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One of the key aims of the London Olympics, with its motto “Inspire a Generation”, was to increase public participation in sports, but this has failed to materialise, the Tory peer argued.

“We may have hosted a great Olympic Games in 2012, yet we have not, beyond even the imaginations of the most optimistic observers, been able to deliver a sports legacy for this country,” he said.

“With a third of the adult population receiving less than two-and-a-half hours of moderate activity a week, with school children facing unprecedented levels of obesity and inactivity, with PE marginalised with woefully inadequate primary school training for teachers – less than three hours in a three-year course – all combined to the point where the chair of our Sport and Recreation Committee, Lord Willis of Knaresborough, concluded in this house: ‘We have become one of the most lazy, inactive nations in the world’.”

He added: “We meet today, 10 years on from the hugely successful Olympic and Paralympic Games, having failed to take forward a true sports legacy.”

Lord Moynihan’s comments were backed up by the Earl of Devon, who argued that the UK focuses too much on its elite sport like the English Premier League and not enough on widening participation for everyone.

The independent crossbench peer said: “Even the legacy-laden London Olympics only saw a percent or two increase in sports participation, while the numbers volunteering, coaching or officiating in sports actually declined.

“This trickle-down approach to health promotion through sport has simply not worked…

“We must not fetishise the ‘winning at all costs’ over participation and the inclusion of all in physical activity.”

Their comments came as the House of Lords debated the Health Promotion Bill, a Private Member’s Bill put forward by Liberal Democrat peer and vice president of the UK Sports Association Lord Addington.

The Bill seeks to amend the name and focus of the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, and require the Government to publish a national plan for sport.

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