Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell today announced over £14 million in additional support for UK Sport to improve support for elite athletes and to boost the struggle to catch drug cheats in sport.
This cash will implement reforms highlighted in the Cunningham Review on Elite Sport, published last year:
- living costs per annum to be the same for all athletes on the World Class Performance Programme (WCPP)
- a new investment in personal coaches for athletes on the WCPP
- the delivery of an enhanced professional development programme for elite coaches
- the establishment of a scholarship programme for existing and potential World Class coaches and sports science service deliverers to extend their ability to work at elite level
- and the extension of the athlete medical scheme.
Some £9.4 million has been earmarked from the Department's Spending Review allocation and will be split, with £4.7 million being paid in each of the years 2004/05 and 2005/06.
It is not linked to the estimated shortfall which the Cunningham Review expected in UK Sport's main World Class Performance Programme. Last week, Sports Minister Richard Caborn reiterated the Government's pledge to meet that shortfall, should the need arise, in response to questions in the House of Commons.
In addition a further £4.7 million has been made available to give fresh impetus to the fight against drugs in sport. Most of the cash will be used to increase the number of tests carried out under the anti-doping programme and to meet the additional costs of new blood tests. Some £1.5 million will be paid in 2004/05 and the balance the following year.
Announcing the extra resources, Tessa Jowell said:
"The Cunningham Review highlighted the need for more resources to support our elite athletes. This cash will remove some of the iniquities of the present system and enable athletes and coaches to concentrate on reaching the peak of their performance.
"The UK leads the world in the fight against drug cheats. This investment will enable us to use the latest techniques to ensure cheats don't prosper."
Rt Hon Dr Jack Cunningham MP welcomed the extra money. He said:
"Today's announcement by Tessa Jowell is excellent news for elite sport in the UK. I warmly welcome the extra £14.1 million of investment in our athletes and last week's confirmation by the Minister for Sport, Richard Caborn, that promised levels of funding in the run-up to the Athens Olympics are assured. Taken together, the announcement should be warmly welcomed by all involved in UK Sport."
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. Tessa Jowell set out the new funding arrangements in a letter to Sir Rodney Walker.
The relevant extract is:
"There will be an uplift to your baseline of £1.5 million in 2004/05 and £3.2 million in 2005/06. The large majority of this new funding is designed both to increase the number of public interest tests carried out under the anti-doping programme and to meet the additional costs of new blood tests. If, once these two priorities have been met, it is possible to identify any spare funding from this allocation, then I would see the international representation programme and the use of sport as a tool for international development as the main priorities.
"Secondly, I am making a further, ring-fenced allocation to UK Sport of £4.7 million in 2004/05 and £4.7 million in 2005/06, to enable you to take forward some of the recommendations of the Cunningham Review of Elite Sport. In particular, I want to see the following recommendations implemented:
- living costs per annum should be the same for all athletes on the WCPP
- a new investment in personal coaches for athletes on the WCPP
- the delivery of an enhanced professional development programme for elite coaches
- the establishment of a scholarship programme for existing and potential World Class coaches and sports science service deliverers to extend their ability to work at elite level
- the extension of the athlete medical scheme.
I should stress that this allocation is not intended to address the issue of the potential shortfall in income for the WCPP. My Department is still exploring a number of options for a solution to this potential problem through the Lottery and I will write to you separately in due course about this issue.
Therefore the total allocation to UK Sport for the 2003-06 period is as follows (£m):
2003/04 2004/05 2005/06
Resource baseline* 19.566 25.766 27.466
Capital baseline 0.034 0.034 0.034
Totals 19.600 25.800 27.500
2. Richard Caborn reiterated the Government's commitment to retain support for UK Sport's WCPP in the House of Commons on 18 November 2002. He said:
"The Government are committed to maintaining lottery funding to elite athletes at the same level in the run-up to the Athens Olympics as was provided in the run-up to the Sydney Olympics."
