Richard Graham
Main Page: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)Department Debates - View all Richard Graham's debates with the Leader of the House
(11 years, 10 months ago)
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Hugh Robertson
The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point. Indeed, if we look back over the past 20 years or so, we see that the one thing that nobody has really managed to address has been post-school dropout. We are trying a new approach via the new youth sport strategy, which will be the key component of the next round of whole-sport plans. I very much hope that by linking schools much better to community clubs and putting people into colleges of higher education, which have not been well covered, we will tackle the problem in the next cycle.
Mr Speaker
Order. There is no hurry. I have seen the hon. Gentleman, but I am saving him up for his own question, which we will reach in due course.
Mr Vaizey
Part of the problem with e-books is that most publishers do not want e-books lent in libraries. I have had discussions with publishers on that on at least two occasions, and would happily discuss it jointly with publishers and the hon. Gentleman so he can hear their views first hand.
Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)
15. What recent discussions he has had on nominating a new sport for the next Olympics.
The Minister for Sport and the Olympics (Hugh Robertson)
This is a matter for the International Olympic Committee, but I am aware of the ambitions of a number of sports. London 2012 will feature 26 sports in its programme. That will rise to 28 for Rio 2016, when golf and rugby sevens are added to the mix. Decisions about the 2020 summer games will be taken by the IOC in 2013.
Richard Graham
The Minister knows of one sport that is played by more than half a million people in this country and many millions worldwide, on more than 50,000 courts, and in which the current men’s world champion is from this country: squash. Does he agree that the case for squash is strong and that it should be supported as much as possible? Will he meet me, UK Sport and the World Squash Federation, which is headquartered here in London? Lastly, will he, and indeed you, Mr Speaker, agree to join a team that I intend to put together—a Lords and Commons squash team—to play squash on world squash day in October this year to support the bid?
Mr Speaker
We all look forward to the hon. Gentleman’s upcoming Adjournment debate on these matters—although some people might think he has already had it.