GPA0009

Written evidence submitted by Mencap

About our representation

1. Mencap welcomes this timely inquiry and the Committee’s interest in grassroots sports and their importance in maintaining healthy and active lifestyles.

2. People with a learning disability, who make up 1.5 million of the UK population, are nearly twice as likely to be inactive; are twice as likely to become obese; and on average have shorter lifespans than the general population. To help turn these figures around we provide a range of support and programmes targeted to help get inactive people with a learning disability participating in sport and physical activity within their communities.

Research into the barriers to grassroots participation

3. Shephard Roy J, Fitness in Special Populations (1990 p235), brings in the barriers to sports participation. The book is focused on the physiological training needs of people with all types of disabilities. There is, however, a section entitled the ‘feasibility of activity’ and within it there are figures from Quinter (1974) research that state that the main barriers to physical activity perceived by the disabled were:

• 42% physical disability itself was the limiting barrier
• 15% cost of activities
• 14% lack of facilities
• 10% transportation

4. Further research for participation barriers, Bodde and Seo (2009, p57-66) reviewed the environmental barriers to physical activity for adults with intellectual disabilities. The findings stated that barriers to participation for a person with a learning disability are transportation to and from the place of activity, financial limitations, lack of awareness of opportunities, negative supports from caregivers and authority figures, and lack of clear policies for engaging in regular activities in residential and day service programmes.

5. The research (Bodde and Seo (2009, p57-66) went further and put forward 5 categories that barriers fall into:

• Demographic/biological

• Psychological, Cognitive, Emotional factors

• Behavioural attributes/skill

• Social/cultural factors

• Physical environment factors

This is emphasized in the research by saying that the factors that affect participation are a combination of these personal, social and environmental factors.

Feedback from partners from Mencaps Round the World Challenge and the Together Fund (formally Tackling Inequalities Fund)

6. Some carers and families don’t see the wider impact of taking part in sport and physical activity has for people with a learning disability. Sport is an integral part of the health agenda with the ultimate purpose being social restoration. Sports can be helpful in contributing to the physiological, sociological and psychological needs of a person with a learning disability.

7. Several groups, particularly those in the rural setting of North Yorkshire, have noted that the lack of regular, reliable, and inexpensive public transport hampers the capability of potential participants to attend grassroots sports sessions. This is also reflected in the number of funding applications we receive to our Together Fund that include travel costs as key aspects of their budgets. In addition, the current increased cost of fuel means that transport provided by groups for their members is becoming even more difficult to provide.

8. Often sessions are advertised in a single format which means that the information is received well by a large percentage of potential customers. In a recent small survey of participants, we asked a question about which communication method people with a learning disability preferred and there were such a large range of answers that this is a very difficult issue to fix. This is especially the case for small clubs who don’t have the capacity to put out communications through multiple channels (call, text, e-mail, post, Facebook post, tweet and share on Instagram) about each session.

9. Groups often focus on one or two specific sports as they know they have a local coach who can deliver these sports. However, there are people with a learning disability who would like to try other sports but may be restricted by the lack of available trained coaches. Possible solutions to this are to encourage all sports and coaches to focus on inclusivity and deliver sessions for everyone at all times. In addition, adding disability coaching modules to every formal coaching qualification would increase awareness and ability of coaches in sport and hopefully increase opportunities for participation

To what extent should elite professional sports support the lower leagues and grassroots?

10. Elite and professional sports have an important role to play in supporting grassroots clubs. We are pleased to say that there has been improvement in their approach to disability over the last few years, However, there is a real risk of this progress being undone as the sector has been adversely impacted by the pandemic lockdowns and the closure of facilities.

11. While there are significant gaps in pathways from grassroots to the elite level for people with a learning disability, we are concerned about the growing movement towards elite bodies self-regulating. A move towards having elite bodies evaluating their work could lead to a higher focus on programmes supporting the elite level, rather than more resource intensive interventions to increase participation amongst disabled participants. This approach also risks decreasing accountability for the sport providing community benefits. A lack of accountability and whole-sport approach risks seeing current levels of support for grassroots sports reduce or removed entirely to focus increasingly on programmes supporting the elite level.

12. As a result of having few elite level competitions for people with a learning disability, for example only 3 sports are available at a Paralympic level, there is a lack of role models for aspiring athletes. Without increased visibility at a professional level, supported by the sports organisation and sector, increasing the number of athletes with a learning disability at grassroots and their talent pathways will remain a challenge.

What are the biggest risks to the long-term viability of grassroots sport post Covid-19?

13. Alongside Active Lives data, the Annual Disability and Activity study from Activity Alliance[1] shows that in the first part of 2020, before the Covid-19 outbreak, disabled people were becoming more active than ever before.  This highlights the incredible work being done across the sector: disabled people being less likely to see their impairment as a barrier and more people reporting that they feel physical activity is for someone like them.

14. We know that the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on disabled people. Activity Alliance’s data shows that disabled people were twice as likely to feel coronavirus reduced their ability to be active by a great extent (29% of disabled people vs 13% of non-disabled people) as the percentage of disabled people who feel they aren’t given the opportunity to be as active as they would like, rose to 44% after the pandemic, compared to 30% before (itself, down from 39% in 2019)[2]. A strong response is needed to ensure that positive changes in activity levels and perceptions are not lost once community sport sessions restart.

15. The pandemic has forced us to alter the way we have delivered the Round the World Challenge. We recognised that it was a crucial that we continue to support people with a learning disability to remain as active as possible during the pandemic lockdowns and opening up of society. This was especially the case given that a significant number of people with a learning disability were (and continue to be) asked to shield or take extra precautions due to the increased prevalence of underlying conditions such as diabetes and higher rates of respiratory illnesses (38% of disabled people reported self-isolating and shielding as the biggest barrier to participation.) Programmes like our Round the World Challenge can also help boost the confidence of people with a learning disability and their supporters to remain active in their communities in a safe way.

16. Round the World Challenge is the initiative is all about turning hours of sport and physical activities into distance and ‘racing’ round the world, the more hours you do the further you go. Participants will take part in a variety of activities including Zumba, boccia, yoga and more traditional sports like football, rugby, cycling and tennis. Participants then log activity time and convert this into miles. Participants can choose to complete 20 hours for the UK route, 40 hours for Europe, or 100 hours for the World route, or even all three. The programme has now reached the end of its delivery, reaching over 4,000 participants across 27 regions in England.

17. We have continued to encourage participants and supporters to keep registering people for our Round the World Challenge. To account for the lack of access to group activities we have introduced flexibilities such as supporting groups to adapt to online delivery and encouraging daily walking to count towards their target.

18. In the long-term, we are deeply concerned that the progress and habits formed over the past three years in increasing the number of people with a learning disability who reach the Chief Medical Officer’s guidance for activity levels could be reversed.

September 2022