Not a single child amputee has received running blade from flagship £1.5M scheme

A flagship £1.5 million scheme to give running blades to amputee children has not given out any blades eight months after it was announced, a senior Tory MP has claimed.

Former Welsh secretary Cheryl Gillan told the Commons that no children had received a running blade under the scheme announced by George Osborne during March’s Budget.

Ms Gillan pressed Commons Leader David Lidington to “move this into the fast lane” and deliver on a pledge that promised to help as many as 500 amputee children to run and swim.

Mr Lidington, speaking at business questions, said he was “concerned” by the issue and pledged to raise it within Government.

The £1.5 million package was earmarked to pay for specialist activity prosthetics for children, as well as research and development of new prosthetics.

Ms Gillan said: “At the last Budget, the chancellor announced £1.5 million to be spent on research and issuing running blades to children.

“I’m afraid to report, eight months on, not a single child has yet received a running blade.

“The Leader of the House probably knows that this seems to have not got out of the starting blocks, and I’m wondering if there’s anything he can do to move this into the fast lane, because then we could have a debate on how we can equip and inspire our next generation of Paralympians, which I think would be to the credit of this country.”

Mr Lidington, who has the birthplace of the Paralympic Games, Stoke Mandeville, in his constituency, replied: “I was concerned by what she has just said, and I will certainly take this up with my colleagues at the Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to see what can be done.”

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