Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the ending of the statute on limitations this year for testing samples collected at the London Olympic Games in 2012, (1) how many anti-doping violations were found from retested samples collected in London; (2) what percentage of the urine samples collected at the London Olympic Games were re-analysed; and (3) which Olympic champions and medallists were stripped of their medals.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government does not hold the data to answer this question. The samples collected during the London Olympic Games in 2012 were done so under the jurisdiction of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), rather than UK Anti-Doping (the UK’s national anti-doping organisation). As LOCOG no longer exists, it is therefore the IOC that has the ability to reanalyse the samples collected at the Games. UK Anti-Doping has welcomed the reanalysis of samples from previous Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many out-of-competition tests UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) has undertaken since the decision to reduce the UKAD testing programme as a result of COVID-19 was announced on 17 March.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) publishes its doping test figures on a quarterly basis to preserve the integrity of the test allocation process and ensure the “no advance notice” testing principle is protected. Therefore, UKAD’s figures for the in- and out-of-competition tests it has carried out since 17 March 2020 are only partially available.
Testing figures for Q4 of 2019/20, which covers January-March 2020, have been published on UKAD’s website. According to this report, the domestic and international Anti-Doping Testing Programme carried out 2,512 tests during this period. Testing figures for Q1 of 2020/21, which covers April-June 2020, will be published after the period is complete.
Athletes are not required to declare in advance of tests if they, or anyone they are living with, are at higher risk from, or clinically extremely vulnerable to, COVID-19. UKAD has asked athletes and National Governing Bodies to provide this information to help their planning, however does not have plans to make this publicly available.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many tests have been carried out by Doping Control Personnel in athletes' homes since 17 March; and how many athletes declared in advance of these tests that they were living with people who are (1) at higher risk from, or (2) clinically extremely vulnerable to, COVID-19.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) publishes its doping test figures on a quarterly basis to preserve the integrity of the test allocation process and ensure the “no advance notice” testing principle is protected. Therefore, UKAD’s figures for the in- and out-of-competition tests it has carried out since 17 March 2020 are only partially available.
Testing figures for Q4 of 2019/20, which covers January-March 2020, have been published on UKAD’s website. According to this report, the domestic and international Anti-Doping Testing Programme carried out 2,512 tests during this period. Testing figures for Q1 of 2020/21, which covers April-June 2020, will be published after the period is complete.
Athletes are not required to declare in advance of tests if they, or anyone they are living with, are at higher risk from, or clinically extremely vulnerable to, COVID-19. UKAD has asked athletes and National Governing Bodies to provide this information to help their planning, however does not have plans to make this publicly available.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of UK registered athletes are adhering to requirements to provide Whereabouts information in the Anti-Doping Administration Management System.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There are currently 561 athletes registered on UKAD’s National Registered Testing Pool and Domestic Testing Pool, with an approximate 50/50% split between the two pools. These athletes are required to provide their Whereabouts via the Anti-Doping Administration Management System to enable out-of-competition testing.
Whereabouts Failures for the current period will be reported in the next Quarterly Testing Reports, likely to be published in mid-July on UKAD’s website.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many UK registered athletes are currently selected for inclusion in UK Anti-Doping out-of-competition testing.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
There are currently 561 athletes registered on UKAD’s National Registered Testing Pool and Domestic Testing Pool, with an approximate 50/50% split between the two pools. These athletes are required to provide their Whereabouts via the Anti-Doping Administration Management System to enable out-of-competition testing.
Whereabouts Failures for the current period will be reported in the next Quarterly Testing Reports, likely to be published in mid-July on UKAD’s website.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many Anti-Doping Rule Violations hearings have taken place since 17 March.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Anti-Doping Panel has heard three cases of Anti-Doping Rule Violations via videoconference since 17 March 2020, which is in line with what the Panel usually hears.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what were the total sales of National Lottery tickets for the months of (1) January, (2) February, (3) March and (4) April 2020.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Camelot is the current operator of the National Lottery. They release sales information under a timetable and format agreed with its regulator, the Gambling Commission. Data on sales is published on the Camelot website three months in arrears and this can be found at; http://www.camelotgroup.co.uk/about-us/reporting
Sales for the months of January and February were as follows:
Month | Sales (£m) |
January | 614.8 |
February | 594.3 |
The March 2020 sales data will be published alongside Camelot's 2019/20 year-end sales announcement in early June and the April 2020 sales data will be published later in June.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Baroness Barran on 28 April (HL Deb, col 176) that the forthcoming spending review will address the budget needs for the Olympic programmes, what information they will give to potential Olympic and Paralympic athletes as to whether existing their training and racing programmes will be extended until the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, in the event that the spending review is delayed until the autumn.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We know this is a challenging period for all sports and we continue to work closely with the whole sector to understand the issues they face and how we can best support them through this difficult time.
The Comprehensive Spending Review has been delayed from July to later this year to ensure that HM Treasury and departments can remain focused on responding to the immediate public health and economic emergency.
Further details about the next spending review will be set out in due course. It will follow significant investment the government announced through both Budget 2020 and Spending Round 2019, and will take into account the government’s response to COVID-19.
We remain committed to supporting our elite athletes and the current UK Sport settlement goes through till April 2021. My department is working to ensure that we have a strong evidence-base with which to support the Chancellor ahead of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide testing and tracing opportunities at an early opportunity for those either selected or shortlisted to compete for Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2021.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is holding weekly meetings with senior medical officials and sport representatives to discuss key issues around COVID-19, and is communicating regularly with stakeholders across the sporting sector to share the latest advice. We will maintain these discussions as plans to restart training and competition within elite sport are developed.
Olympic and Paralympic sport is not immune from the impact of Covid-19 and we will continue to work with UK Sport in ensuring that our athletes are well supported in this difficult period.
We have now published step one guidance on the return to training for elite sport which sets out the minimum operating expectations of an elite training environment, and has been developed in close consultation with the Deputy Chief Medical Officers of England, Public Health England and medical representatives across Olympic, Paralympic and professional sports governing bodies.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to providing financial support to the national governing bodies of sports whose income has been detrimentally affected by the coronavirus epidemic.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We recognise the impact that covid-19 is having on the sport sector, and we are continuing to engage with sporting organisations to understand how it is affecting them and provide support. Sport England, the arms-length body of government who invest in and provide a range of services to national governing bodies have been involved in these discussions.
The Chancellor has already announced a host of measures to help businesses, with £330 billion worth of government backed and guaranteed loans to support businesses across the UK. In addition, our national sports council, Sport England, has also announced £195 million of funding to help sport and physical activity organisations deal with the short and long term effects of the pandemic.