4 Maximising the benefits of the Games
26. The prospect of the legacy from hosting the Games
was central to London's bid. The broad concept includes the sports
venues that will remain after 2012, the regeneration of the local
area, the socio-economic benefits for the United Kingdom as a
whole, as well as the sporting benefits, such as increasing participation
at grassroots level.[28]
27. In June 2007, the Government had set out the
five high level legacy promises which it intended to deliver.
[29] These were
to:
- make the United Kingdom a world-leading
sporting nation;
- transform the heart of East London;
- inspire a generation of young people to take
part in local volunteering, cultural and physical activity;
- make the Olympic Park a blueprint for sustainable
living; and
- demonstrate the United Kingdom is a creative,
inclusive and welcoming place to live in, visit, and for business.
28. The Comptroller and Auditor General's July 2007
report stated that the legacy plans and designs for the venues
had not been finalised. The Department and the Delivery Authority
told us that the legacy plans were now becoming increasingly certain.
The 'Legacy Action Plan' was to be published early in 2008 by
the Department, and the Olympic Delivery Authority would be working
with the London Development Agency during 2008 on a 'Legacy Master
Plan', setting out arrangements for the Olympic Park after the
Games.[30]
29. With regard to specific sports facilities, the
Aquatics Centre would provide two 50 metre pools and a diving
pool, which would be available for both elite and community use
after the Games, and the Main Stadium would be a publicly owned
asset located in an area particularly short of facilities for
community use. The stadium would provide an international
standard athletics track and field facility, including warm-up
track, and would also be available for other sports. The Olympic
Delivery Authority said that the use of the stadium by a Premiership
football club was considered incompatible with athletics because
of the distance between the field of play and the seating, although
a number of rugby and other football clubs have expressed interest.[31]
30. The legacy objectives for the Games include maximising
for London and the United Kingdom the employment and skills benefits
arising from Games-related business. The Delivery Authority's
target was to employ 1,000 construction industry apprentices over
the duration of the programme. The Authority said that some 20
were currently employed on the Olympic Park, and the major construction
contractors had established a training programme on site.[32]
31. The Delivery Authority told us that around half
of the 493 suppliers contracted by them to date came from regions
of the UK outside London, and that it was planning initiatives
to help businesses in the regions to bid for work. There were
approximately 1,500 employees on site, of whom some 180 had previously
been unemployed. Nearly half the workforce was from within London,
but the Delivery Authority was unable to say how long those previously
unemployed remained in employment in the longer term, and whether
workers deemed to be from local boroughs were resident there before
the construction programme began.[33]
32. Another intended legacy benefit is to increase
participation in sport at community and grassroots level. The
revised funding package for the Games, however, included £124
million from the four sports lottery distributors. The Department
considered that the reduction in funding for community sport via
the lottery, arising from funding the Olympics, was balanced by
the Government's announcement of an additional £100 million
investment in school and community sport and by Sport England's
plans to raise an additional £50 million from the private
sector.[34]
28 C&AG's previous report, Session 2006-07, Preparations
for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games-Risk assessment
and management, HC 252, paras 84-92 Back
29
Our Promise for 2012-How the UK will benefit from the Olympic
Games and Paralympic Games, Department for Culture, Media
and Sport, June 2007 Back
30
Qq 86, 160; C&AG's Report, para 51 Back
31
Qq 122-125, 157 Back
32
Q 101 Back
33
Qq 97-98, 100, 104-105; Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Back
34
Qq 155-156; C&AG's Report, Appendix 4; Department for Culture
and Media and Sport Press Release, 13 July 2007, Five hours of
sport a week for every child-£100m campaign Back
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