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Lord Phillips of Sudbury: My Lords, before the noble Lord sits down, I wonder whether it would surprise him to know that the Minister who is to reply to the debate is a familiar figure striding the hills of the Stour Valley.
7.10 p.m.
Lord Lyell: My Lords, I look forward to hearing more about that. However, I should like to begin my remarks by thanking the noble Baroness, Lady Billingham, for instituting this debate. Not only has it brought out a panoply of stars; indeed, although I was already aware that the noble Baroness was a great tennis player, the debate has also made me aware of how much she has organised for her family, and of how much more she has achieved.
A debate like this in your Lordships' House brings out not, perhaps, a glittering array of stars, but gold medallists—one of whom, my noble friend Lord Moynihan, has temporarily fled the coop. Perhaps he realised that I was about to speak; I do not know. My noble friend Lord Glentoran's record goes back to 1964. I remember him 50 years ago at school, when he was known as "Mr Dixon". I enjoyed hearing the noble Lord, Lord Phillips, on the question of which buttock, but certainly in Eton field games, size mattered. As I left school at the age of seventeen-and-a-half weighing just nine stone, noble Lords can imagine that I was not exactly one of the most successful young sportsmen. Never mind, we have tennis players; and, I understand, a cricketer to follow. We also have a notable skier among us, the noble Lord, Lord St John of Bletso, and an archer, namely, my noble friend Lord Monro of Langholm, who is a member of the Royal Company of Archers, Queen's Body Guard for Scotland.
Before my noble friend sees fit to take the mickey out of me, he may recall that in 1975 both he and I, as well as a group of other parliamentarians, visited the Sobell Sports Centre in Islington where we found the most marvellous state-of-the-art sports centre run by Mr David Hemery. Many noble Lords may remember him in the 400-metres hurdles in, I believe, Mexico in 1968. The centre is a marvellous place for young people to practise sport. However, I understand that the main problem there—as, indeed, is the case with many other centres—is the human element; that is, people to run such centres of excellence. As the noble Lord, Lord Hardy of Wath, pointed out, in many cases human effort is needed to ensure that young people can use the facilities in safety, and, at the same time, be encouraged to participate.
We have also heard that teachers must be much more professional these days. They have very little spare time; indeed, much more of their time is spent attempting to ensure, for example, that the four children of the noble Lord, Lord St John of Bletso, actually manage to achieve the qualifications that
many of your Lordships struggled so hard to attain. I was particularly taken by the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Faulkner of Worcester, who referred to the ITV Digital problem, and the possibility of many professional footballers in England and Wales either losing their jobs or having their status in life changed.I noticed mention in some of yesterday's broadsheets of the idea that some of these footballers might be trained as PE instructors. Quite rightly. It is not that cold water was poured on the idea, but there would certainly be a need for them to gain qualifications in order to become fully fledged PE instructors. I wonder whether there is some merit in that idea. Perhaps those footballers, and other young people, might be encouraged to become what one might call "assistants". They already have some knowledge of what is required, but they could study to gain the qualifications by way of a form of sandwich course.
I was delighted that the noble Baroness, Lady Billingham, included "the promotion of health" in the title to her Motion. I look around the Chamber and wonder about the description "obese". Perhaps the noble Baroness would care to accompany those of us who belong to the Lords and Commons Ski Club in the first week of January to see who is obese, and who is reasonably healthy. My noble friend Lord Glentoran sustained a particularly severe injury, but I do not believe that it was as a result of his sport of bob- sleighing. I understand that it happened while he was water-skiing. Nevertheless, he has certainly retained his fitness.
For myself, I broke both a leg and an ankle in Switzerland, but that was not while I was in the company of the parliamentarians. I have dislocated a shoulder, broken a hand, and have now damaged the other shoulder. All those injuries were sustained while practising one sport in one location. When the noble Baroness said that sport promotes health, I do not necessarily think that she was pointing in my direction.
The noble Baroness talked extensively about "social inclusion", as, indeed, did many noble Lords. For my part, I must declare one interest. I hope that my noble friend Lord Monro will not hammer me, but I am honorary president of Forfar Athletic. We lost three/nil to his team—Queen of the South. I do not know what the average gate is for his club in Dumfries, but they brought 300 spectators to Forfar. However, when the team members were presented with the prize, perhaps my noble friend can tell me why they had a total of 6,200 spectators. I do not know whether my noble friend was among them; indeed, I am not too sure whether he paid to go in. I am also a patron of the Kirriemuir Boys' Club. But, in my tiny little town in Scotland, I am afraid that that is the one sport that they do not practise. There are five or six gentlemen in Kirriemuir who put day and night into that club, and I pay tribute to them tonight.
I realise that sport is a devolved matter, so my remarks may be a trifle distant from the subject. However, I am very glad that the noble Baroness gave us the chance to ask the Government what is going on
in this area. Before I sit down, I respectfully ask my noble friend Lady Anelay and the noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley, not to crow too much: they should just wait until 10 minutes to five on Saturday to see whether or not their beloved club does, indeed, win the title.7.15 p.m.
Baroness Massey of Darwen: My Lords, speaking as the "cricketer to follow", I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Billingham for securing tonight's debate and for introducing it with such knowledge and passion. Like me, my noble friend is a sports fanatic. In the privacy of the women Peers' room, we have often sorted out the fortunes of England teams in a variety of sports. I shall avoid our discussions on rugby scrums.
I define "sport" as any physical activity that leads to improved fitness. Team games and competitive sport are important and inspire many qualities, but, as the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, observed, they are not the whole story. Some young people are put off physical activity—often for life—by being forced into team games for which they have little aptitude or interest. Attention to fitness, rather than winning or losing, seems to me to carry wider benefits for health and for social inclusion.
Today, coming in at the tail end of the debate after some prolific and stimulating batting, what else is there to do? The answer, I hope, is plenty, because my contribution will be about girls and women in sport. I shall look at the benefits to women of participation in sport, reasons why they may not participate, and how we might encourage them to do so. It is a fact that many girls feel excluded from physical activity, yet such activity would benefit their health, their confidence, and their positive inclusion in communities. I am grateful for help with my contribution to Sport England, the CCPR, especially its director Margaret Talbot, the Women's Sports Foundation, and the Youth Sports Trust.
What are the benefits of physical activity for women? First, for their health. Women are now at increased risk of stoke, heart attacks, and chronic bronchitis. Older women may be at risk from osteoporosis. Exercise decreases that risk. Younger women who take part in sports are less likely to smoke, take drugs, or become pregnant while in their teens. They are also, as are boys, more likely to achieve academically. This may be connected to the fact that taking part in sport increases self-esteem and involves women in community activity with peer support. Research shows that a physically active mother is a good indicator that the children will take part in sport.
Women surely have the human right to take part in sport, and achieve in sport; too often, they are put off sport or denied access to it. Participation in sport by women has increased over the past 15 years, but it is still less than men's participation. Women tend to drop out of sport on leaving school; working-class women participate less than middle-class women; and culture and religion also have an impact. It is estimated that only 19 per cent of Bangladeshi women take part in
sport, compared to a national rate of 34 per cent. Girls and women are more likely to care for other members of the family, and, generally, have less personal time. Moreover, girls and women may have less money to pay for membership of gyms, or for other sports facilities.There are too few positive role models for women in sport. The sports press is overwhelming male orientated. After the excellent FA Women's Cup Final, on Monday I saw a newspaper headline that read "Not Bad – for girls". Need I say more? Senior positions in sport are almost exclusively filled by males. If we could make change in those areas, perhaps it would influence women into feeling more included in sport.
So how can we encourage girls and women to participate more in sports? Matters are improving, with fast-growing enthusiasm for playing football and cricket among women and attending gyms and fitness classes. The Nike-Youth Trust "Girls in Sport" project researched initiatives that may further encourage girls' participation. One conclusion was that traditional forms of delivery of physical education and sport to young people were in need of urgent reform if girls were to participate more. For example, a mix of competitive and recreational activities, such as dance and aerobics, could be provided—an issue touched on by my noble friend Lady Pitkeathley.
Girls in school are more enthusiastic if they are involved in deciding how the physical activity programme is designed. Displays in school of girls of all shapes and sizes involved in and enjoying physical activity are motivational. In one school I know, a fitness club before school encourages girls to take part willingly in activities.
Government departments such as the Department for Education and Skills, the Department of Health and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport should develop policies focused on women in sport. Schools could try to raise the profile of sport for girls by supporting a wide variety of opportunities for girls to take part in PE—perhaps by collaborating with local sports facilities such as gyms. Local provision, such as in youth clubs, could encourage a greater width of sports facilities for young women. School and youth provision could be tied in with health education programmes. National bodies, local authorities and coaching agencies could consider why women are poorly represented at senior management level. The media could be encouraged to report more on women's sport and increase coverage of good female role models. I should like to hear from the Minister whether any current or likely government initiatives focus specifically on women's sport.
Women's health is important. The social inclusion of women is important. Sport and physical activity can enhance both.
7.22 p.m.
Lord Addington: My Lords, this is one of those debates that I have looked forward to with trepidation. A great deal of thought and expertise has
been pumped into this debate. When one is trying to wind-up such a debate, one always finds that much of what one wanted to say has already been said—and probably said better. But to return to the basic premise of the debate—that social inclusion and health are benefits of sport—yes, they are. We have always known them to be. I congratulate the Government on starting to deal with the problems. This is one of the few areas in Parliament where party politics does not have that great a bite. There is a far higher degree of coherence across the parties because we are dealing with a real set of problems.I think back to the great debate about whether competitive sport was bad. When I first heard that, I turned round and said, "Sport without competition is exercise". The reason why people do not universally exercise—we all know that it is good for us—is because it is fairly boring. That is the fact of the matter. Merely exercising is boring. If we ask any sportsman whether he actually enjoys doing the same exercise X number of times to keep himself fit, he will say no, he does not. It is dull. It is painful. It is boring. There is always something better on the TV. But he does it to get involved, because he gets a buzz out of sport. I do not know whether it is competition or co-operation—I cannot properly define it—but there is a certain buzz that people get out of sport that they do not get just from exercise.
The noble Lord, Lord Haskel, mentioned cycling. I pull him up slightly on that point. Cycling may be an efficient, environmentally friendly and beneficial form of exercise, but it is not sport as I would define it. I accept that there is competitive cycling, but I think that he was talking about something else. Sport is a series of invented obstacles that we get a buzz from overcoming. That obstacle is often one's opponent. That is about as close to a definition as I can get.
Let us consider what the Government have done. They have started to tackle one of the major problems: the low level of school participation. That was an unforeseen knock-on effect of the Education Act 1988. It is as simple as that. It was not planned; it was just overlooked. Education establishments tend to concentrate on their primary business, which is education. Thus, it was not surprising that an education-driven Act unintentionally squeezed something else out. Once that happened, the knock-on effect throughout the entire sporting structure was radical. That initial contact was removed because teachers were counting their hours and not going out for X hours at lunchtime and after school.
There has never been a sufficient number of PE teachers to provide a broad spectrum of sport education. At best—and we should move much further towards this—they can provide a sampling board from which to push off in other directions. It is fair to say that the Government's school sports co-ordinators have started promisingly, but the jury is still out on whether they are sustainable or are driving people away from the qualified PE teacher base—whether they are doing more than taking steps in the right direction. I do not know whether they will be able to
address the problem, but I suggest that we should seriously consider cutting away some unnecessary red tape by allowing teachers to qualify as PE coaches. Under the old system, someone who played for someone's third team in any given sport 20 years ago might well find himself in charge of a team of youngsters.Almost all sports in this country have developed ways of teaching youngsters how to play the game—Rugby Union, cricket. Everyone has given it a great deal of thought. If we can encourage teachers to get properly qualified to teach young people, they should be rewarded in some way—preferably financially. I hope that the Minister will take that idea on board, because even with the best will in the world, school sports co-ordinators and PE staff cannot do the job because there are not enough of them. That is a simple matter of fact.
Of course, the great change that has come across the sporting world is the National Lottery. That goes to show that what government get wrong somewhere they get right somewhere else. We are now benefiting from the great achievements of the lottery, but it may already be entering a long dotage. The number of people taking part and the amount of money raised is dropping dramatically. The initial buzz is gone. Whether those who are running it can re-invigorate it we do not know, but it would seem that the best that they can do is to check the rate of decline.
Much work has been done to improve facilities. We will soon reach the point where we have the facilities that we can reasonably expect. That will always be an ongoing process—projects will fail, there will be replacements and new needs will arise—but we will soon have nearly all the infrastructure going.
A declining amount of money is available. Can the Minister give us a commitment that no more good causes will cut in to that decreasing cake—that the number of slices will remain as it is and that sport can be guaranteed to receive its current proportion of the income? That is important to allow sport to build. Will the National Lottery be allowed to start to take on the on-costs of sporting projects? That would mean that it would not have to come in with huge dollops of money for reimbursement and to try to ensure that it has new projects that meet new needs. In future, we shall need to consider refurbishment and general maintenance projects, even to the point of paying for staff. It is important. We have enjoyed success with—if you like—the sexy projects, and we are now heading towards smaller projects. We must consider providing grants for the maintenance of such projects, especially in areas that are least capable of providing facilities themselves. If we do not, if government—national or local—is not prepared to step in and support them, they run a high risk of collapse.
I must also raise the health issue. The noble Baroness, Lady Pitkeathley, and the noble Lord, Lord Lyell, mentioned the connection between our earlier debate on health and this debate. In the area of sports medicine, we must look to the department to do its usual job of chasing others around to get more
funding. At the moment, people are often frightened of playing sport because of injury or work commitments. Also, people do not know what to do if something goes wrong. Will the Government ensure that, if they are putting money into sporting projects, they tie in with that the development of sports medicine for recreational sportsmen?The élite has been taken care of and has access to such medicine, but recreational sportsmen need to know that there will be sufficient numbers of physiotherapists attached to doctors' surgeries, that they will not have to wait for ever for an appointment and that the staff will be there to support them. There should also be greater emphasis on training GPs to deal with sports injuries.
Every sportsman of my age will have a story about going to the doctor and saying, "I've got such-and-such wrong with me. What should I do?", only for the doctor to say, without thinking, "Rest for two weeks". When the sportsman says, "Surely, that will just weaken muscles and shorten tendons", a look of panic crosses the doctor's face, and he says, "Rest for four weeks". If we can encourage spending on sports medicine in the National Health Service, we will help the sports bodies to do their job.
7.32 p.m.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns: My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Billingham, was right to direct us to this subject today. Sport matters, and we must all work to ensure that no one is excluded from enjoying it on the grounds of disability, race, gender or background. As the Central Council for Physical Recreation pointed out in its briefing to your Lordships, we should also recognise that sport is not just a means of delivering wider government objectives, it is valuable in its own right. The contributions made by noble Lords made it clear that they hold true to that in their personal life.
I commend campaigns such as Sporting Equals for the work that they do throughout England to promote racial equality in sport and for the way in which they do it. Sport England funds the project and works through the CRE with the governing bodies of various sports and key national umbrella organisations. I wish them every success and invite the Minister to do the same tonight.
Sport is vitally important to the physical health of the nation. At its best, it is exciting, passionate and hugely enjoyable. It can help to improve our quality of life. As my noble friend Lord Lyell said, volunteers make a massive and invaluable contribution to the organisation of sport in the community. My noble friend Lord Monro of Langholm and the noble Lord, Lord Phillips of Sudbury, said that, although the Government made changes to the tax regime in the Budget this year, they failed to deliver on their commitment to give community amateur sports clubs, which are not charities, the 80 per cent mandatory business rate relief for which most of them have asked. I hope that we will hear from the Minister that there will be a second-stage move towards such a regime.
Community spirit and national identity are fostered by sport. When the UK performs well, it boosts morale; we all want to "Bend It Like Beckham". To the individual, sport can offer a sense of personal accomplishment, as well as health benefits. It teaches people how to win and—certainly for me—how to lose, without, it is to be hoped, losing one's temper. It can improve cognitive skills such as literacy and numeracy. For society as a whole, sport can help to reduce the level of crime. The noble Lord, Lord Warner, is involved in valuable work in that regard. It can help to channel aggression and play an important role in diminishing social and ethnic barriers. Sport can also provide delinquent youngsters with a welcome diversion and can act as a deterrent to the use of illegal drugs, something that Sport England's Positive Futures scheme aims to address.
Sport also plays a part in encouraging the economic regeneration of local communities. We should pay tribute to local authorities, which play a major role in providing and delivering sport. They make available to their communities about 1,200 swimming centres and 1,500 sports centres and maintain about 5,000 parks, playing fields, open spaces and pitches for sports-related activities. Those facilities provide communities with a healthy social focal point.
My noble friend Lord Moynihan made a series of proposals to the Minister on how the Government could tackle social exclusion at local government level. I listened carefully to his list, and I thought that it was an innovative and practical list. I look forward to hearing the Minister's response to those proposals.
Most of us first experience sport at school. It is vital that children are introduced to sport and PE at an early age. Teaching children to play sport is essential to a rounded education. I listened with care to what the noble Lord, Lord St John of Bletso, said about the value of competitive sport. I agree entirely with him. Is the Minister aware of the valuable work done by the British Schools Tennis Association in fostering competitive sport? It runs a business-sponsored, nationwide programme of school competitions, involving about 33,000 children between the ages of nine and 15 in team events each year. That is a valuable contribution. The undermining of competitive sports in schools has had a detrimental effect on the standard of school sport. Such sports teach students values such as teamwork, leadership, loyalty, courage, respect and patience. We neglect them at our peril.
Just as sport teaches children life skills, it helps to keep them healthy. Noble Lords have given persuasive evidence of the problems that ensue when children are introduced to obesity, rather than sport. Research by the Leeds Community and Mental Health Trust showed that the number of obese children had reached record levels and that, by the age of 11, one third of our children are overweight and one fifth of boys are obese. As noble Lords have said, that should be little surprise, given that one third of primary schools have reduced the time for sport in the past year and children spend twice as much time watching television or playing computer games as they do exercising or
playing sport. Indeed, the annual sales turnover for computer games exceeds that of the film industry in this country.Research conducted by the University of Exeter has shown that most 11 to 16 year-olds get fewer than 20 minutes of meaningful physical activity a week. The number of PE specialists in training has dropped by about one third in the past three years. Primary school teachers may receive as little as 10 hours of initial PE training in four years at teaching training college. We must address those problems.
The issue of girls in sport was raised capably, as always—that sounds condescending, but it is not meant to be—by the noble Baroness, Lady Massey of Darwen. The noble Baroness knows all about the subject; I know only a little. Research has suggested that participation levels in women's and girls' sport are disproportionately low. It is true that they participate in greater numbers than before, but still they do not do so as often as men. The Conservative Party recognises the existence of gender inequality in sport. I note that the next world conference on women in sport will be held in Canada next week, from 16th to 19th May. Can the Minister tell us which Ministers will attend the conference? What are their precise objectives? How will they report directly to this House on progress in Canada?
The Conservative Party endorses the national action plan for women's and girls' sport and physical activity, launched by the Women's Sports Foundation in conjunction with Sport England. Can the Minister tell the House what the Government have done to encourage sporting bodies to sign up to the National Action Plan and make a determined effort to put them into practice?
My noble friend Lord Glentoran pointed out how important it is for the Government to recognise the immense and positive contribution which sport brings to communities across the country, ensuring that the requirements of sport are properly taken into account across the whole spectrum of policy and funding decisions.
The noble Lord, Lord Pendry, reminded us that the Government have not yet acted on the recommendation of the Health Select Committee of another place in ensuring that there is a joint special adviser shared between the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Health. When do the Government intend to take up that recommendation—without increasing the overall number of special advisers since this Government have increased those numbers vastly over the past six years already?
The same report highlighted evidence to show that only 11 per cent of general practitioners recognise government guidelines on the amount of physical activity to be undertaken by adults. What measures are being taken by the Government to make the health case for physical activity, including sport, to GPs and health professionals?
Finally, Peers have made it clear today that there is much that the Government can do to ensure that sport plays its full part in promoting health and social inclusion. So far the Government have talked a good game, but they have not delivered a result. No doubt we shall return to the subject to press the Government for a progress report. I must say that, unlike Wembley, I shall not accept the lack of a final date on this. There has to be a result.
Perhaps we shall even press the Minister for a personal progress report if she takes up the challenge of her noble friend Lord Haskel to take up cycling. Coming from the family that used to manufacture Anelay cycles into the middle of the last century, I look forward to hearing a positive conclusion that she has taken it up.
7.41 p.m.
The Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Blackstone): My Lords, from all that we have heard today, it is clear that there are a great many in your Lordships' House, and beyond, who feel truly passionately about sport—including cycling. Although I am in favour of cycling, whenever I take to a bike the chain comes off. Therefore, I am going to stick to valley walks and the tennis court and—dare I say on such an auspicious day—supporting the Arsenal football club.
I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Billingham for raising an issue which has generated such an interesting debate. We have had many expert speakers, including two former Ministers of Sport. I am also grateful for all the ideas that have been put forward.
As my noble friend said, there is increasing concern about our "couch potato" culture and the rising level of obesity in our population. The statistics are indeed shocking. We know that physical activity levels, as well as dietary factors, are significant determinants of body mass. We know that levels of activity have a significant impact on health. Figures from the United States show that lifetime healthcare costs are 30 per cent lower for the physically active than for sedentary people. That is a statistic we should all take seriously in how we run our own lives.
I agree with my noble friends Lady Billingham and Lord Pendry and the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, that there is a very clear role for sport in encouraging people to be more active. In this country, compared with others in the European Union, there is certainly a great deal of scope for this. The average percentage of adults who regularly participate in sport in the UK is only 46 per cent, as against between 60 and 70 per cent in Scandinavian countries. We also need to target our efforts. Non-participation rates are higher among ethnic minorities and women where the prevalence of obesity and associated morbidities is growing fastest.
The Government are heeding those indicators. My department is working closely with the departments of health and education and skills to use sport to encourage participation in active recreation. For children and young people we are building a national network of 1,000 school sport co-ordinators to
encourage sport in schools, out of school hours and beyond schools through links with sports clubs. They are liasing with healthy schools co-ordinators to ensure that the message about the impact of active lifestyles on long-term health is part of a broader preventive healthcare strategy.Adults are harder to reach. For those at risk from sedentary lifestyles we need to develop new approaches. In partnership with the Department of Health and Sport England, DCMS will pilot a Leisure Credit initiative to offer exercise on prescription for targeted adults in some of our most disadvantaged areas. I hope that the proposed scheme will empower the user rather than just subsidising the provider, as in the past. We will provide more details of that scheme soon.
My noble friends Lady Billingham and Lord Hardy of Wath raised a second area of concern—that of the rising tide of street crime committed by young people. The Prime Minister has pledged to bring street crime under control in the 10 police areas responsible for 80 per cent of such offences. That will require action not only within the criminal justice system but also by departments, including my own.
As the noble Lord, Lord Warner, said, we are working with the Department for Education and Skills and the Youth Justice Board to establish a co-ordinated preventive programme of summer and longer-term activities in the target areas. The Government accept what has been said in the debate. Sport can help engage disaffected young people and help them find their way into a more constructive use of their leisure time.
Evidence from the Summer Splash schemes, which were described by the noble Lord, Lord Warner, is encouraging. For example, in areas where schemes were run in the year 2000, the total crime rate fell by 6 per cent, compared with a national rise of just under 4 per cent. Criminal damage fell by 14 per cent, against a national rise of 8 per cent. Domestic burglary fell by 26.6 per cent. The national fall was only 8 per cent. The criticism commonly levelled at such schemes is that they are merely diversionary. They channel energies which might otherwise go into criminal activity but fail to address the underlying attitudes which lead to bad behaviour. Can sport do both? Evidence to show that it can is beginning to emerge. Where sustained sport-based programmes are and have clear goals, they can achieve remarkable results. For example, there has been a 75 per cent reduction in arrests and offences of young people involved through the Youth Inclusion programme in the Plymouth Positive Futures project. The Government will continue investing in long-term schemes like that and will use sport to engage hard to reach young offenders. We shall learn lessons from longer-term evaluations.
Those health and community safety issues are formidable problems which require a comprehensive, sustained and intelligent approach. While it is right to explore the potential of sport to bring about change for the good, it is important to be realistic. While sport can be part of the answer to individual and social
malaise, sport in itself is no Holy Grail. I am sure that Members of your Lordships' House will agree with that.Sport can provide role models. It can inspire; it can provide healthy and enjoyable exercise and social contacts. It can teach young people about team working and the importance of rules. Involvement in sport, in the right environment, can indeed be a powerful tool for the transformation of individual lives and of communities.
Sport will need help to achieve all that potential. I want to refute what was said by the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran; that funding for sport is not part of our agenda. The Government are investing in sport at a level never previously seen in this country. Perhaps I should set that out for him and for the noble Lord, Lord Addington, who also asked about it.
Exchequer funding for sport in the current year is £83.7 million rising to £135 million next year. That represents an increase of £80 million over the figure for 1996-97. Many speakers mentioned the lottery. Since 1997, almost £1.5 billion has been awarded in lottery grants for community sports facilities and acute athletes under the world class programme. In addition, £31.5 million from the New Opportunities Fund Green Spaces and Sustainable Communities programme is enhancing playing fields and play areas. During the current spending round, £73 million is being invested in specialist sports colleges by the DfES. And investment in school sports facilities through the New Opportunities Fund and Space for Sport and Arts amounts to £855 million. I am most grateful to my noble friend Lady Pitkeathley for all her work in the chair of the New Opportunities Fund. That amounts to a package of more than £2 billion for sport.
Last month, the Government recognised that amateur sports clubs, rooted in local communities, need more support. That help is now forthcoming and I am grateful for support for that move from the noble Lord, Lord Phillips of Sudbury.
In April, the Minister for Sport announced that the majority of amateur clubs will now be able to apply for charitable status. The potential benefits run into tens of millions of pounds. Through that new status, clubs will gain the mandatory 80 per cent relief from business rates; tax exemption for fundraising income; and payroll giving, Giftaid and other tax reliefs.
As the noble Lord, Lord Monro of Langholm, claimed, of course clubs will need help in understanding the changes. A regional Sport England helpline will be available to help them make the most of the new tax benefits very shortly. I know that the Charity Commission is aware of the need to be helpful in that respect.
In addition, as the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, and the noble Lord, Lord Phillips of Sudbury, pointed out, the Chancellor announced a package of tax benefits in the Budget for clubs which are unable to benefit from charitable status. We will keep the effectiveness of those arrangements under review, including the specific points raised by the noble Lord, Lord Phillips of Sudbury.
An extra boost for clubs was also announced by the Chancellor in the form of £20 million from the Capital Modernisation Fund for sport. Clubs will also benefit from the Government's plans for coaching and volunteering. Coaches play a key role in motivating competitors and improving their skills. That applies to the school playground and the local playing field as well as to major international events.
We need to develop and support coaches more. We also need to encourage more people to enter the profession and to ensure that good coaching is available at every level from the grass roots to the top. At the grassroots level, action is already underway. The Come into Coaching campaign is a national recruitment drive in partnership with the BBC to encourage parents and others to enter coaching in local schools and clubs. Some of those people will be paid as sessional coaches. Others will be volunteers.
My noble friend Lord Hardy of Wath mentioned volunteers. It is estimated that our 110,000 amateur sports clubs are sustained by an army of more than 1.5 million volunteers. Those dedicated people range from skilled coaches to the mothers who wash bags full of muddy kit for junior teams. All of them give their services week after week and we must acknowledge the work that they do.
One of the most inspiring elements of preparations for the Commonwealth Games is the Millennium Volunteers programme. My department will continue to lead in advocating the value of volunteering in sport. And the benefits will spread beyond our schools. Many will progress to higher awards and will be placed in community sports clubs. Alongside them, adults will also have the opportunity to gain awards and recognition for the volunteering they already do.
To underpin that work, Sport England will develop a comprehensive volunteering database to match local placement opportunities to the experience and qualifications of volunteers.
A key issue for clubs and for the public is access to sports facilities and in particular playing fields. The noble Lords, Lord Monro of Langholm, Lord Phillips of Sudbury and Lord St John of Bletso, mentioned the concern felt about the loss of school playing fields. While there is no room for complacency, the picture is nowhere near as black as is sometimes painted. The Government have dramatically reduced the overall number of sales of school playing fields by introducing legislative changes and checks to the planning system. Controls set up to stem the flow are now beginning to bite.
In response to particular questions raised about that issue, Sport England has followed up all the planning applications affecting playing fields to which it has objected as a statutory consultee. We expect soon to be able to publish an authoritative set of figures agreed with the National Playing Fields Association to put an end to the confusion over data to which the noble Lord, Lord Monro, alluded. There is more that I could
say about that issue, but I fear that I shall run out of time. I want to move on to the issue of trying to improve what we do for school sports.First, £201 million Sport England lottery funding has been awarded to school sports facilities as well as funding from the Department for Education and Skills and funding through Space for Sport and Arts. All facilities which are funded through those programmes must also open their doors to local people out of school hours to benefit community health and promote social inclusion. We know that professional white males are four times as likely to participate in regular activity than working-class women of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin. That discrepancy is being addressed. Forty-three of the 45 county-based sports partnerships have worked out equity policies with clear targets for engaging women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities in sport.
In order to extend the benefits of participation beyond the traditional social boundaries, we are channelling sports development funding into areas of multiple deprivation. Sport England's community capital programme is supporting projects which encourage participation by groups less likely to be regularly involved in sport and active recreation.
School is where most children are introduced to sport. At school, pupils either develop a lifelong love of sport or an equally lifelong aversion to it. As my noble friend Lady Billingham pointed out, school sport declined throughout the 1980s and 1990s. However, the message we are now trying to get across is that time spent on PE and sport does not detract from academic achievement. Indeed, the opposite is true. My noble friend also mentioned the specialist sports colleges where GCSE results have improved, as they have in other specialist schools. Longitudinal studies currently being undertaken further support the improvements being brought about in the achievements of their pupils.
For a whole variety of reasons, including the improvements that I have just mentioned, the Prime Minister is committed to embedding sport at the heart of school life. In response to the noble Lords, Lord Moynihan and Lord Addington, to ensure that that is brought about, both the DCMS and the DfES have agreed a detailed project delivery plan which aims to improve the quality of PE and sport in schools. The project aims to ensure that all pupils can benefit from a minimum of two hours per week of high-quality PE and school sport; to encourage schools to foster links with sports clubs; to provide a wider range of opportunities and to encourage school leavers to remain involved in sport. Ultimately, the project seeks to increase the number of children enjoying playing and participating in sports and related recreational activities.
To achieve that transformation of school sport, we are planning an expansion of the existing infrastructure of sport co-ordinator partnerships and primary link schools centred on specialist sports colleges. Once the delivery contract targets have been agreed, they will be made public. However, I can
assure noble Lords that they will be ambitious. We believe that our plans for school sports provision will have a long-term impact on sporting and educational achievement, the health of the nation and on the social fabric of our communities.A number of specific questions were raised during the course of the debate to which I shall not have time to respond in detail now. I shall write to noble Lords with answers to those questions. Perhaps I may conclude by saying that many of us count participation in or spectating sport as one of the great pleasures of life. I certainly do so. I hope that I have been able to demonstrate that sport can help to achieve much wider goals for society and for individuals. Sport has a magnetism that is capable of drawing out the best in some of our most disaffected and disadvantaged people. The Government are determined to focus that power sensitively and effectively.
8.2 p.m.
Baroness Billingham: My Lords, this is the first debate that I have initiated since becoming a Member of your Lordships' House. It has been a most stimulating experience. Your Lordships' House is packed with so much expertise—a galaxy of stars if ever I saw one. Today's debate has been positive, creative and dynamic with every contributor giving remarkable insights. I hope that the debate will be widely read and acknowledged and that many of the aspirations of noble Lords will become reality. I believe that we have witnessed genuine consensus on the value of sport to our society. Let us retain that united front and encourage the Government to place sport even higher on their agenda so that it can play its key role in ensuring a healthier and more inclusive society.
I thank all noble Lords for their contributions. I beg leave to withdraw my Motion for Papers.
Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.
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