National Lottery

I beg to move,"That the draft Payments into the Olympic Lottery Distribution Fund etc. Order 2007, which was laid before this House on 25th October, in the last Session of Parliament, be approved." I recently met two young Olympic hopefuls. One was an incredibly impressive young woman who gets up every morning and does two hours of swimming before school and two hours after school in pursuit of her dream of competing at the London Olympic games in 2012. The second is a young disabled athlete who is hoping to compete at table tennis, and whose father told me that even before there was the possibility of his son's going to the Olympics, the very fact of training transformed his confidence to such an extent that he now goes on training weekends without his carer—something he would never have done before. Those are just two young people, but our Olympics will be an inspiration to a whole generation. It will be one of those events where hyperbole is justified. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It will bring the country together. It can transform Britain's reputation overseas. The Olympics can be all those things, but we have set ourselves a bigger goal: we want it to be the best Olympics ever. My right hon. Friend the Minister for the Olympics has put in place the best preparations ever seen for an Olympics at this stage; those are not my words, but those of Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee. There are three building blocks to those preparations. First is a clear organisation with the right structure and world-class leadership—we have that. Secondly, like any team, our success will depend on our cohesiveness and support—and with 76 per cent. of the population backing the 2012 games, rising to 90 per cent. among young adults, we have that, too. The third element is a robust funding package, and that is exactly what we have. Last March, my right hon. Friend announced a £9.325 billion public sector funding package for the games, including contingency funding to manage risks. Of that total, £6.09 billion was identified for Olympic Delivery Authority costs. The remaining contingency funding will be released only if needed. Cross-party consensus is undoubtedly important to speed our progress towards the best ever Olympics, but there is also, of course, a legitimate space for scrutiny and challenge. That is why my right hon. Friend provided Parliament with details of the ODA baseline budget in December, as soon as it was confirmed, and why she has agreed to provide every six months a full update of progress of the Olympic spend against the budget and the breakdown provided in December. The motion puts in place an important part of the funding package. It allows for £1.085 billion from the national lottery distribution fund to be transferred to the Olympic lottery distribution fund.