Robertson makes spending review pledge 07/10/2010 |
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Sport and Olympics minister Hugh Robertson has vowed to do everything he can to protect funding for athletes in the run up to London 2012 and beyond as the Government prepares to announce details of its massive budget cuts.
The coalition will outline huge expenditure cuts to practically all departments as part of a major spending review on October 20 – with sport in Britain almost certain to face a 30 to 40 per cent reduction in its annual budget.
Robertson said he is braced for the worst but has plans in place to help sport through what is sure to be an extremely difficult time.
He told Inside the Games: “It is my absolute intention to protect the funding for athletes and to make sure that all sports have their plans to increase participation up and running.
"Any money we have left over will go directly towards the London 2012 legacies we are planning.
"We know what we want to do but obviously we’re not going to release the exact details until we know for sure how much money we’ve got to play with.
"Sport is one of those things that could almost absorb an incontestable amount of money.
"You could triple the budget and I could do all sorts of wonderful things, like ensure everyone going through the British education system has full opportunities to participate in every single sport.
"That would be fantastic but it’s completely unrealistic as we’ve inherited a horrible situation which means that cuts simply have to happen.
"The fact is I’m going to do my utmost to protect sport regardless of what the financial settlement is on October 20."
Robertson also gave his full support to Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, claiming he is fighting hard to secure sport the best possible settlement when the cuts are made.
"To be fair to him, Jeremy is doing everything he can to protect the DCMS [Department of Culture, Media and Sport] budget and treat all sectors of it equally,” Robertson added.
"I know first-hand from being in all of the meetings with him that he is doing everything he possibly can to protect both the DCMS budget and the Olympics budget to the best of his abilities.
"Clearly, though, I am the person inside Government who speaks up for sport and tries to defend it.
"Once we know what the settlement is, I am determined that we don’t just ‘salami slice’ the top off everything we are funding as I want us to actually sit down and look carefully at what is working well and what isn’t.
"I obviously want us to carry on doing the things we are doing well.
"That’s going to mean full funding and fully backing projects that function well and probably cutting out a number of things that don’t function well.
"I’m determined we don’t simply bumble along as we are, doing everything as we are now, but just rather less well than we have in the past because of the funding cuts."
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