Examination of Witnesses (Questions 420
- 428)
TUESDAY 22 JANUARY 2008
MR GERRY
SUTCLIFFE MP AND
MR JONATHAN
STEPHENS
Q420 Rosemary McKenna:
As a follow-up to that, there is an issue about the length of
time it is taking to get this resolved because what it does result
in is the denied access to UK Sport world-class-funded programmes
and also exclusion from school schemes, so the longer they are
excluded, the longer it is going to take to catch up in terms
of achievement and it is very difficult for them to understand
exactly what is happening there. We had a marvellous programme
for them and they were really, really happy about it, so can I
just press you on that and can we really, really push this issue?
Mr Sutcliffe: Very much so and
you may know that I am working very closely with Anne McGuire,
the Minister for Work and Pensions, on this issue and we have
been holding joint meetings, pressing the bodies at the Youth
Sport Trust level for the School Games and the Paralympics in
terms of the international competition, and I am confident that
progress will be made.
Q421 Chairman:
Can I just ask you about one specific issue which is the ability
for potential Olympic medal-winners in pistol-shooting to train.
Can you just tell us what progress has been made to actually allow
them to practise in this country?
Mr Sutcliffe: I am hoping that
there will be an agreement between the governing bodies and the
Ministry of Defence and the Home Office, so we are trying to make
sure that the ability for our athletes to be able to train in
the UK is there. Clearly, there are problems relating to the Firearms
Act of November 1997 about where guns can be used, but the discussions,
I understand, are almost at the point of an agreement,[4]
so perhaps when my hon friend, the Minister for the Olympics,
arrives at the Committee, that deal may well have been done.
Q422 Chairman:
So you appear confident that the deal can be reached whereby those
who are potential medal-winners can train in advance of the Games
in the UK?
Mr Sutcliffe: Yes, but clearly,
with all the relationships and issues relating to the legislation,
we have got to make sure that departments are happy with that
and that the sites that may be chosen are appropriate.
Q423 Chairman:
So that means that we can hope that we might stand a chance of
winning medals in this discipline in 2012. What chance have we
of winning medals in any Games after 2012 if people cannot practise?
Mr Sutcliffe: Well, clearly that
is an issue that we will have to discuss further. I think the
first step is to get 2012 resolved and then to see what progress
can be made with the individual sport. I know that at the moment
competitors are training abroad.
Q424 Chairman:
But you would like to see some mechanism whereby the people who
wish to take up the sport of pistol-shooting might be able actually
to practise it in this country?
Mr Sutcliffe: I would like to
see that, but clearly working in conjunction with the legislation
that exists and in consultation with our colleagues in other departments.
Q425 Chairman:
And you are talking to the Home Office about how that might be
achieved?
Mr Sutcliffe: Yes.
Q426 Philip Davies:
Simon Clegg, the Chief Executive of the British Olympic Association,
said that the British public would judge the success of the Games
by how many British athletes stand on the podium with medals around
their necks. Is that a sentiment that you share?
Mr Sutcliffe: That is one of the
measures, but the other measures will be that people participate
in sport and that there is a feel-good factor about the whole
of the UK because of our athletes and a variety of other sportsmen
and women that will be competing in this Decade of Sport.
Q427 Philip Davies:
Is there a possibility that the Government is sort of willing
the ends of winning medals, but not particularly willing the means?
I went to a swimming gala in Shipley just before Christmas and
I met somebody there, a girl, who hoped to take part in the 2012
Olympics and it was inspiring her to try and do better, but, as
you will know as well as I do, there are no 50-metre pools in
Bradford anywhere for her to be able to train and she struggles
to get the appropriate pool time to practise as much as she wants
to, so how can we, in reality, try and inspire people like that
to see London 2012 as a goal when she has not got the facilities
that she needs in order to be in a position perhaps to win a medal
at this Olympics?
Mr Sutcliffe: Well, I am sad at
that because that individual should have been identified by that
sport's governing body as talented and gifted and—
Q428 Philip Davies:
As she is.
Mr Sutcliffe:—and she should
have gone on to UK Sport's programme for talented and gifted athletes.
The route exists now, so perhaps outside the meeting we need to
talk about the individual to see whether or not she does meet
the criteria for the sport in terms of her opportunities. On the
bigger issue of facilities, I agree with you and that is why I
encourage local authorities like Bradford to have a serious sport
strategy, which they do not at the moment and which they have
not had for over seven years, which has prevented us having a
swimming pool of 50 metres, which has prevented us having the
opportunity for lots more sport infrastructure, so I am sure that
we can work together, particularly in Bradford, to make sure that
Bradford delivers.
Chairman: I think that is all we have
for you. Thank you very much.
4 Note by witness: Agreement has been reached
in principle for the use of MoD shooting ranges but discussions
on the detail are still ongoing. Back
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