Minutes:
Question from Councillor Ahammad:
"This question for the Leader is to get more information about a good news story for Barking and Dagenham.
What was the impact of the Community Games on 5 and 6 July 2013?
I understand that the Council obtained external funding for the event. What was the cost of the Community Games and which organisations helped fund the event?
How many schools and youth groups were involved, and how many children and young people took part?
Is this a one-off activity or will it be an annual event, please?"
Response from Councillor Gill, the Deputy Leader of the Council, in the absence of Councillor Smith:
“Thank you for asking this question about the Community Games, which is a key element of the Council’s aim to get children and young people involved in sport. In particular the Games have been developed as a way of encouraging children and young people who aren’t members of local clubs or in school teams to have a go at sport. Councillor Worby will no doubt also remind us about obesity rates in the borough.
In terms of the question, the cost of presenting the Community Games was about £12,000 once sponsorship and external funding of £20,000 was taken into account.
Twenty five local schools participated with a total of 932 children and young people taking part, including 188 disabled children and young people and 11 local sports clubs helped to deliver the Community Games programme.
Two other important benefits from the Community Games are that by involving local clubs in the delivery of the Community Games and providing them with some funding to do this, this Council is helping them to grow and develop.
There were over 100 young leaders supporting the delivery of the Games from six of the borough’s secondary schools and they will be our sports coaches of the future.
What makes the Games different to events like the London Youth Games is that all of the sports represented at the Community Games will have follow on sessions running through the Council’s "Summer's Sorted" holiday activity programme over the school holidays, which is free for young people from the borough.
In this way anyone participating in the Games who enjoyed having a go at a specific sport will have the opportunity to keep trying it over the summer holidays. After the summer we will then help them to join a local sports club so they can continue to participate if they wish to.
We have a wonderful athletics arena, which is a great example of our Olympic legacy. The Select Committee at the House of Commons wanted to know about that legacy and how we as a borough are tackling health issues. We think that this carefully considered approach will have a long term impact on the health and well being of our children and young people. This is essentially what an Olympic Legacy should be about.
We are planning to run the Community Games as an annual event, complemented by an annual swimming gala at the Becontree Heath Leisure Centre."