When we won the right to host the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Singapore five years ago, we promised to use them to inspire a new generation of young people to take up sport. I am determined to deliver on this commitment.

Last Monday, at the City of London Academy in Bermondsey, we announced our plans for a nationwide Olympic and Paralympic-style competition.

The announcement was widely welcomed across sport but Jim Cowan argued, on these pages, that this has not been thought through and was an example of the "initiativitis" I had rejected only a few weeks before. This is unfair and shows a lack of understanding of the detail behind these proposals.

They are about creating a revolution in school sport and reviving competitive sport for young people. It provides for the first time an Olympic-style competitive pinnacle for all young athletes to aim for.

It is not an initiative; it is a fundamental repositioning of school sport placing competition at its heart. It is the final nail in the coffin for the "taking part is what counts" culture that has bedevilled school sport for too long.

It is also something that we promised to do in Opposition and have now delivered in Government.  It is based on the hugely successful, and widely promised, Kent School Games promoted by Dame Kelly Holmes and Kent County Council.

The announcement last week set out our plan for the competition so that schools and the wider public are aware of our thinking. We want as many schools as possible to embrace the new competition and we will be talking to the School Sports Partnerships and school sport coordinators, as we develop the detailed plans in the coming months.

This competition, that I, LOCOG, the BOA, UK Sport and Sport England are working on, will not stand in isolation and is a key plank of a comprehensive plan to deliver a sports legacy from hosting the 2012 Games.

This for me means extending the opportunities in sport to the maximum number of people.

As I said within days of getting this job, this is one of my top priorities.

Only last month, I explained the principles underpinning the Government’s sports legacy strategy. There are five key areas- all of which are essential if we are to create a cultural shift towards greater participation in sport.

These are: lottery reform, structural reform, elite sport, school sport and mass participation.

The lottery reforms will return sport to its original place – as one of the main beneficiary sectors of the National Lottery. By 2012 the reforms will secure a further £50 million for sport each year. This funding will hugely benefit sports clubs and help refurbish sports facilities, so that they are ready for the influx of young people turned on to sport by our Olympic-style competition.

Structural reform is about ensuring that we have the best sports system possible at every level - school, community and elite. We have to be confident that every pound of funding being spent on sport is used as effectively as possible and that there is a seamless pathway between schools, sports clubs and the elite level so that no talent slips through the net.

There are already strong links between schools and sports clubs. On average, schools have links with seven local sports clubs with over 1.5 million young people involved through this route. This new competition will build on this further, and should have its most marked impact at the lowest level - if the Kent School Games experience is typical.

Galvanising mass adult participation in sport is arguably the hardest part of the legacy to achieve.

Indeed no other host country has succeeded on this front. But a strong school sport system encouraging young people to play sport for life will only help this ambition.

Through Sport England hundreds of millions of pounds of public money are going direct to national governing bodies to help drive sports participation up. The governing bodies are the experts and know where to target the funding but we will be holding them to account so that the investment gets the desired results.

So, Cowan is completely wrong that we are lacking in a sport strategy and that we are "crossing our fingers" and hoping for the best with our Olympic and Paralympic-style competition for young people. He is in the minority that questions it.

This is a strategy that has the backing of LOCOG, the BOA, Sport England, the Youth Sport Trust, sports governing bodies and many prominent Olympians who supported the launch.

This is a strategy with clear direction. But I know we cannot be complacent. Achieving a lasting sports legacy will not be easy. 

However, I am determined to succeed.

Hugh Robertson is the Sports and Olympics Minister