Recommendations & Conclusions
5 items
4
Recommendation
Thirty-Second Report - Grassroots parti…
Acknowledged
Sport England has not yet translated its understanding of the barriers to participation into action to enable inactive groups to participate in sport and physical activity. Sport England recognises three key requirements to get inactive groups to participate: motivation, confidence and opportunity. It recognises that some groups face greater barriers …
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Sport England has not yet translated its understanding of the barriers to participation into action to enable inactive groups to participate in sport and physical activity. Sport England recognises three key requirements to get inactive groups to participate: motivation, confidence and opportunity. It recognises that some groups face greater barriers to participating in sport and physical activity, including women, lower socio-economic groups and disabled people. Sport England set itself targets to increase activity levels between 2016 and 2020 for women aged 16–60 by 250,000 and lower socio-economic groups in targeted communities by 100,000. Immediately prior to the pandemic, it was on track to deliver against its target for lower socio-economic groups, but significantly off track on its women’s target. Among inactive groups which did not have targets, activity levels among the over-75s and disabled people increased before the pandemic, but there was no such increase in activity levels within Black or Asian ethnicity groups. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated some of the existing inequalities in activity for the least affluent, Asian people and disabled people. Sport England accepts that its past work on addressing barriers has over-relied on creating opportunities to participate, through a focus on building facilities and opening up clubs, incorrectly assuming this would be enough to generate activity. Sport England says that its new strategy looks at how to build people’s confidence and motivation, but it did not provide us with any concrete examples of what this looks like in practice. Recommendation 4: Sport England should, by June 2023, write to us with details of the barriers for the least active groups, and what action it is taking to address them to ensure people have the motivation, confidence and opportunity to participate in physical activity.
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Government response AI summary
Sport England will continue to support people to be active and cross-government working will be crucial, saying the barriers are complex and vary from person to person.
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HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Grassroots parti…
Acknowledged
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (the Department) and Sport England on their efforts to increase the population’s levels of physical activity.1
Government response AI summary
The government agrees that major sporting events should have a positive impact on participation, but notes that participation outcomes will vary from event to event, and the events also drive economic growth, improve infrastructure, instil civic and national pride, and spread the UK's international influence.
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HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Grassroots parti…
Acknowledged
Prior to the pandemic, between November 2016 and November 2019, the percentage of adults who were active increased by 1.2 percentage points, from 62.1% to 63.3%. Participation rates then fell to 61.4% in the year to November 2021, the lowest on record, as measures to control the spread of the …
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Prior to the pandemic, between November 2016 and November 2019, the percentage of adults who were active increased by 1.2 percentage points, from 62.1% to 63.3%. Participation rates then fell to 61.4% in the year to November 2021, the lowest on record, as measures to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic restricted people’s opportunities to exercise. The proportion of adults who do not meet the Chief Medical 7 Committee of Public Accounts, The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: post-Games review, Fortieth Report of Session 2012–13, 19 April 2013 8 Qq 10–12; C&AG’s report, paras 1.6 and 1.8 9 C&AG’s report, para 3.18 10 Q 13 11 Q 13 Grassroots participation in sport and physical activity 11 Officer’s guidelines for recommended activity—150 minutes per week of moderate- intensity equivalent exercise—has remained persistently high, at nearly two in five adults between November 2016 and November 2021.12
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledged that population activity levels were at an all-time high prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, and that Sport England's strategy seeks to mobilize a cross-sector movement to collectively support more people to be active.
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HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Grassroots parti…
Acknowledged
In 2015, the Department published a new cross-government sporting strategy, Sporting Future. The strategy promised to target funding at less active groups of the population, believing this would deliver the biggest gains for public spending.13 Sport England told us that, since 2015, it had adopted a variety of approaches to …
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In 2015, the Department published a new cross-government sporting strategy, Sporting Future. The strategy promised to target funding at less active groups of the population, believing this would deliver the biggest gains for public spending.13 Sport England told us that, since 2015, it had adopted a variety of approaches to increase activity levels, from national media campaigns to working with local partners in 12 different UK cities as part of a pilot program to understand and address the barriers to getting people active. It explained that there had been some positive signs from this work and that insight from the pilots is helping it to make decisions at a national level. Its evaluation of the community pilots showed that, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, inactivity reduced at a faster rate in local delivery pilot areas than in areas without the pilots. However, Sport England conceded it had found it hard to translate successes at local level and with specific groups into gains nationally. It explained that it expected that this will take time, particularly if tackling some of the most stubborn inequalities in society.14
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledged that population activity levels were at an all-time high prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, and that Sport England's strategy seeks to mobilize a cross-sector movement to collectively support more people to be active.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Thirty-Second Report - Grassroots parti…
Acknowledged
Sport England did not have a target for other less active groups, such as the over-75s, disabled people or those in Black or Asian ethnic groups. Prior to the pandemic, between November 2016 and November 2019, activity levels among the over-75s and disabled people saw statistically significant increases of 7.1 …
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Sport England did not have a target for other less active groups, such as the over-75s, disabled people or those in Black or Asian ethnic groups. Prior to the pandemic, between November 2016 and November 2019, activity levels among the over-75s and disabled people saw statistically significant increases of 7.1 and 3.6 percentage points respectively. But there was no statistically significant improvement in activity levels in Black or Asian ethnicity groups between November 2016 and November 2019.28 The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated some of the existing inequalities in activity for the least affluent, Asian people and disabled people.29 We asked Sport England what more it could do to support those from Black and Asian ethnic groups to participate in sport and physical activity. Sport England said the results of the Tackling Racism and Radical Inequality in Sport report, published in 2021, found these groups can feel unwelcome in the sports sector, and that there had been some high-profile examples of this within certain sports. It acknowledged 25 C&AG’s report, paras 8, 12, 14 26 Q 58; C&AG’s report, paragraphs 10, 1.12, 2.10 and 2.11 27 Q 58 28 Q 59; C&AG’s report, paras 2.12–2.13 29 C&AG’s report, para 11 14 Grassroots participation in sport and physical activity that it needed to work with organisations and community groups to understand how to engage with those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and ensure that the sector was much more inclusive going forward.30
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation and states that Sport England will write to the Committee by June 2023 to outline the barriers for less active groups and the actions being taken to support them, noting that addressing inequalities will be a key pillar …
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HM Treasury