Examination of Witnesses (Questions 100-119)
DEPARTMENT FOR
CULTURE, MEDIA
AND SPORT
AND UK SPORT
2 APRIL 2008
Q100 Mr Davidson: Shall we say four?
Is four reasonable?
Mr Prideaux: I think four is reasonable.
Q101 Mr Davidson: So they would move
from tenth to sixth under the impact of home nation status, so
your target is rather demanding because you only want to move
from sixth to fourth place?
Mr Steele: No because the host
nation effect is not on the next Olympics, it is on the home Olympics.
Q102 Mr Davidson: I understand that;
I was being generous to you by comparing it to Athens.
Mr Stephens: Could I support Mr
Steele? What we are saying here is that this is not an automatic
effect; it does not happen just because you have been awarded
the Games. What it is is an observed effect at the host nation
status that catalyses a huge effort and more resources and there
is absolutely no doubt that achieving fourth place in London 2012
is hugely ambitious and there will, I hope, be huge congratulations
if we achieve that.
Q103 Mr Davidson: I can see when
I am being sidestepped. Can I just clarify what your target is
for Beijing?
Mr Steele: Beijing target is second
in the Paralympics and eighth in the Olympics.
Q104 Mr Davidson: So if you are eighth
in the Olympics and you do actually get four places up from the
visiting home nation status that would put you at fourth, so in
fact the elite athlete programme would not have got you any further
at all then.
Mr Steele: The number of places
is where we came in Athens to where we are coming in London. That
is what I was saying, you judge host nation effects on the home
games from when the bid was one, so you miss Beijing.
Q105 Mr Davidson: So we will settle
for four and so that will be four and two then.
Mr Steele: It is not an exact
science by any means.
Q106 Mr Davidson: No, I understand
that.
Mr Steele: To take an estimate
of what you are saying I think host nation effect itself might
get to sixth or fifth if it is maximised properly but we still
have to go beyond that—there is more than that needs to
be done.
Q107 Mr Davidson: I understand that.
Can I just clarify about the private sector and their involvement?
You seem to be getting a degree of difficulty in getting money
out of them and given that there will be enormous numbers of private
sector endorsements available and so on and so forth, why is the
money not flowing forward more readily for this elite athlete
sponsorship?
Mr Stephens: It is not a degree
of difficulty, it is a conscious decision by ministers that the
right time to go out to stimulate that is post-Beijing.
Q108 Mr Davidson: So you are quite
confident that you will get all the money that is necessary.
Mr Stephens: As the Report says,
it is a challenging target; it is something new that we have not
tried before—
Q109 Mr Davidson: Is that a yes or
a no?
Mr Stephens: It is a challenging
target. There are no guarantees because it is private sector funding,
so there cannot be any guarantees. It is a challenging target,
I think it is realistic and the right time to start is after Beijing.
Q110 Mr Davidson: That is a yes then,
is it? You anticipate getting the money, do you? Should we be
worried about this now at this stage?
Mr Stephens: We hope that it is
realistic. There are risks around it, there is no guarantee.
Q111 Mr Davidson: I understand. We
were just a bit anxious about the point that we recommended last
time that you set up a relationship with the private sector, somebody
that could help you get that and it took you 18 months from our
last recommendation to do that. Was there any particular reason
for that delay?
Mr Stephens: As I explained, ministers
consciously decided that the right priority was raising a sponsorship
income from the running of the Games in 2012 and also the Committee's
recommendation was not about the appointment of a paid consultant
and we have used the time before going out to tender to discuss
the options with a number of businesses.
Q112 Mr Davidson: And you are quite
satisfied that the time scale that you are operating to will be
sufficient to raise the money in time to have the effect that
you want? You will not be turning round to us later on and saying,
"It was ministers that held us back from raising this money,
otherwise we would have done it earlier and we would have had
this, this and this effect."
Mr Stephens: I am quite satisfied
that this is the right time. Equally, I repeat, there are no guarantees
for this. This requires a partnership across government that is
put in, that has more than governed its own funding for this,
that will set up the framework. Sport needs to cooperate in terms
of the sporting success and provide any opportunities around sponsorship
and of course the private sector actually needs to come forward
with the money.
Q113 Mr Davidson: One final point
on a slightly different issue, if I could raise it with you, Mr
Stephens. I saw in the press yesterday complaints from UKCAT that
the training provision for construction workers on the Olympics
was not going to be to the standard that they were expecting—I
think it was NVQ2 rather than 3, if I remember correctly. Can
you clarify that for us? Have you reached an agreement with UKCAT
about the necessary training that is required?
Mr Stephens: If I may, may I suggest
that the Chief Executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority writes
to the Committee on this?[12]
Mr Davidson: Fine. Thank you, Chairman.
Q114 Chairman: One or two questions
arising from Mr Davidson's questions which I would like to ask—and
I think Mr Bacon also has a supplementary in a moment. So coming
fourth is your ultimate goal, is it?
Mr Steele: Yes.
Q115 Chairman: What is your target
then?
Mr Steele: The ultimate goal would
become a high level target after Beijing, where we have all the
performance results from Beijing to look at.
Q116 Chairman: "The ultimate
goal would become a high level target after Beijing"?
Mr Steele: Yes.
Q117 Chairman: So when we next meet
we will have a specific target, will we?
Mr Steele: Yes, Chairman, we will.
Q118 Chairman: And at that stage,
as you will have exceeded expectations you will be giving us some
of our money back, will you?
Mr Steele: I do not think that
before the review, Chairman, I can comment on that.
Q119 Chairman: But as Mr Davidson
said, we will discuss that at your trial!
Mr Steele: I think what is important
to remember is that the funding submission that we put to government
identified a set resource to be put into this mission and along
the way we will have to make many changes and reviews to make
sure that that resource is best used and we get the maximum performance
return from it.
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