it; they relate also to non-competitive sport. I could talk about competitive sport all day and there are excellent examples in my constituency of local sports clubs playing an important role. Such clubs are essential if there is to be a link between the community and the schools.
Role models are important. It is crucial in my constituency that Newcastle United has provided community teaching and sports facilities on a wide scale since 1997. In fact, my son is a beneficiary of that. Newcastle Falcons rugby club does the same thing. It has extended contact to 30,000 young people in recent years, which is an excellent example. My local amateur cricket club—Benwell cricket club—has an excellent winter coaching scheme with youngsters in Walbottle school. I am sure that colleagues have similar examples. Such initiatives are important. I support them and want to see more of them, but although I want people to benefit from competitive sport, not everyone is prepared to take part in it.
I do not know whether hon. Members remember the film "Kes". Perhaps I am one of the few old enough to do so. The hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) will certainly remember it. I always recall the scene in which the gym teacher is playing football with the two sets of kids. He thinks he is Bobby Charlton and scores a goal. "Charlton 1" flashes up on the film. Meanwhile, the little boy—he is fascinated by falcons but has been forced to play competitive sport—is swinging from the goalpost without any interest at all in the proceedings. That sums up many people's reaction to competitive sport. I very much support the need to achieve our fitness goals. I do not believe in preaching, but I am annoyed when I see youngsters in my constituency with a sedentary lifestyle. They eat the wrong food and hang about with nothing to do for much of the time. Some of them probably smoke cigarettes and others probably get involved in worse things. After all the development and growth that we have experienced in this country, I am annoyed that we still have those problems. "Everyday Sport" is a campaign set up by Sport England in co-operation with the Department of Health, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education and Skills with the aim of trying to improve the fitness
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of the whole community in different ways. If it is to meet its targets it must reach young people—if we do not get people to do sport when they are young we will not get them to do it when they are older. Some individuals may change their ways when they are older, but it is better to get people to adopt a healthy lifestyle in their teens, as at least some of them will maintain it.
It is crucial that such a programme be linked to school activity. The Department of Health wants to introduce "Everyday Sport" activities, the school system thinks that they are a good thing and the local authority thinks they are wonderful for the area, but finding someone to organise them is a big problem. The Government are doing excellent work, but there is more to do, as I am sure the Minister recognises. Although the campaign is backed by the Department of Health, I urge him to accept that implementing it for young people should be the responsibility of his Department. The only facilities in most communities, apart from some community centres, are in schools, and, as has been said for a long time, we must use them outside school hours. Someone, however, must take charge of the programme, which is not cheap, even though the nation would save on health spending by investing in it. If 75 young people take part in sport between 4 and 6 pm a professional coach will be needed, although a teacher may be prepared to help out, along with four or five other people, who will be needed to police activities.
Teachers' duties were different when I was at school, when the geography teacher took me for cricket and the maths teacher took me for football. That does not happen in state schools to such an extent today, and someone needs to be responsible for the fitness regime after school, in the holidays and so on. The Government have proposed paying someone for two hours extra a week so that they can contribute to the scheme, but I think that that is inadequate. We should go right to the top—a deputy head teacher should be charged with the responsibility of administering the scheme, working with the local offices of the Department of Health, the council, the principal gym teacher in the school and others to try and co-ordinate activities. We are not necessarily looking for someone with a background in sport, although we need someone who is sympathetic to the aims of the scheme. It is an administrator's job. I do not usually like to call for administrators, but in this case we need one, and the job requires someone with the status of a deputy head teacher. Their contract should not be a traditional one, but should reflect the need to cover holidays and after-school activities. I could say much more about this subject, about which I am passionate, but many colleagues wish to take part in our debate, so I thank the House for listening and hope that the Minister is prepared at least to look at that suggestion.
4.59 pm
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