New Minister for Sport, Tracey Crouch MP, spoke about her priorities for the sector in her first public speech at the Sport and Recreation Alliance's Sports Summit today.
Describing the job as an 'incredible opportunity', she set out her credentials for the role; from being a sports-mad youngster who tried everything from BMX to cricket, to bringing through an under-11 girls football team all the way through to the senior ranks this year. Until recently, she also sat on the Culture, Media and Sport Committe in parliament.
The Minister - only the third woman to have held the post - outlined four early priorities for her department in a speech that was delivered with an obvious enthusiasm for her new brief.
Her top priority, she said, was to recognise the importance of grassroots, voluntary-led sport, describing how when she grew up, organised grassroots sport "was not accessible to everyone". She also stressed the need for government to support the full range of physical activity and not just competitive sport, to embrace people's changing habits and what she called 'time poverty'.
A second focus will lie in working towards what the Minister described as more fairness in the sector. 'Sport,' she said, 'should be the ultimate meritocracy,' but that for too many people 'the playing field is far from flat'. Referring to under-represented groups in participation, including women and people with disabilities, she said that there is still much work to do.
Referring specifically to cardiac risk, Tracey Crouch described how a third priority for her will be addressing the hidden danger of activity. She promised that she would press for wider assessment of cardiac risk in athletes, as well as wider spread distribution of defibrillators.
Her last focus, she said, would be to build on what she called the 'staggering success' of the UK in hosting major events.
In an open question and answer session, she expressed confidence that the Government understood the need for cross-departmental co-operation on sport and sports policy. She also expressed a strong interest in school sport, telling the audience that she had asked David Cameron for additional responsibility for school sport, a suggestion rebuffed by the PM.
More content from the Sports Summit will be available soon.
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