Culture, Media And Sport

Adam Thompson Excerpts

Tuesday 30th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Adam Thompson (Erewash) (Lab)]

It is a joy to speak in this estimates day debate on sport and youth services, particularly after I spent my weekend joining the Furniture Makers’ Company for its annual tug-of-war in West Park, Long Eaton. Erewash has a very long history of furniture making, and our enduring local businesses get together every year to celebrate their industry with their families over a very spectacular tug-of-war. They even let me have a go, and I am very proud to say that my side lost—and I did not do very well at staying on the rodeo rugby ball either.

I raise that because the event took place on West Park, which is our local hub for grassroots sport. West Park Leisure Centre, Long Eaton rugby club, Long Eaton cricket club, our skatepark, various football clubs, our splash pad and a very popular parkrun all call it home. As I walked around the park, I was struck by the investment that has been put into the park by our fantastic Erewash borough councillors. There is new lighting and a new events space, and a brand new flagship bridge and waterfront space are currently being built as part of the towns fund deal. That is a strong example of cross-party commitment to redevelopment. The project is going to help reboot the town as a local economic and leisure hub, linking the town centre to the park and making a stunning contribution to improving active transport in the area.

All that sits in front of further investment in grassroots sport across the country, such as nearly 1,000 community projects across the UK, which this Labour Government announced in January. Funding is focused on our most deprived communities, and women and girls’ participation in sports is prioritised. I am very pleased that the Government are focusing so heavily on improving low-cost access to sport in our communities.

Erewash was lucky enough to benefit from one of those recent projects, with Long Eaton United football club receiving a Football Foundation grant of nearly £20,000. That contributed towards a £50,000 project to upgrade floodlights on Grange Park, increasing the community’s access to sport on dark winter evenings. The grant forms a small part of the great expansion in grassroots sports funding that the Government are building into their spending review; £400 million has been committed to delivering new pitches, changing pavilions, floodlighting and facilities to support physical education, health initiatives and community outreach.

As we know, for every £1 spent on community sport and physical activity, over £4 is generated for the economy and society. Investment in grassroots sport—it is real investment—supports our local economies and saves the public in NHS spending in the long run by promoting a healthy, active lifestyle. Lots is happening in grassroots sport at the moment, and it is great to see the Government providing the funding that the country needs to make it all happen. Long may that continue.

UK Biobank Data

Adam Thompson Excerpts

Thursday 23rd April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ian Murray]

I thank the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for the way in which she has dealt with this issue. I echo her thanks to all the volunteers—not only those who give their sensitive data to UK Biobank for critical purposes, but all the volunteers who give data for all research purposes.

The Liberal Democrat spokesperson used the word “leak”, but this was not a leak; it was a legitimate download by a legitimately accredited organisation. We have identified a problem with the UK data bank system, in the sense that accredited users have used the system to analyse data sources and then download their results from that analysis, but the system has not prevented them from also downloading the source data. It is that downloaded source data that is against the terms of use for accredited organisations. The three Chinese organisations have been found to have done that, which is why they have been suspended from the site. This was not a leak as such. How that data has got from those institutions on to the Alibaba website is still to be concluded, but this was not a leak of data or a cyber-attack. This was a legitimate download of legitimate data by a legitimately accredited organisation, which is why we should not use the word “leak” for the purposes of reassuring the volunteers who put their data into the system.

Let me answer the hon. Lady’s question about what has been done and what the Government have asked Biobank to do. I reiterate that the whole system has been paused, and the board has taken actions to write to all participants; in fact, there is a statement on Biobank’s website. I cannot recall whether the statement includes an apology, but we will take that back to Biobank—I am sure it is watching this statement. The Information Commissioner’s Office will also be involved, because this issue relates to data. Biobank has referred this incident to the ICO, and we will work very closely with it. I emphasise that we take this matter extremely seriously. We came to the House at the first available opportunity this morning, before the release from Biobank had gone out, to make sure that Members could reassure the volunteers and also see how seriously we take this issue.

The hon. Lady referred to an article in The Guardian. It is because journals demand source data before publication in order to reduce fraud that the source data was included in some journal articles that linked directly to the source data on UK Biobank. Again, it was not a leak; it is about the way in which researchers used data incorrectly.

[Adam Thompson (Erewash) (Lab)]

I am deeply concerned by today’s statement, not least because I am a former research scientist who is all too aware of the professional ramifications of research institutions breaching data control regulations. I know that the vast majority of researchers would never dream of abusing data in this way. Will the Minister provide a reassurance that researchers will not generally be prevented from accessing and using such data appropriately in the future?

[Ian Murray]

UK Biobank has assured us over the past 24 hours that it is looking for a technical fix, which should happen relatively shortly, and we will hold it to that. To show that we are taking the situation as seriously as it should be taken, we have insisted as a Government that UK Biobank should pause all access to, downloads from and use of the system until the fix comes into place. I do not know the exact figures of usage, but across the globe there are somewhere in the region of more than 16,000 researchers using this resource, because it is so valuable. We should thank them for doing that and ensure that they have full access to UK Biobank in the safe way in which it should be used as soon as possible.