Downing Street Says

Asked if the ministerial Olympic meeting that morning was positive, the PMOS said that it was. He said that discussions had focused on the successful sporting weekend, both in terms of medals won and the arrangements put in place to manage the additional numbers of people at the Olympic Park. He told the journalists that Friday had been the busiest ever day on the tube with 4.4 million journeys and half a million people using the Docklands light railway. He said that ministers had been pleased that people had been listening to the advice and planning their journeys effectively. Although we had seen record numbers, people had been spreading their journeys throughout the day and that had helped avoid problems.

Asked if any thought had been given to a parade for the GB team to celebrate their achievements; the PMOS said it was his understanding that such an event was very likely, but that journalist should check with the British Olympic Association.

When asked if the PM would be hosting a reception for the winners at No10, the PMOS said it was his understanding that an event would happen in public so people in London could attend.

When asked if anything was being done to counter the ‘ghost town’ effect in the centre of London, the PMOS said that the evidence so far was that the number of people visiting London was up, transport usage was up and the number of people visiting the West End was up. He went on to say that it was not just about the two weeks of games, but also about the legacy and the brilliant advert the Olympics had provided for the City of London.

Asked which events the PM had been to so far, the PMOS said that he had been to the men’s cycling road race, the diving, handball with President Hollande, Judo with President Putin, cycling in the velodrome and that he had also attended athletics over the weekend.

Asked about the reservations expressed by Lord Moynihan about future sports funding and whether it might flag after the Olympics, the PMOS said the objective had been to create a lasting legacy from the Olympic and Paralympic games. That included the physical legacy with the Games’ venues and the Olympic Park, as well as the economic and sporting legacy. The PMOS said that a 1 billion youth sport strategy had been put in place for the next five years to increase opportunities for young people to get involved in sport and that 13,000 schools had signed up for the school games competition. A lot of work has been done with businesses throughout the period to use the Olympics in a positive way. [The PMOS also pointed to the number of Ministers due to attend events at the Business Embassy this week.]

Asked if we could guarantee that the amount of money going into sport would stay the same, the PMOS said the Prime Minister was very committed to ensuring that we maximise the benefits of hosting the Olympics.

Asked if the PM thought that private schools charitable status places on them an obligation to share their high class sports facilities with their local communities, the PMOS replied that if those schools with great sports facilities could do more to share them with their local community that would obviously be a very positive thing.

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» Monday, August 6, 2012

Olympics

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