GPA0013

Written evidence submitted by Sport and Recreation Alliance

The Sport and Recreation Alliance

The Sport and Recreation Alliance is the umbrella body for the national and representative bodies of sport and recreation. We have over 300 members drawn from across the sector including national governing bodies of sport and recreation (NGBs), national and regional associations, Active Partnerships and sport for development charities. Our membership is diverse and delivers everything from traditional sport to outdoor recreation, movement, dance and physical activity.

Our role is to bring together the sport and recreation sector and support our members to tackle the challenges and take advantage of opportunities. We are the voice of the sector with Government, policy makers and the media. We help get the nation active at the grassroots by providing advice, support and guidance.

Introduction

We welcome the Committee’s focus on participation in grassroots sport and physical activity and the opportunity to respond to this call for evidence. We believe this call for evidence is particularly well-timed given the Government’s expressed intention to refresh key sport and physical activity strategies, notably Sporting Future and the School Sport and Activity Action Plan.

There are clear lessons to be learned from the period following the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games and, more recently, through the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe it is essential these lessons are reflected in a well-devised and effectively implemented Governmental sport, recreation and physical activity strategy which drives substantial and lasting improvements in grassroots participation and at the same time delivers value for money.

Key points

In response to the Committee’s call for evidence we would make the following key points:

1.             Sporting Future was a positive step in establishing a cross-Government strategy but implementation has not been as effective as it could have been.

1.1         As reflected in the National Audit Office (NAO) report, the delivery of Sporting Future strategy has not resulted in the desired outcomes regarding participation. Sporting Future was explicit in its intention to be genuinely cross-Governmental in scope, recognising the need for a joined-up approach to delivery and funding.[1]

1.2         However, whilst there are some good examples evidence of cross-departmental working, overall coordination and delivery across Government has been patchy. There continue to be challenges in ensuring appropriate recognition of the value of sport, recreation and physical activity in achieving wider government objectives and more work is needed to ensure this is reflected in strategic decisions made by different departments and agencies, in particular those outside of DCMS. For example, sport, recreation and physical activity was not granted the same temporary reduced rate VAT during COVID-19 as was made available to other sectors such as hospitality, accommodation and attractions despite facing the same financial challenges.[2] Similarly, the timing and duration of decisions on key funding streams such as the PE and Sport Premium has resulted in a ‘cliff edge’ for schools and the wider school sport workforce with uncertainty as to the scale of provision they are able to offer and an inability to plan for the long term.

2.             The Government’s new strategy must be ambitious to unlock the full potential of the sport, recreation and physical activity sector and drive substantial improvements in participation.

2.1        The Alliance, along with other leading sector representative bodies, has set out in a new report Unlocking the potential a vision for how sport, recreation and physical activity can play a key role in achieving key cross-Government objectives and the specific reforms needed to make this happen.[3] It is our collective belief that there needs to be greater recognition of the enormous potential of sport, recreation and physical activity across Whitehall and for this to be connected explicitly to the delivery of key cross-Government priorities including Levelling Up, strengthening public services, Global Britain and Net Zero. In order to deliver on this potential, Government must take forward a broad package of policy reforms designed to provide the sector with the right tools and operating environment to grow and deliver meaningful improvements in participation.

2.2        Alongside these reforms it is essential Government adopts a more collaborative, partnership-based approach to working with the sector which recognises the value each party brings to achieving our shared objectives of getting more people from all backgrounds participating in sport, recreation and physical activity. The commitment in the NAO report by DCMS to build on its existing engagement with the sector is welcome and we believe this approach must also extend to all arms of Government and its agencies to be successful.

3.             The Government’s new strategy must encompass the entirety of sport, recreation and physical activity and complement – not duplicate – existing strategies focussed on participation.

3.1         Sport England’s Uniting the Movement sets out a 10-year strategy to get more people active and with a particular focus on tackling persistent inequalities in participation.[4] In this context it is essential Government’s new strategy complements rather than duplicates this work and focusses on the policy levers it can pull to help the sector grow and deliver long-term shifts in participation. As set out in Unlocking the potential we believe Government should focus on reforms which:

• Improve the evidence base on the value of sport, recreation and physical activity and inform better decisions on investment.
• Remove barriers and improve access to investment.
• Simplify and reduce the tax and regulatory burdens on the sector.
• Create more robust policy, legal and regulatory frameworks to provide certainty and stability and incentivise growth.

3.2         The scope of Government’s new strategy must also be broad and encompass traditional organised sport, outdoor recreation, movement and dance and physical activity in all its forms. This will necessarily require close coordination with other relevant government departments including DfE, DHSC, DEFRA, DfT and DLUHC and their agencies which have primary policy responsibility for key areas relevant to the success of any strategy. For example, accessibility, affordability and proximity of high quality green and blue spaces is essential to getting people physically active in the outdoors. This was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic when there were significant increases in the numbers of people using these spaces due to lockdown restrictions. However, there remain significant challenges in terms of access, quality and connectivity of green and blue spaces which suppress the number of people who could otherwise benefit from being active outdoors. Tackling these policy issues effectively requires coordinated action across DCMS, DEFRA and its agencies and sector stakeholders.

3.3         As noted in 2.2 above, it will also be important to ensure there is appropriate consultation with the sport, recreation and physical activity sector in the development of the refreshed strategy to enable all parts of the sector to contribute meaningfully and for the strategy to have buy-in from sector stakeholders.

4.             Any new strategy must have clear measures of success and proper accountability for delivery.

4.1         Sporting Future established a number of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) designed to track progress on delivery against commitments in various areas. However, on reflection, there were arguably too many KPIs (23 in total) to allow for simple and straightforward measurement and assessment. Going forward any measures should be small in number, high-level and enable quick and easy identification of whether or not key outcomes or objectives are being delivered.

4.2         In terms of accountability, Sporting Future also committed Government to submitting a formal, annual report to Parliament setting out progress on implementation of the strategy. Full reports were published in 2017[5] and 2018[6] outlining the progress made against the commitments in the strategy. For 2019, a written statement was made by the then Sports Minister in lieu of a full progress report. [7] No further annual report has been published since. Looking ahead, there must be clear political accountability for the strategic outcomes or objectives of any new strategy backed by appropriate mechanisms to enable Parliament, the sector and the wider public to scrutinise and assess progress.

5.             COVID-19 and, more recently, rising energy costs have had significant impact on participation and inequalities and both short- and long-term policy responses are needed to address these challenges.

5.1         The NAO report highlights the detrimental effect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on participation levels overall and for certain groups in particular – notably women, those from ethnically diverse communities and disabled people – who already had below-average levels of activity. There are now 1.3 million more inactive adults compared to pre-pandemic levels and people with a disability or long-term health condition, people in lower socio-economic groups and people from diverse communities have experienced larger falls in activity levels. [8] We are also aware that activity levels generally decrease with age, with the sharpest decrease coming at age 75+. [9] There are particular challenges therefore in ensuring this group remain active and are able to benefit from the associated health and wellbeing benefits.

5.2         In addition, almost a third of children and young people are inactive – 2.3 million children and young people do less than an average of 30 minutes of activity a day.[10] Children and young people from the least affluent families remain the least active and are falling further behind. Children and young people from diverse communities are least likely to be active.[11]

5.3         Evidence from the Alliance’s own research highlights the key challenges for grassroots clubs and organisations recovering from COVID-19 are the ability to access facilities (notably public leisure facilities and schools) and retain volunteers as well as increased financial pressures as a result of depressed income and reduced reserves.[12] We are currently in the process of conducting further research but initial findings suggest these trends are likely to worsen in the context of steeply rising energy costs which are expected to double the energy bills of grassroots clubs and further squeeze already tight finances. As the domestic energy price cap does not apply to grassroots sports clubs, there is no limit on how high potential costs can rise. It is anticipated the majority of clubs will be forced to pass these costs on to participants through higher subscriptions and membership fees, placing a further barrier to participation, especially for lower income groups.

5.4              Against this background there is a pressing need for both short- and longer-term policy responses. For example, on facilities, there is an acute need for dedicated short-term support to provide councils with the ability to mitigate rising energy costs and restore public leisure provision to pre-COVID-19 levels. At the same time, there is also a need for long-term capital investment to create modern, inclusive and environmentally sustainable public leisure facilities, places and spaces which provide a rich mix of sporting provision. Similarly, funding should support children and young people across all education stages (primary, secondary and post-16) to be active and be aligned to an ambitious national strategy which joins up policy across government and improves accountability through measurable national targets to drive up activity levels, health and wellbeing of young people.

September 2022