Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel

Notice of Early Day Motion 1125

House of Commons Wednesday 30th June 2004
Notice of Early Day Motion 1125

1125 PROMOTION OF VOLUNTEERING BILL 5:5:04
 Mr Julian Brazier
 Derek Wyatt
 Kate Hoey
 Mrs Jacqui Lait
 John Barrett
 Mr Lindsay Hoyle
 * 135
  Mr Crispin Blunt Chris Grayling Mr Bill Wiggin
   
That this House welcomes the Promotion of Volunteering Bill to protect volunteers from unreasonable litigation, particularly in the areas of sport and adventure training; welcomes the concept of statement of inherent risk as a means to reintroduce the idea of informed consent and to acknowledge that accidents can happen without contributory negligence; deplores the increasing costs of liability insurance which threatens the viability of many sporting clubs and societies; notes with concern the Sport England and CCPR survey which found that the fear of blame and the threat of litigation was the top deterrent to sport volunteering; further notes that the Girl Guides now has a waiting list of 50,000 children who would like to join but cannot because of a shortage of instructors; regrets that one third of UK youngsters between the ages of two and 15 are overweight, including one in six who are clinically obese; further regrets that of all the 26 major countries in the developed world, the UK is now the third worst in clinical obesity after the United States and Mexico, with roughly one quarter of the population now obese; believes that litigation is threatening a crucial part of our national and sporting way of life; and recognises that a failure by society to provide young people with healthy, structured and safe outlets for their energies and enthusiasms will only lead to many finding their own outlets, which are at best a lot less safe, and at worst end in criminal activity.