This is a timely debate, as I am sure the Minister will concede, because it will give him the opportunity to shine. I gave him such an opportunity on another occasion not so long ago, and he did not exactly succeed, although I was kind to him because he was still in his honeymoon period.

Since then, the Minister has had a chance to go round and listen to the various problems that are confronting our sports men and women. Last week, for example, the Minister visited my constituency and spoke to the North West Council for Sport and Recreation. He heard of the positive results being obtained in my local authority area of Tameside through a nationally recognised demonstration project at Hyde high school—one of the many innovative ventures being undertaken under the Tameside sports initiative, which has been established by the Sports Council and Tameside's leisure and education departments to develop links between schools, community groups and sporting organisations. The House will expect a more informed reply from the Minister tonight.

I was not one of those who thought that the move of the Minister's post from the Department of the Environment to the Department of Education and Science was sensible, although I was hopeful in one respect: I thought that it would give him a chance to promote sport in schools. The Minister will know that I have often argued that, without the elevation of the post of Sports Minister, mere departmental moves are of little consequence. Only this week I argued that point in the Sports Council magazine, Sport and Leisure and although I do not wholly agree with the Sports Council's latest views on the role of the Sports Minister, I welcome the fact that they are moving in my direction. I trust that the Minister will take those views into account in his current review of sport.

I am sure that the Minister will have found that, as a result of his lowly status, many of his own initiatives fall well down the queue when it comes to priorities for Government action.