The Scottish Government is asking for the return of £150M in lottery funds, which it alleges was diverted from good causes to finance the 2012 London Olympics.
Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell has sent a bid document to UK Sport Secretary Andy Burnham.
Maxwell cites the claim as being "a matter of natural justice".
The BBC quote him:
"We are pressing for the return of the money as a matter of natural justice because we believe it is fundamentally unfair that Scottish good causes should suffer to pay for London 2012.
From the smallest arts groups, through sports clubs, to health promotion centres and local day care facilities, we want to see communities embracing opportunities to make change for themselves and help to improve the quality of their lives and those of others."
However, "natural justice" or not, it is unlikely that the claim will succeed. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, is resisting the claim.
Quote:
"Scotland has received over £2BN in Lottery money since 1994, and around £150M in the last financial year alone. Since the lottery began, over £315M has been spent on grassroots sport in Scotland.
The Olympic Games will bring immense benefits to the UK: a legacy of world class facilities; the inspiration of a generation to get active and take up sport; as well as huge economic and business benefits with £6bn worth of contracts.
London 2012 will leave a lasting legacy for everyone in the UK, including Scotland, which will host Olympic football at Hampden Park.
In addition, 29 locations across Scotland are included in the official guide to pre-games training facilities for foreign teams in 2012."
The Scots don't have a cat's chance in hell of succeeding with their money back claim!
Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics
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Showing posts with label Scotland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scotland. Show all posts
Monday, November 10, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Scotland Gets The Bill
In its continuing attempts to prevent the budget for the London Olympics 2012 spiralling even further out of control, the Olympics Delivery Authority (ODA) has sent a bill to Scottish Enterprise for £500K.
This being ODA's calculation of Scotland's share of the £6M construction cost of the Olympics site, failure to pay the bill will prevent full access to procurement opportunities.
Needless to say there are some very unhappy people north of the border, who accuse the ODA of contradicting its earlier pledges to spread the economic benefits of the 2012 games throughout the UK.
Andy Watson, the Federation of Small Business (FSB) Scotland's press and parliamentary officer and who also sits on the London 2012 Economic Development Sub-group, accused the ODA of attempting to "claw back" money to compensate for an overspend on its website.
He is quoted in the Scotsman:
"Scottish Enterprise is quite right if it is refusing to pay this.
They were not consulted in advance by the ODA about how the scheme was to be financed, they were simply sent an invoice for being included in the service. Their money is far better spent on supporting Scottish businesses.
This is the first big chance for the ODA to overcome scepticism on how the procurement side of the Olympics will be handled. Their message is: if you want to play, you have to pay."
Pete Wishart MP, the SNP's Westminster spokesperson on culture, media and sport, said:
"Scottish lottery funds have just been raided to subsidise the Olympics and now we're being asked to pay for the privilege of competing for contracts. You really couldn't make it up."
I wonder what the ODA will do to cover the shortfall if Scotland doesn't pay up?
This being ODA's calculation of Scotland's share of the £6M construction cost of the Olympics site, failure to pay the bill will prevent full access to procurement opportunities.
Needless to say there are some very unhappy people north of the border, who accuse the ODA of contradicting its earlier pledges to spread the economic benefits of the 2012 games throughout the UK.
Andy Watson, the Federation of Small Business (FSB) Scotland's press and parliamentary officer and who also sits on the London 2012 Economic Development Sub-group, accused the ODA of attempting to "claw back" money to compensate for an overspend on its website.
He is quoted in the Scotsman:
"Scottish Enterprise is quite right if it is refusing to pay this.
They were not consulted in advance by the ODA about how the scheme was to be financed, they were simply sent an invoice for being included in the service. Their money is far better spent on supporting Scottish businesses.
This is the first big chance for the ODA to overcome scepticism on how the procurement side of the Olympics will be handled. Their message is: if you want to play, you have to pay."
Pete Wishart MP, the SNP's Westminster spokesperson on culture, media and sport, said:
"Scottish lottery funds have just been raided to subsidise the Olympics and now we're being asked to pay for the privilege of competing for contracts. You really couldn't make it up."
I wonder what the ODA will do to cover the shortfall if Scotland doesn't pay up?
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Scottish Team
Alex Salmond, the newly elected First Minister for Scotland, is seeking permission from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Scotland to field its own team.
A somewhat bizarre early initiative:
1 He has not yet discussed this within the Scottish Executive.
2 Until the funding and budget proposals for Salmond's "independent" Scotland are clarified, this form of expensive promise may be difficult to fulfill.
3 The UK hardly ever reaps a large harvest of medals in the Olympics. Why does Salmond believe that a smaller, less well funded, team will do any better.
Salmond's proposal is nothing more than naked political opportunism, wrapped in the flag of Scotland.
A somewhat bizarre early initiative:
1 He has not yet discussed this within the Scottish Executive.
2 Until the funding and budget proposals for Salmond's "independent" Scotland are clarified, this form of expensive promise may be difficult to fulfill.
3 The UK hardly ever reaps a large harvest of medals in the Olympics. Why does Salmond believe that a smaller, less well funded, team will do any better.
Salmond's proposal is nothing more than naked political opportunism, wrapped in the flag of Scotland.
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