Education, Culture and Sport Committee, 27 Jun 2000

Meeting date: Tuesday, June 27, 2000

Official Report 247KB pdf

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Disabled Athletics

Item 2, which is held over from last week, concerns an issue that was raised by Fiona McLeod. We had asked a number of people to submit their views. Members have those views in front of them, including the response from sportscotland, which we did not have last week.

Fiona, do you wish to add anything?

Three of the four submissions make it clear that there is a deep-seated problem, as highlighted in the press, with ensuring that UK Athletics does not insist that the way it is done in England is the way everybody has to do it. Since the issue was raised in the committee, I have received representations indicating that the same problem exists in judo, gymnastics and ice-skating. One wonders how long this will continue.

Having heard everybody else's views, we could usefully ask the Executive for its opinion on how the issue should be tackled. Following that answer, we may have to appoint a reporter to investigate how far this goes through Scottish sports and how much it disadvantages Scottish athletes. That is what this is about. Three of the four submissions make it clear that Scottish athletes are being disadvantaged.

Are there any other comments or questions?

I suggest that we write to the Executive.

I agree with Fiona McLeod. There is an issue here. I was somewhat reassured that, following our inquiries, it seems that the Scottish Athletics Federation and UK Athletics are now speaking to each other. I hope that that will continue, but it might be useful to give our findings to Rhona Brankin, as Fiona McLeod suggested, to see what response the Executive makes to us.

Given that the issue raised was a time-limited one about the disabled athletes going to the paralympics, could we ask the minister for a reply and give a date by which we want a reply?

I will be quite happy to inform Rhona Brankin that we raised this quickly because of the time barrier, so it would be helpful if she could respond to us likewise.