GPA0018

Written evidence submitted by Swim England

1.Background:

1.1 Swim England welcomes the committee’s inquiry into grassroots participation in sport and physical activity.

1.2 Swim England is the National Governing Body (NGB) for swimming, para swimming, diving, water polo and artistic swimming in England. Over 1 million children learn to swim on the Swim England Learn to Swim programme each year.

1.3 Swimming remains one of the most popular activities across the country, with around 14 million adults (31% of adults) swimming each year before the pandemic.

2. Value for money:

2.1 Every £1 spent on community sport and physical activity delivers a return on investment (ROI) of £3.91 for individuals and society[1]. Such an investment plays an important role in boosting the economy and provides the opportunity to help level up inequalities within communities and build a healthier, happier and more prosperous society.

2.2 The Covid-19 pandemic focused people’s (and the Government’s) attention on the health benefits of exercise. Swimming has a unique role to play here as the properties of the water mean it can be an ideal location for people to be active who may struggle to be active on land due to a range of health conditions.

2.3 Weekly swimming participation saves the NHS more than £357 million each year[2]

3. Facilities:

3.1 Whilst there has been a welcome recent increase in the number of people enjoying outdoor swimming opportunities, this is not an appropriate location for all users and cannot be a substitute for the dedicated swimming facilities needed to support grassroots participation in aquatics and to ensure that everyone can enjoy the benefits of swimming.

3.2 The number of pools in England is in decline, with the period 2010-2019 showing the first fall in the number of available swimming pools[3] from 4,540 to 4,373. The 1960s onwards saw a huge increase in pools being built in England. However many of these pools are now coming to the end of their lifespan or have closed. This, coupled with an increasing population, means there is a pressing need to invest in new facilities across England.

3.3 Based on current pool build trends, the number of available pools could decrease by more than 40% by the end of the decade, a loss of almost 2,000 pools. This could mean 3.86 million people shut out of the activities they love. Any plan to increase grassroots participation, when it comes to aquatics, must address this issue as a priority and this needs to be reflected in the Government’s new sporting strategy (due Summer 2022).

3.4 In the immediate future – the challenges posed by rapidly escalating energy prices poses a threat to the future of many pools and therefore to grassroots participation in aquatics. Figures from ukactive[4] show that energy bills for swimming pools and leisure facilities have increased from £500 million in 2019 to £1.2 billion this year.

3.5 Up to 79% of public leisure facilities said that without support they are ‘likely’ or ‘extremely likely’ to cease operations within the next six months[5]. 85% said they are likely or extremely likely to reduce services and 78% stated they are likely or extremely likely to increase customer pricing.

3.6 The financial situation facing local authorities is of huge significance for the future of aquatic facilities (detailed in 4.2, 4.3 ).

4. Cross Government approach

4.1 Whilst the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is the lead department responsible for sport and physical activity, other departments have a role in encouraging physical activity. Whilst there have been welcome instances of cross government collaboration (for instance regarding the National Leisure Recovery Fund) it is important that there is a whole-system approach across government with much greater and embedded cross-government collaboration. This is particularly important for DCMS which lacks the levers, budget and influence on the rest of the government.

4.2 Local authorities have a significant role in supporting grassroots participation in aquatic activities as one of the biggest investors in leisure facilities. Local authorities spend over £1 billion each year on sport and leisure. Local authority budgets have been under increasing pressure since 2010 and were stretched even further by the pandemic.

4.3 As a non-statutory service leisure services faced substantial budget reductions. Between 2009-10 and 2017-18 local authority spending on cultural and leisure services fell by over 40%.  As the Local Government Association (LGA) identified in its report looking at how local authorities responded to Covid: “As largely discretionary services, they (culture and leisure budgets) will be under huge pressure as a result of the current gap in council finances.”

4.4 To help protect leisure facilities, and in recognition of the crucial role they play in supporting the health and happiness of local communities through facilitating grassroots participation in sport and physical exercise as well as teaching a vital life skill, Swim England supports making the provision of swimming facilities a statutory requirement for local authorities.

5. Tackling inequalities

5.1 Swim England fully supports efforts to tackle inequalities within aquatics and is committed to reducing the participation and attainment gaps currently witnessed within aquatics, particularly for those from ethnically diverse communities.

5.2 Health inequalities have been entrenched in England for many years, but have been sharply exposed by Covid-19. Local pools have an essential role to play in improving the health of local communities up and down the country.

5.3 Investing in new facilities that support community sport and physical activity can play an important role in boosting the economy and helping to level up inequalities within and across communities. Improving the health and wellbeing of local areas should be a key component of the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda.

5.3 There is a correlation between participation and attainment levels in swimming and the levels of swimming pool provision.

5.4 It comes as no surprise that the three regions with the biggest shortage of swimming pools have lower swimming and water safety attainment levels and frequently have lower participation rates as well.

In the Government’s own words[6]:

“The Government wholeheartedly agrees … that there is a need to support, sustain and grow community and grassroots sport. It is imperative that we have a rich and varied sport offer so that physical activity is accessible to all, no matter a person’s background or location.

The Government agrees that the pandemic has reinforced the critical importance of community sport, which brings clear physical and mental health benefits, helps strengthen communities and boosts economic development.

The Government agrees with the intent … 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 so. We believe this is the best action in the first instance.”

5.5 Swim England endorses a focus on investment in community facilities to help level up access to all the benefits that taking part in aquatic activities can provide. This rhetoric now needs to be matched by government support for pools in the short term to deal with spiralling energy costs and long term capital investment into the pools we need for the future.

September 2022