Asked by
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport what steps she is taking to improve access to sport and
recreational facilities and opportunities (1) during, and (2)
outside of, school hours.
The Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media
and Sport () (Con)
The cross-government School Sport and Activity Action Plan sets
out how we will help young people live healthy, active lives. We
will publish more details of our ambitious plans later this year.
The Chancellor recently announced a £500 million Youth Investment
Fund, which will be spent on youth centres and youth workers, but
I am very keen that there are also activities, including sports
activities, that help to build the character and resilience, as
well as the fitness and well-being, of our young people.
(Con)
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend the Secretary of State,
and no one could be more delighted than I am that responsibility
for sport is now in this House—sport has come home. My noble
friend will be aware that more than 33% of our medallists at the
Olympic Games came from the independent sector, which represents
7% of our children. Given that there is so much sporting talent
to be identified and developed in the state sector, will she
launch a new strategy, with her colleagues in education, to
ensure that all independent schools—not just those which already
demonstrate that best practice but all independent schools that
are in receipt of charitable status—continue to build school
sports partnerships with the state sector, local clubs and the
community as part of their public benefits requirement?
The noble Lord is absolutely right that my department works with
the Department for Education. From my previous experience, I
think that learning goes both ways. Of course, the independent
sector may have the facilities to support others, but I also know
that, equally, there are some fantastic maintained schools,
funded by the state, that offer a wonderful sporting experience.
However, I am sure there is more to be done. I am just about to
see the Secretary of State for Education, so I shall certainly
mention it. Briefly, the noble Lord mentioned the Olympic Games
and I am sure that as we turn into 2020, when the Tokyo Games are
happening, all noble Lords will want to wish our Olympic and
Paralympic athletes the very best in their preparations.
(Lab)
My Lords, I need not issue the welcome a second time. The Olympic
Games are the starting point for my question, but I refer to
those that took place here in 2012. I declare my interest as
chair of the board of directors of the Central Foundation Schools
of London, where there is not a blade of grass for anybody to
play anything on. The boys’ school is within three miles of
Stratford and the Olympic Village. I cannot see how the ambitions
raised in the suggestion of the noble Lord, , can be fulfilled
without rather a lot of resource being put in to get people out
of these inner-city schools to somewhere they can play their
games and have their exercise. Does the Minister have some
ambitious and recently imagined plan that will help me go to my
board and say, “There’s hope round the corner”?
The noble Lord is right that it is impossible to have sports
facilities without the necessary funding. There are a number of
funds, and I am always happy to share their details with noble
Lords. The Sport England strategic facilities fund is making up
to £40 million of National Lottery funding available to invest in
facilities projects. There is also the Sport England community
asset fund, which is £15 million. The Government are investing
£10 million and £15 million respectively into facilities for the
2021 Rugby League World Cup and, in cycling, the 2019 Road World
Championships. We have also announced funding for more 3G sports
pitches, which are extremely important, particularly in
inner-city and urban areas. We want to make sure that they are as
widely available as possible.
(CB)
My Lords, I join others in welcoming the Minister to her place.
Does she share my concern that the disparity in facilities
referred to by the noble Lord, , extends to arts
facilities? It was no less an actor than Benedict Cumberbatch who
pointed out to me that this reduces opportunities not only for
less affluent children but for creative innovation, where
different voices come together. Does she agree with me that it
should not take Sherlock to point out that there are significant
benefits from opening up these facilities for wider use?
The noble Baroness is absolutely right. I mentioned earlier the
Youth Investment Fund, which is not just about places and people,
although those are important, but about entitlement. There are
many schools in the independent and state sectors which do arts
provision extremely well, and we want to build on their example.
Also—and my noble friend the Minister is working very intensively
on this—I feel that we should make sure the fund offers arts
opportunities for after-school activities as well. The noble
Baroness also mentioned the important word “creativity”; we want
to see much more focus on that.
(LD)
My Lords, I welcome the Minister to her new role. The Government
have a situation where schools that used to provide many of the
facilities for junior clubs in their start-up role are
increasingly finding doors locked. What duty is being placed on
those schools to get in touch with the governing bodies of these
sports to let them know what facilities are potentially
available, possibly upping the revenue of these schools?
The noble Lord asks a very good question. As I said, I am about
to talk to the Secretary of State for Education; I will put that
on the agenda of the meeting. The noble Lord is right that
facilities do not have to be offered just in school premises.
Working with local community facilities or other sports
facilities, for example, and making sure that those links are
built is important. If he has any specific examples he wants to
share with me and the department so that we can pursue this, I
would be interested to receive them.
(Con)
Is it not the case that partnership schemes in sport between
independent and state schools, of which there are over a
thousand, are already making a useful contribution to the sharing
of facilities and staff? At the same time, I support my noble
friend Lord Moynihan’s call for the further extension of this
valuable work.
My noble friend is right that there are already many great
partnerships that are transforming our young people’s
opportunities in sport. There are always more lessons that can be
learned. As I say, those experiences often go both ways; it is
not just about the independent schools offering facilities to the
state sector.
