Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 25
25
Accepted
The NAO found that there were signs that system-wide collaboration on sport and physical activity...
Conclusion
The NAO found that there were signs that system-wide collaboration on sport and physical activity may be increasing following the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the Department was seeking to build on this increased collaboration.39 The Department said its new strategy will include an action plan that is aligned across the departments.40 We questioned the Department about how well it was collaborating with other stakeholders. It provided several examples of its current collaborative working, including: • Working with the Department for Education and Ofsted to bring accountability and transparency to schools’ decisions over whether to share their sports facilities with the local community.41 • Working with the Department for Transport and the Department for Education on children’s journeys to and from school to think how this can be made a safe journey so that they can cycle and walk to school.42 • Working with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities on the Moving Healthcare Professionals programme to engage GPs and primary healthcare professionals in better understanding the opportunities for non-clinical prescription.43 • Engaging with parkrun to learn lessons from its successes in drawing in people to participate.44
Government Response Summary
The government agreed to set out in its new strategy what it and Sport England will do differently to ensure sustained integration and collaboration with other bodies to achieve increased levels of physical activity, targeting implementation by June 2023. They also mentioned working to establish a new measurement framework and a partner evaluation framework to track the impact of spending.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
6. PAC conclusion: The Department’s approach to working in partnership with other organisations to encourage people to take part in sport and physical activity is not yet effective. 6. PAC recommendation: In its new strategy, the Department should set out what it and Sport England will do differently to ensure sustained integration and collaboration with other bodies to achieve increased levels of physical activity. 6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: June 2023 6.2 Both DCMS and Sport England believe the barriers to getting active cannot be solved by the sport and physical activity sector alone. Both organisations are committed to working together to build greater collaboration from all parties to support more people to be active, including across government departments. This was evident in the recent joint announcement on school sport which committed to long-term funding for PE, an expectation of 2 hours of PE per week, and parity of PE provision for boys and girls. DCMS, the Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care all contributed funding to this shared aim. 6.3 In recognition of this, Sport England has made a clear commitment in Uniting the Movement to influence change by connecting with health and wellbeing, creating active environments and creating positive experiences for children and young people. 6.4 Sport England’s partnerships with organisations within and beyond the sport and physical activity sector have played a critical role in increasing population activity levels over the past decade. 6.5 Sport England are working to broaden their network of system partners who they fund on a regular basis. From 2015 to 2022, Sport England increased its number of funded partners from 107 to 135 whilst investing project funding in thousands more. 6.6 DCMS is now working with Sport England to establish a new measurement framework that will provide clear evidence on the impact of Sport England's distribution of public money, whilst also evidencing better the contribution of specific funding interventions. 6.7 This will include working with Sport England who have introduced a new partner evaluation framework which tracks the impact of sector partners and provides six-monthly reports evidencing spend and impact. In addition to this, DCMS will look towards new sources of data which will allow DCMS to track the progress being made in tackling inactivity in real time. 6.8 These changes will improve DCMS’s understanding on what spending is proving effective and when it is appropriate to scale successful projects up. Equally DCMS and Sport England will also be able to identify when they are required to adapt in instances that projects are not succeeding.