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£9m bill tells us 2012 sports legacy target will be missed
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent22.10.09
The Government has spent almost £9million in the past four years on surveys to measure the sports legacy of the London Olympics, it was revealed today.
The two Active People surveys were commissioned by grassroots sports quango Sport England and cost £5,538,000 and £3,152,000.
They are used to assess progress towards the Government's target of getting two million more adults involved in sports as a legacy of the Games. But Active People surveys have showed that there has been negligible improvement in London where one in five adults fails to take regular exercise.
The cost of the surveys was revealed by sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe in an answer to shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt.
Critics seized on the cost, saying that the money could have been more usefully spent on sports facilities, equipment and coaches.
Yesterday London 2012 chief Sebastian Coe defended efforts to secure sports participation.
