The issue of press accreditation for UK regional newspapers has been raised in the House of Lords after the Newspaper Society branded it a ‘disgrace.’

So far only one local newspaper in London has been given a press pass along with a handful of Scottish titles.

Backbench peer Lord Clement-Jones raised the issue in the Lords following representations by the NS.

In a written question, he asked ministers “what steps they will take to request that additional accreditations for local and regional journalists are made available.”

Replying on behalf of the government, Baroness Garden responded: “The Minister for Sport and the Olympics is corresponding with Lord Moynihan, Chairman of the BOA, to request if further accreditations can be made available.”

The NS is hosting a meeting later this month with the BOA and a number of regional newspapers to discuss arrangements for a press pool for the Games which will aim to enable regional and local newspapers to share material.

“We are determined that local communities should not be left without the possibility of their local athlete’s story being reported by their local paper,” said the Society.

“For a local newspaper to be unable to report at first hand a once-in-a-lifetime sporting event taking place in its own locality would be a disgraceful outcome.”

Concerns about what the NS called the “woefully inadequate” number of passes for regional media were also raised with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt when he attended a lunch at the NS last week.

Speaking at the recent Newspaper Conference annual lunch, Premier David Cameron said:  “I want the Olympic sprit to reach every part of the country, not just London, and regional papers have clearly got a key role to play in that.”