INTERVIEW
Karen Maxwell talks to the Sports Minister on the importance of harnessing and preserving the power of sport, particularly in the shadow of the coalition government’s recent spending review
ROBERTSON
time when its funding inevitably comes under pressure, as preparations for the 2012 Games and plans for its legacy enter a crucial phase. With just six months under his belt,
H
he’s confident however, that his previ- ous five years as shadow sports minister has given him a huge advantage in his understanding of the country’s sporting landscape. A sentiment echoed by many in British sport; impressed by his progres- sive understanding of the sector since he came onto the sports scene as shadow sport spokesman for the then Shadow Sports Minister Colin Moynihan in 2004 – rising to Shadow Sports and Olympics Minister the year after.
ugh Robertson has assumed his role as Minister for Sport during an exciting era for British sport, but also at a
“I don’t think there’s any national gov-
erning body of sport (NGB) in the land that I haven’t been to visit or met and interacted with,” he explains. “I’ve been to two Winter Olympics, a Summer Olym- pics and countless World Championship sporting events so I’m absolutely familiar with the Olympic budget – both the orig- inal and the updated one that emerged in 2007. I’ve also replied to all the state- ments in opposition. So instead of having to take these past six months to get up to speed, I’ve been able to hit the ground running, and I think the benefit of that has been apparent during the Compre- hensive Spending Review (CSR).”
Funding issues Convinced that sport has received a “good settlement” during the review, Robertson says his two priorities in the
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lead up to the cuts were to preserve athlete funding towards 2012 as well as Sport England’s Whole Sport Plans [funding packages given to NGBs to drive up participation]. Among the announcements made
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, was the ongoing provision of £9.3bn public funding to deliver a safe and successful London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012. The funding to NGBs of Olympic sports and elite athletes has also been safe- guarded through a combination of Exchequer and Lottery funding. “We needed to ensure that we have
the very best team to cheer for at the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Rob- ertson explains; adding that although government funding will be cut post 2012, an increase in Lottery money
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