Physical Inactivity (Public Health)

Debate between Justin Tomlinson and Lee Scott

Tuesday 18th November 2014 Westminster Hall

[Justin Tomlinson (North Swindon) (Con)]

It is an absolute pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith), who made a very good, thoughtful speech on a very important topic. I have highlighted it a number of times previously in Westminster Hall and the main Chamber.

I am speaking partly as a vice-chair of the all-party group on heart disease, but also because of my own background. My school was bottom of the league tables in Kidderminster. My group of friends replicated whatever was on television, so predominantly we played football, but if Wimbledon was on, out came the tennis rackets; if the Tour de France was on, out came the bikes; and if the Ashes was on, out came the cricket bats. The importance of that was both that I was active and that I kept out of trouble. Two of my friends ended up spending time at Her Majesty’s pleasure, but the rest of us did not follow that path, because frankly we were just too tired at the end of the day, although I remember that when I phoned my old headmaster to say that I had got into Parliament, he said, “You know, the last time someone from our school got into the press, it was because they had gone to prison, but I’m not sure which is worse.” We will all make a judgment on that.

The hon. Member for Blaenau Gwent made a very important point. This debate is not just about sport; it is about the opportunity to be active. That is the part that I want to concentrate on—that opportunity. Before I became the MP for North Swindon, I represented for 10 years as a councillor a new build housing estate. It went from 1,800 to 10,000 houses. I was horrified once to be told that I was very lucky that my ward had the greatest proportion of open space of any ward in Swindon. I knew, as I lived there, that that was complete nonsense, so I did a bit of digging and it turned out that hedges, heritage sites and grass verges counted as open spaces. The last time I put down jumpers for goalposts to play football, none of those counted as usable open space, so it is a welcome move that the Government have removed the higher density rule, but I still think that more needs to be done in planning terms for new development to provide usable open space. That is incredibly important because garden space for one’s own home is now one third smaller than it was in the 1960s and front gardens for new builds are often just an aspiration rather than a reality.

We do not need premier league-standard open spaces for people to be active. When I used to play football during the whole of the summer holidays, we played on an almost vertical pitch, which was very handy, because Matthew and Paul Gilbert, the twins, were considerably better than me and my teammates. We got to kick downhill all day and they got to kick uphill—that was only fair.

We also need to look carefully at how we organise opportunities. I was a big fan of the school sports partnership. The Government looked at that when they first came to power, because there was the worry that in the previous years, even with £150 million being spent, only two out of five children ever took part in competitive sport.

[Mr Lee Scott (Ilford North) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that competitive sport, whatever sport it might be, in school leagues and various competitions is beneficial in getting young people involved and stopping some of the obesity problems that this country has?

[Justin Tomlinson]

I thank my hon. Friend for that very good point. I am about to come on to that issue, so I shall just pause my response, but I will cover it.

To return to the school sports partnership, there was the worry that after the £150 million had been spent year on year for a number of years, still only two out of five young people were involved in competitive sport. The reality is that if someone is good at sport, that is probably because their parents have encouraged them, and they have probably already signed them up to competitive teams. What the figures did not show was what was happening with the other three out of five children; it was probably the only opportunity that they had to be active. Therefore, the figures were not telling the full story and it was absolutely right for the Government to continue that provision.

Leading on from that was the desire to reinstate the school games, which was competitive sport. I speak from the experience of invariably being on the losing team—that set me up well for being involved in politics later in life. But I think that it is important for children not always to win. My hon. and learned Friend the Member for South Swindon (Mr Buckland) and I visit the Swindon school games every year, and they are a fantastic success. Huge numbers of sports clubs are engaged, as are volunteers; and schoolchildren of all abilities are getting involved.

I also welcome the moves to encourage more troops to become teachers. There is a chronic lack of PE-confident teachers in primary schools. That is a real challenge. I have visited a number of primary schools, and they have said that it is one of the biggest challenges that they face.

I am very proud that when I was a councillor, I set up the Swindon sports forum, which brings together about 60 different sports clubs. They are not necessarily competitive sports clubs. They could be walking clubs or clubs aimed at those aged 60 and above. However, the forum brings clubs together to share best practice and to talk about how they can secure funding from external bodies and how they can sometimes share facilities. There have been a number of major successes in that respect.

We face another big challenge. We talk about the Olympic legacy, and straight after the Olympics or any major sporting event on the television, young people are inspired and want to go and replicate the success that they have seen on the television. Sports clubs are then overwhelmed, in the short term, by huge numbers of new participants. The problem is that the number of children who can benefit is capped by the number of volunteers who are available. Sports clubs are no different from charities, political parties or other organisations when it comes to the real challenge of finding sufficient volunteers. I am a big fan of the Government’s National Citizen Service programme, because it is training young people to be good, constructive citizens. I think that we should look to channel more of those volunteers, in the summer, to go on to become sporting volunteers to help sporting clubs.

There also needs to be a lot more work among youth services, leisure centres and traditional sports clubs. I remember that when I was a councillor, the three would never talk to one another, but I also remember pointing out that on a Friday night there was the ice skating disco. That was not technically sport, but it involved 650 teenagers going round very quickly in a circle chasing after people they found attractive, so I argued that it was probably the most beneficial way of getting young people active.

Finally, there is the big plea that I have made as an MP. We have amazing facilities in this country. Whether it is schools, sports centres or community facilities, they are fantastic facilities. However, we charge an absolute fortune for voluntary groups to come and provide constructive activities, whether for older people or for younger people. It is very hard to get volunteers, and I think it is unacceptable to charge them for the privilege of helping people to be active. In my utopian world, between the hours of 4 o’clock and 6 o’clock, all school buildings would be available free of charge to groups that provide constructive activities for young people. That would help busy parents. It would help to tackle the obesity crisis. It would provide constructive engagement, which stopped me going down a very different path. I make that plea for all parties. There is good cross-party support on the wider principle, and I think that that is the most tangible way in which we could make a big difference.