Recommendations & Conclusions
10 items
1
Recommendation
Fourth Report - Sport in our communities
The impact of successive lockdowns on activity levels was not as bad as initially feared but the Committee is concerned about the consequences of the final lockdown from December 2020 onwards which has not yet been covered by an Active Lives survey. The Government and Sport England must renew their …
Government response. The Government agrees with the intent behind this recommendation to encourage participation in organised sport, however it believes that the focus should be on allowing exercise and investing heavily to ensure community facilities are there, as a means to do …
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
2
Recommendation
Fourth Report - Sport in our communities
The proportion of children and young people not achieving the minimum amount of daily activity recommended by the Chief Medical Officer is of significant concern. Before the end of this year, the Government should initiate a nation-wide communications campaign, similar to that of the ‘5 A Day’ campaign, to emphasise …
Government response. The Government agrees with the committee that it is important to encourage children and young people to engage in regular physical activity and intends to look further at this in our refreshed sport strategy. We’ve seen in recent months in …
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
3
Recommendation
Fourth Report - Sport in our communities
Year on year, we continue to see persistent gaps in activity levels between different demographics. This issue has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and certain groups in society continue to be disproportionately impacted. We acknowledge the support provided through Sport England’s ‘Tackling Inequalities Fund’ but support must be focused, …
Government response. The Government agrees with the intentions of the recommendation in the importance of providing funding for tackling inequalities in participation. The Government has already provided a significant amount of funding in this area as set out below. The Government is …
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
4
Recommendation
Fourth Report - Sport in our communities
Community and grassroots sport is heavily reliant on a relatively small volunteer workforce who have worked tirelessly through the pandemic to keep their clubs going. This shrinking workforce is one of the biggest challenges facing community sport post-pandemic. Sport England has placed an important focus on the issue in its …
Government response. The Government agrees that working with Sport England to encourage people to volunteer in the grassroots sector is valuable. DCMS will continue to support Sport England to deliver against their ambitions around volunteering, as set out in Uniting the Movement. …
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
5
Recommendation
Fourth Report - Sport in our communities
Many National Governing Bodies and other sports groups and organisations were not financially stable enough to fully support themselves through the economic shock that was caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. There is a balance to be found between 30 Sport in our communities ensuring enough money is spent to improve …
Government response. Whilst the Government does not allow funding to sports Arms Length Bodies to be in advance of need, it agrees that the current funding models should be reviewed to ensure sustainability of sports organisations. The Government will be reflecting on …
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
6
Recommendation
Fourth Report - Sport in our communities
Even in normal circumstances, volunteers in grassroots and community sport dedicate a significant amount of time to applying for funding. Organisations such as Sported and StreetGames play an important role in supporting their members to complete applications but the extensive administrative burden associated with these applications seems unnecessary, and has …
Government response. The Government agrees that there needs to be a simplified method for grassroots sports organisations to access funding. As described above, Sport England’s Uniting the Movement strategy commits them to distributing funding in new ways, including: simplifying access to available …
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
7
Recommendation
Fourth Report - Sport in our communities
School facilities have the potential to help solve the facilities crisis currently facing community and grassroots sport. Renting out school facilities at a fair, affordable rate not only benefits the sports groups but also creates an additional revenue stream for the schools. In its response to this Report, we recommend …
Government response. The Government agrees with the need to make best use of school sport facilities to support community use. This is why through the Government’s School Sport and Activity Action Plan, an initial £1.5 million supported 230 targeted primary and secondary …
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
8
Recommendation
Fourth Report - Sport in our communities
We welcome the introduction of the Community Ownership Fund but, at a time where many community groups have faced unprecedented challenges, we are disappointed that the bidding process did not begin in June 2021 as the Government promised it would. Access to facilities has long been an issue for grassroots …
Government response. The Government is now assessing bids to the Community Ownership Fund (COF) and will work with successful applicants to implement their bids. The £150 million fund delivers on the 2019 manifesto commitment to strengthen community rights and support community groups …
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
9
Recommendation
Fourth Report - Sport in our communities
The evidence submitted to our inquiry about the performance of National Governing Bodies during the pandemic has been genuinely mixed. Lessons must be learned from the way funding and information was disseminated down to the grassroots during the Covid-19 pandemic. We recommend that Sport England conduct an audit of how …
Government response. Sport England’s remit does not extend to regulating National Governing Bodies however, over the course of the pandemic, Sport England has sought to encourage greater communications capability across the sector. Research conducted for Sport England by the Digital Marketing Institute …
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
10
Recommendation
Fourth Report - Sport in our communities
The lack of diversity in the upper echelons of sports governance is striking. We acknowledge the work being undertaken by Sport England and UK Sport to Sport in our communities 31 address the issue, including the recently completed review of the Code for Sports Governance, but we are concerned that …
Government response. Sport England and UK Sport made changes to the Code for Sports Governance in 2021 to ensure bodies in receipt of substantial public funding from Sport England or UK Sport have a detailed and ambitious diversity and inclusion action plan …
Department for Culture, Media and Sport