Recommendation 18

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