Robertson revealed that the new £135 million ($217 million) scheme titled "Places People Play" will be delivered by Sport England, in partnership with the British Olympic Association (BOA) and ParalympicsGB with the backing of Londo 2012 and the London 2012 Inspire mark.

Disability sport will be a major part of the initiative with at least £8 million ($13 million) set aside for tackling the barriers disabled people face when they want to play sport and making sure that every element of the programme works for disabled sportsmen and women.

There will also be ongoing consultation with disabled people and those who support them on how to focus some additional investment and Reddish revealed that the move, which has resulted from increased levels of lottery funding for sport in the wake of last month's Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), shows the new Government's strong commitment to disabled sport.

Reddish told insideworldparasport: "There are huge positives from having this integrated and inclusive approach because the ring-fenced money for disability sport will encourage all the National Governing Bodies to ensure that the specific, distinctive requirements of disabled people are facilitated.

"That is the key to moving forward.

"This demonstrates that the Government and Sport England are ensuring that disability sport and participation in it is right at the top of the agenda. "I'm not saying this hasn't been the case in the past but the commitment shown here is making disability sport more prominent than ever before and that can only be a good thing."

Today's announcement was the second major boost for the Paralympic Movement in the space of a few days with the news last week that Coca-Cola are going to extend their sponsorship of the London 2012 Olympics to the Paralympics.

The move follows Sainsbury's becoming the first company to solely sponsor the Paralympics earlier this year and Reddish claimed it shows the growing visibility of the Paralympic Movement.

He said: "These sponsorship deals are unprecedented.

"We have to thank LOCOG for all the work they have done on behalf of the disability community and the Paralympic Movement in helping to attract the sponsorship.

"It is also clear that major companies and organisations want to be part of that Paralympic brand and that is vital to the Paralympic Movement being successful and the British Paralympic Association (BPA) being successful.

"These big brands getting involved in the Paralympic Games and the Paralympic Movement is a fantastic opportunity for them and for us and it is great that they want to be a part of it for the right reasons in terms of wanting to associate themselves with an amazing product."

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