09/06/2013 Sunday Politics West

Olympic legacy is on a knife edge. Teachers say youngsters like these

are not getting the sporting chances they deserve because of cuts to

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2144 seconds

the programme here in the West. Some teachers have claimed that the

legacy of the Olympic Games is on a life-support machine. Our young

people like these being shortchanged by sports provision at school?

We have to good sports as guests who are on the opposite debate -- the

opposite side of the debate. Looking at the reaction to the

Public Accounts Committee about the spending cuts, Adi squeezing it dry?

There is inevitably going to be a squeeze on the budgets and we are

going to find ways of helping them transform the way they deliver their

services. We have got examples already the country of councils who

have worked more efficiently by sharing back offices and linking

health services with adult social care. They are being able to deliver

better services for less money so there are ways of dealing with the

problem but it is tough. Do you buy into that? Of course making things

more efficient is but on the front line, things like teaching English

as a foreign language, are the things that are being cut. It isn't

just cuts, isn't it, local authorities are also going to the

wall. Some local councils are in every guilty and we provide

additional support to them. But it is worth reflecting that there is �2

million worth of council tax that is currently not collected. At the

councils could just collect the tax that they are entitled to, things

would improve. But I do not want to deny that things are tough. Tanks

for the moment. Everybody agrees we should tackle world hunger but how?

Campaigners demanding change have been out in London as well as pistol

and stride. They say that what happens here matters.

It is not the sort of classroom she is used to. This bar schoolteacher

has recently been to Tanzania and was shocked that so many have so

little to each. To eat. Some of them are surviving on a bowl

of rice a day. They are not growing properly. It is time that we said

that the world can provide enough food and wine in eight people should

not go to bed hungry. Among the concerns is the land being diverted

to promote biofuels. They are growing this plant which can be used

to fuel engines. What happens here will give an

indication of the government's stands. This site is lined up to

become a big biofuels plant. Bringing in crops imported from the

developing world. It was approved on appeal after initially being

rejected by Bristol City Council. The government subsidy which

biofuels get is more significant. Something that is wrong. It is a

great shame that we have got this development is taking place in

Avonmouth but in terms of government policy, we ought to make it

financially unattractive to any energy producer in Britain to source

biofuels. The attended this briefing for MPs. Britain contrasts with

countries like Holland and Germany which have cut money for biofuels.

The government subsidises things which seem rain on a piece of paper

but on further inspection isn't as rain as it first seems. It destroys

communities and contributes to deforestation. That is not what you

want to be supporting. Lindsay Atkin has taken her campaign to Downing

Street. If we really want to feed the world, they say, the government

must change its attitude to biofuels. It seems that it has

turned into a bit of a shambles. This is something that looks like

and sounds like it should be a good idea but when you look into it it is

not. I am behind the campaign that is for supporting starving children.

One in eight people will go to bed hungry tonight. It is too late

though, isn't it? How a back the clock on the biofuels industry?

think we will have to but let's remember that not all biofuel is

bad. Last year there was 50,000 tonnes of biofuel was Burns and only

250 tonnes was from virgin oil and not palm oil and the majority was

from waste oil. Unless we have got a mechanism that shows that we have

truly sustainable crops, in other words that you're not denying people

food, that you replace what has been taken away in terms of wetland, that

we are not using palm oil that destroys the rainforest, then it

should be getting the various support that is on offer. The local

council rejected the proposal and was overruled by the government but

it seems they were right all along. The issue is what fuel is used. If

they were using waste fuel nobody would say the planning was wrong.

The EU are already working on a more sustainable policy for what is

acceptable and what is not and our government is working hard on that.

We have got the irony of the big companies actually lecturing the

government. I know and I think it is as strawberry -- it is extraordinary

that government overruled the local council. This fuel is going to take

away land for cute -- for food for hungry children. The issue as the

type of fuel that is being used. us look to the future. F so much

money has been invested in this, weather we from here? -- where do we

go from here? It can be done and the other thing we should take into

account as the cost of transportation and the greenhouse

gases. But your own colleagues both said they were against it. The three

of us are in agreement and it is extraordinary that this has been

allied to happen and I hope that the G8 are going to take a stand.

planning application is a separate matter. We will leave it there.

The Olympic legacy is on a life-support machine according to

teachers who claim that the government has failed to deliver on

the promises. Cuts in funding will mean schools can provide good

physical education opportunities. The Games captured the imagination

of a generation, at the time at least. But London 2012 wasn't all

about winning medals. The politicians said the Games were also

about this. Inspiring young people to take part in sport. Here at

Springfield School, many of the children have been excluded from

other mainstream schools. They use sport to teach the children and the

children love it. But the principal says the Olympic legacy is hanging

in the balance. 2012 was a special year but because there is no

national framework, I am concerned that there will be pockets where the

legacy is happening but it would take place elsewhere. The thing I am

really fighting to get recognised is that sport is at solidly fundamental

to a old's development. government cut funding for sports

development. Nothing has really come from that brilliant atmosphere that

we had last summer and it is really dependent on the schools themselves.

That is a view shared by this sailing regatta in Bristol. State

educated children sailing competitively but the first time in

the South West. But that's no thanks to the government, according to its

organiser. And fortunately they have failed our children in terms of

billing the purse strings at the wrong time. The Education Secretary

Michael Gove has also promised more money for primary schools to improve

sport. What does the legacy have to be driven by money and central

government? Here they know a thing or two about

sporting success. They have Olympic gold medallists as former pupils.

They say that the success is down to teachers being prepared to go the

extra mile. It is about finding opportunities to train and play.

Olympic rings are still proudly on display as the youngsters gather

ahead of the Games. I think my most important focus is that people are

enjoying it. If in a few years time the situation is the same then that

is a problem. We may not know what it any legacy has been left until

the Games in Brazil in 2016. It has all gone terribly flat

according to those teachers. Where as the legacy? First of all, the

legacy is not just about sports, it is about business and so on. If you

link sports clubs with schools, you give young children and opportunity

to find a sport that they are really interested in. That is having a real

benefit. We have invested �150 million more in schools sports.

There is fabulous work being done locally and we are putting in �70

million to give additional training for primary school teachers. And yet

people are saying that nothing is happening here and we have to do it

for ourselves. I know someone who got new equipment for the school and

that helped people get into sport but now it is not being replaced.

She has to get on a bus to go to a playing field because playing fields

are no longer available. The money is actually not there and that means

that I Jessica Ennis of the future is having to get on a bus to go and

play somewhere. We have a medal winning Paralympians with us. What

can you tell us about the legacy? is amazing the kind of reception

people like me get in schools. What I relies is that if we can inspire

these people know, if we can get them involved now, they are more

likely to stick with it. When I was a student, the school was what got

me involved in sport. If it wasn't for my teacher, I wouldn't be here

now. What about this great promise from the government of all the money

being spent, I use saying anything come from that? I think it is early

days and we cannot tell what is happening. It does seem to me that

we have done not a bad job. If you look at previous cities that hosted

the Games, some of them like Beijing are still not utilising their

stadiums. That is not the case in London. And they had gets four years

to come. -- they had debt for many years. They have been given a stash

of extra money and a clear requirement that they have to work

with young people. We are saying that enthusiasm in the sports

clubs. I was one of the first to criticise the government and they

have reversed the decision and funding is no there. The Labour

government, who got the Olympics to Britain, showed the value and the

benefit of the government investing. The government investing in the

Olympics meant that we had thousands of new jobs. They were all over the

country. You are listening to politicians talking away. We hear

all these figures being bandied about about how much it cost. Was it

worth it? Absolutely. Maybe I'm biased! I was one of the people

benefiting most from that expenditure but it was an amazing

experience. The Paralympics were almost more for a full because

people weren't expecting it to be so good. In many ways what happened was

that people just couldn't turn off their televisions. It was powerful

memories as well as a lot of money spent.

Let us have a look at the other political stories happening around

the West. Just 143 Labour activists have

chosen who could be the Bristol South MP for decades to come. Karin

Smyth will contest the safest seat in the West and Dawn Primarolo will

stand down after the next election. 25,000 more jobs are to be created

in the south-west after lobbying from energy firms. Plans to call up

to 100,000 badgers have been shelved.

The policy to tackle bovine TB hasn't been backed by scientists.

The ayes to the left - 250, the noes to the right - 299. Jack Lopresti

has announced he is battling bowel cancer. He is having chemotherapy

and doctors are aiming for a complete cure by the autumn.

I would suggest you are probably a great exponent of the women- only

shortlist. Is it fair? Is it fair that we have a minority of women and

the House of Commons? That is not something I want to see. And all

women shortlist is the thing that we need to get more women in politics.

There are only 127 MPs -- women MPs and that is a disgrace and there are

not enough ethnic minorities. The Liberal Democrats have a scheme to

bring in different people and to the constituency shortlists. I am not in

favour of all women shortlists but I am in favour of positive

discrimination. There are plenty of open shortlists and for centuries

women have been kept out of the House of Commons for many reasons.

There are many good women candidates. I was proud to be

selected and I don't think anybody said it wasn't there that I want.

am not going to say good luck but I think it is really important that we

have more women, disabled, black and ethnic minorities candidates. But

I'm not sure as single restricted shortlist is the way to do it.

is all we have time for so thank you for joining us.