Recommendation 30

We therefore asked the Department how it intended to address the short-term and long-term sustainability challenges facing sports clubs and facilities. The Department told us that the primary responsibility for leisure provisions sits with local government.55 Similarly, it said that it was not responsible for government’s energy policy, but noted that the energy bill relief scheme will assist sports clubs in dealing with increased costs. It said it intended to continue working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on energy related issues.56 Sport England told us that it can provide small grants to help those local sports clubs struggling with energy costs to become more energy efficient.57 When pressed on how it will work with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to tackle the challenge of ageing public facilities, the Department told us it “could not point [us] directly to an actual strategy on development of leisure facilities” and that decisions on investment were ultimately for local authorities. As part of the Department’s forthcoming new strategy on sport, it said it was aiming to get a better national picture of where all the facilities are and the state and condition of those facilities.58 Sport England also explained that it was not responsible for the national policy on the infrastructure of leisure facilities, but that it worked to provide “insight and understanding of how facilities can get people active”. It explained that it could not refurbish every facility in the country as this would be too expensive, but instead it can use its insight to target investment where this will have the greatest impact on participation numbers.59 53 GPA0019, Districts Councils’ Network, Grassroots participation in sport and physical activity,1 November 2022 54 Q 61; C&AG’s report, figure 16; GPA0017, Lawn Tennis Association, Grassroots participation in sport and physical activity, 1 November 2022 55 Qq 35, 61 56 Qq 56–57 57