Vince Cable

In a week when Twickenham athlete (gymnast) Ben Brown was forced to abandon his Olympic ambitions for lack of funding to train full time, it has emerged that the Government is sitting on £450m of unspent sports funding.

Six years ago the Government set up a fund of £770m for school and community sports but so far only £320m has been allocated, through the Lottery (New Opportunities) Fund. The bureaucracy involved in applying for grants - mostly by local councils for schools to provide equipment and specialist training - is cumbersome and slow.

Vincent Cable MP said: "There is something terribly wrong with the way sports funding is allocated. A highly talented athlete like Ben is unable to pursue a medal at the Olympics for lack of support; yet the Government is sitting on a large pile of unspent money.

"And at a local community level there was no lottery funding for the popular and successful Hampton Pool but there is lottery funding for a fence around Buckingham Fields which has enraged local residents and does nothing for sport. The combination of frustration and wasted money is seriously demoralising for those who seriously want to promote sport in the community."