NEW sportscotland chair Mel Young reckons that finding additional cash for Scottish sport would actually save the taxpayer money in the long run. Chancellor George Osborne surprised many when he handed UK Sport a 29% increase in his Autumn Spending Review, although that figure includes national lottery funding and doesn't take into account a comparable drop in local government grant funding, the front line for much sport and leisure activity. While the fine detail of sportscotland's funding for the next year is still being thrashed out with the Scottish government, Young, the co-founder and president of the Homeless World Cup, who was announced as Louise Martin's successor as chair of the Scottish funding body, won't be shy about making the case for a greater share of UK Sport cash to be funnelled to Scotland.
"Like anything, budget is very important," said Young, who has been appointed from the four years from 2016 to 2020. "We can't create an elite system without money, so money has to be in there. It is our job to establish with Government and everybody else that it is investment well spent. By putting money into sport you get all sort of different outcomes - you actually save money for society at the end of the day.
"We have very good dialogue with government, as we have done in the past with different administrations," added the entrepreneur, who has been vice-chair for the last three years. "It is difficult times everywhere but certainly part of my role will be driving budgets as much as possible, getting more. I have yet to get into UK Sport, I haven't started that. But I don't see why not, we have to always be arguing our case."
Louise Martin CBE, who leaves after eight years in the post this June to take up a new position as President of the Commonwealth Games Federation, insisted she was leaving the organisation in safe hands. “He knows where we’re going but he’ll bring his dimension to it," said Martin. "We’re completely different people but we still have a love of sport and believe in it at every single level."
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