Lords quiz former Paralympian on Olympic and Paralympic Legacy
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson will appear before the Lords Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Committee in the second of two evidence sessions to be held on Wednesday 3 July.
The Committee's first evidence session will be with Jennie Price, Chief Executive of Sport England and Charles Reed, Chairman of the English Federation of Disability Sport.
Issues they will face questions on include:
- whether it is necessary or appropriate to have two publicly-funded bodies administering major investment in sport;
- how National Governing Bodies are encouraging increased sports participation amongst disabled groups and the roles of their two organisations in making this happen;
- how levels of funding for individual sports are allocated; and
- whether it is realistic to expect the Games to deliver a long-term legacy of increased sports participation when other Games have failed to do so.
The Committee will then, at 11.45am, question Baroness Grey-Thompson, who is one of Britain's most successful disabled athletes, having won a total of 16 Paralympic medals and won the London Marathon six times.
Lines of questioning to Baroness Grey-Thompson are likely to include:
- her reaction to last week's Spending Review, in which funding for elite sport was protected but Government funding for community sport was cut by 5%;
- the main barriers that exist against increasing sports participation amongst disabled people; for example lack of facilities or a lack of suitably trained coaches;
- whether we can expect Team GB to keep finishing in the top three in the meal table at future Paralympic Games and how we can maintain our position in the face of developing international competition; and
- whether the facilities developed for competition and practice at London 2012 will be used to deliver a Paralympic legacy and if Paralympic sport been fully considered in legacy planning.
The evidence sessions will begin at 10.45am on Wednesday 3 July in Committee Room 4A.
The session will be webcast at www.parliamentlive.tv and is also open to the public. Journalists wishing to attend should go to Parliament's Cromwell Green Entrance and should allow time for security screening.
