During the debate Lord Faulkner will speak as a minister in the government whips’ office, on behalf of the department for culture, media and sport.

There are just a little more than 900 days until London hosts the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and preparations remain on time and on budget.

Almost half of the construction work is complete, including the main structure of the Olympic Stadium and the iconic ‘wave roof’ of the Aquatics Centre clearly visible. This year, construction work on the Olympic Park and Athletes’ Villages will peak with up to 11,000 people employed on the two sites.

Because of good control of the budget by the government and the Olympic Delivery Authority, the programme has been able to work during the recession without an impact on the overall budget and almost two-thirds of the £2bn fund is still intact.

The Olympics have proven to be a strong economic stimulus during the recession – directly responsible for £6bn in contracts and generating tens of thousands more business opportunities down through the supply chains. Over 1,000 companies have won more than £5bn supplying the Olympic Delivery Authority 98 per cent of which are UK-based and 45 per cent are outside London.

Elite Player Squad:

Backs: Delon Armitage (London Irish), Matt Banahan (Bath Rugby), Danny Care (Harlequins), Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks), Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Ben Foden (Northampton Saints), Riki Flutey (CA Brive), Shontayne Hape (Bath Rugby), Dan Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers), Paul Hodgson (London Irish), Ugo Monye (Harlequins), Mathew Tait (Sale Sharks), Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon)

Forwards: Steffon Armitage (London Irish), Steve Borthwick (Saracens), Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Louis Deacon (Leicester Tigers), Nick Easter (Harlequins), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Stade Francais), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Lee Mears (Bath Rugby), Lewis Moody (Leicester Tigers), Tim Payne (London Wasps), Simon Shaw (London Wasps) Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks), Steve Thompson (CA Brive), Julian White (Leicester Tigers), David Wilson (Bath Rugby)

* Chris Ashton has been added to the squad from the Saxons as an injury replacement for Phil Vickery (London Wasps).

Saxons Squad:

Backs: Chris Ashton* (Northampton Saints), Brad Barritt (Saracens), Danny Cipriani (London Wasps), Shane Geraghty (Northampton Saints), Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks), Stephen Myler (Northampton Saints), Olly Morgan (Gloucester Rugby), Paul Sackey (London Wasps), Joe Simpson* (London Wasps), David Strettle (Harlequins), Dominic Waldouck (London Wasps), Richard Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks), Mickey Young (Newcastle Falcons)

Forwards: David Attwood (Gloucester Rugby), Duncan Bell (Bath Rugby), George Chuter (Leicester Tigers), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Alex Corbisiero (London Irish), Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints), Ben Kay (Leicester Tigers), Nick Kennedy (London Irish), Matthew Mullan (Worcester Warriors), David Paice (London Irish), Tom Rees (London Wasps), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Andy Saull (Saracens), George Skivington (London Wasps), Dan Ward-Smith (London Wasps), Rob Webber (London Wasps), Nick Wood (Gloucester Rugby), Ben Woods (Leicester Tigers)

* Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers) has been added to the Saxons as a replacement for the injured Joe Simpson.

McLeish on the club’s official website said: “Michel is in a great age group and has got good legs and a lovely touch on the ball as you would imagine from a Spanish player performing at La Liga level.”

Michel’s full name is Miguel Marcos Madera. He is a product of Gijon’s youth system and has made 138 appearances for the club and scored seven times since making his way into the first team during the 2005/06 season.

Miguel will give more options to the Blues, who are level on points with Liverpool in eighth position. He has been named the Spanish side’s player of the season for two successive years.

The talented 24-year-old played an important role at Sporting and helped in the club’s promotion from the Spanish 2nd Division. He will sign for the rest of this season and for 2 more, with an option for an aditional season with the Blues.

The midfielder was close to joining Birmingham last summer, but the transfer fell through after Gijon coach Manuel Preciado vetoed the transfer, but Birmingham did not forget about Michel and Gijon finally accepted the offer. Their financial situation forced them to cash in on one of their star players.