London Olympics Bill

I am delighted that the hon. Lady is so supportive of the Government’s 14-to-19 education agenda, which is being pursued along precisely the lines that she has described. I agree that we need to ensure that children across the UK, but particularly local London children in Putney, Hackney, Islington, Leyton, Wanstead and Newham benefit from the games. We need to ensure that young people in our schools today are in a position not only to be trained for the jobs that will be available during the development of the Olympic park, but to develop skills that will provide them with an opportunity to get good, long-term jobs thereafter. It is worth highlighting for the benefit of hon. Members who are not connected with east London that the London Development Agency is setting up a business intelligence unit and an Olympic business club, as well as providing business support for businesses in the area and a job brokerage scheme. Hackney council and the other borough councils are anxious to work on that scheme to ensure that local people really benefit. The packed lunches of 1948 have been mentioned. Perhaps we have moved on from that now. Hackney has been in the lead in setting up a catering and hospitality centre and we are hoping that one of the legacies of the Olympics will be a centre of excellence for food and hospitality. No borough could be more appropriate than Hackney to host such a centre, as it already has restaurants of every nationality and some of the best food. We hope that the centre will become a training venue in which people can skill up so as to get the benefit of the jobs available in the food and hospitality industries in this city and internationally. I want briefly to turn to matters outside Hackney’s boundaries. Other hon. Members have come up with suggestions for how we can embrace the popular interest in the 2012 Olympics in the UK. For the special Olympics, which were held in Ireland a little while ago, each town and city adopted a country. Perhaps we could consider such a scheme here. Similar approaches have also been suggested. Each national group that comes to the Olympics is represented in Hackney and, I am sure, in the other four Olympic boroughs. I am sure that the national groups in my borough will be keen to welcome and link up with the national teams from their home countries. London is multinational—that was one of the strengths of our bid—so let us celebrate that and make it a central part of the work that we do between now and 2012. The games have strong backing. We have heard about the number of people who have registered on the website to volunteer and to support the bid. It is important that communication and the involvement of citizens are continuing themes of the activities of the Olympic organising committee. Will my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State consider a proposal supported by my hon. Friend the Member for Edmonton (Mr. Love) and me: the people’s games? This is a proposal to develop a mutual organisation in which every citizen is entitled to own a share and thereby become part of a sounding board for the Olympic organising committee. In that way, every citizen in this country could have a real stake in the games. Whether they are from Northern Ireland, east Dunbartonshire or east London, they could become very closely involved. I finish by saying that Hackney is four-square behind the Olympics, but we know that the hard work to ensure that local people and local businesses benefit from them starts here. We are up to that challenge and we look forward to the Olympic games coming to London in 2012.