Written evidence submitted by Sport England

Introduction

Sport England is an arm’s length body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport with the responsibility in England to transform people’s lives by getting them playing sport and being active.

Through our ten-year Uniting the Movement strategy, we are committed to using our advocacy, insight and investment of Exchequer and National Lottery funding to harness the wide-ranging benefits of sport and physical activity for individuals and communities across the country:

• We create and maintain sport's foundations in England through investing in over 130 system partner organisations that drive and improve grassroots participation and create the conditions for the potential athletes of the future to emerge;
• We fund the places and spaces where people get active, through a targeted, bottom-up, community-led approach to activity, and investment in the physical infrastructure and facilities used by millions of people every day;
• We deliver world-class campaigns like This Girl Can that use deep consumer insights to change population-wide behaviour;
• We develop policy and create insight and data to support the development of the community sport sector, including the provision of the Active Lives Adults and Children & Young People Surveys, which are considered among the most comprehensive in the world, and;
• We provide accessible small grant funding, open to anyone, supporting thousands of projects up and down the country each year.

Executive Summary

1. Grassroots sport and physical activity delivers phenomenal benefits for individuals and communities across the UK. Community sport and physical activity generates £107.2 billion in social value in England each year: £96.7 billion in annual wellbeing value for adults and children, and £10.5 billion in health and social care savings. An active nation is happier, healthier, wealthier and more resilient.

2. Sport England exists to give everyone in England the chance to benefit from sport and physical activity. We are determined to continue to shift the dial in supporting more people to be active, and  unlock the advantages of sport and physical activity for all – but no one organisation, Department or sector can do it alone. Helping more people to be active must be a cross-government, cross-sector endeavour.

1. Recommendation: Learning from the previous National Physical Activity Taskforce, more effective cross-Government working is needed to address the wide range of barriers that prevent individuals from being physically active.

3. We stand ready to work with colleagues across Government to support more children and adults to be active in the way that works best for them – and to enjoy the immense benefits it brings. Despite many areas of success and effective delivery, sport and physical activity in the community and at school remains hugely under-utilised as a policy tool.

4. Given the considerable challenges UK society is facing, it is important to think more radically about prospective policy solutions. Supporting people to move more can make a significant contribution to a range of the Government’s policy priorities – whether tackling health inequalities and preventing illness, increasing productivity, improving attainment and attendance at school, or bringing together communities.

5. The opportunity to deploy sport and physical activity further as a policy tool cannot be understated - we and our partners are ideally placed to help drive the Government’s Growth, Opportunity and Health missions in particular.

6. Each year, Sport England invests c.£300 million National Lottery and Exchequer funding to support existing activity and address the inequalities we know exist within sport and physical activity. We support more people to be active through our Movement Fund, place-based partnerships, system partner funding, and behaviour-change campaigns – amongst other interventions.

7. There are multiple challenges to the provision of grassroot sport facilities in England. They include ageing infrastructure, the loss of formerly privately owned playing fields, pressures on local authority budgets, and increasing climate-related disruptions. Addressing these issues requires both modernising infrastructure and embedding climate resilience into facility design.

1. Recommendation: Interventions to address these challenges could include a substantial Government capital investment strategy to stimulate local authority investment, a national facilities strategy, mandatory Playing Pitch Strategies for local authorities, and policies that empower local communities to buy community assets.

8. Volunteering delivers substantial benefits to individuals, communities and the economy, yet numbers have steadily declined since 2012, and some demographics are under-represented. Sport England is striving to address this through targeted investments and improved resources to attract and retain a more diverse volunteer base, critical to sustaining community sports and achieving long-term participation.

9. Positive early experiences of sport and physical activity are crucial in helping children to develop lifelong habits, and schools are key to achieving this.

1. Recommendation: Key opportunities for change include embedding movement, sport and physical activity at the heart of every school day, listening to young people (and acting on their feedback), providing more choice of activities, upskilling the teaching workforce, and supporting a national school sport network of trusted, expert, enabling adults.

10. Schools are often a hub for the local community in offering a safe and accessible space for people of all ages and backgrounds to be active. Sport England advocates for greater community use of school facilities, but stronger pathways between school and community sport require collaboration with local clubs and targeted initiatives to address health and social barriers experienced by young people.

11. Sport England’s system partners have made significant progress in building pathways for post-school transition, improving equality, diversity and inclusion, and collaborating with schools and communities. Challenges persist including retention of young people, geographical barriers, inequalities in access and difficulties in securing long-term funding. A place-based approach to investment is key to meeting these challenges.

12. Opportunities to get involved in sport and physical activity depend too much on background, gender, bank balance and postcode. The more characteristics of inequality someone has, the less active they are likely to be. Sport England’s Uniting the Movement strategy is focused on reducing these disparities.

13. We are working to ensure that everyone, no matter their background, bank balance or postcode, has inclusive and accessible opportunities to be active. We are laser-focused about how and where we spend our time and money, focusing our resources on the people and communities who need more support to get active. Society gains the most if we support the least active to take part.

1. Every £1 invested in community sport and physical activity, gives a social and economic return of £4.21, meaning £1 removed is £4.21 of social and economic value lost, a loss that would be most keenly felt by the communities already facing the greatest inequalities.[1]

Community Sport

1. What is the current quality and availability of facilities for grassroots sport?

14. Sport England manages and maintains the national sports facility database: Active Places[2]. At present, the database holds information on c.120,000 community sports facilities in England, across c.42,000 sites. Active Places search and filter functions enable users to build detailed reports on the current facility stock by region and/or local authority[3].

15. Appendices 1-4 at the end of this submission set out the current state of sport and physical activity facilities in England. Please note these should be interpreted alongside the introductory context in Annex A and the assumptions and caveats under each table as these provide information required to understand the quoted statistics.

1. Appendix 1: currently operational facilities by type and ownership in England.
2. Appendix 2: currently operational facilities by sub-type and ownership.
3. Appendix 3: swimming pools, sports hall facilities and artificial grass pitches built by decade.
4. Appendix 4: swimming pools on sites owned by local authorities since 2015.

16. Sport England’s latest Active Lives Adults (November 2022-23) data shows that[4]:

1. 69% of adults agree they find the places and environments where they exercise inclusive and welcoming.

2. 71% of adults agree that the public places and setting where they like to exercise feel safe at the times they prefer to use them.

17. Sport England’s Moving Communities database[5] also provides a real-time view of local programmes and community spaces and places that help people to be active. A recent customer experience survey on the platform[6] of over 43,500 participants found:

1. 46% of respondents said they are ‘very satisfied’ and a further 34% ‘quite satisfied’ with their experience at a leisure centre, with older age groups being generally more satisfied than younger ages, with the exception of 16-24 year olds.

2. Staff being helpful and friendly, the cleanliness of a leisure centre, and value for money for activities and memberships, were the three most important factors to respondents.

3. To support environmental sustainability, 30% of respondents indicated they would opt for activities closer to home to minimise travel when choosing sport and physical activities.

18. c.600,000 people hold paid roles in sport and physical activity, down 3.1% before the pandemic. Of these, 336,600 work within the operation of sports facilities, fitness facilities and sports clubs[7].

Playing fields

19. Sport England has a statutory responsibility to protect playing field sites in the planning system.[8] Sport England receives c.1200 planning applications per year. Between April 2022 and March 2023, 94% of all concluded planning applications involving playing fields resulted in the protection or improvement of facilities[9].

20. As a statutory consultee, Sport England has been involved in an increasing number of planning appeals over the past two years. There is some concern at Sport England over the attempted loss of former privately owned playing fields. The Government’s ambitions for housing growth and challenges with local government finance may make playing fields vulnerable.

21. The pressure on local authority budgets has also led to some local authorities seeking to lease playing fields to professional sports clubs, effectively removing and preventing community use or providing very limited community use.

22. As detailed in Sport England’s environmental sustainability strategy, Every Move, published in 2024, building resilience to climate change is a growing concern for grassroots sport. An estimated 62,500 football matches are cancelled each year due to unplayable pitches caused by extreme weather[10]. This highlights the need for climate-resilient facilities, capable of coping with more frequent flooding, heatwaves, and other weather challenges. Investing in adaptable infrastructure will ensure communities can continue to engage in sport and physical activity despite changing environmental conditions.

School sports facilities

23. School sports facilities are an important component of the overall stock of sports facilities in England. 70% of operational sports halls and 48% of operational grass pitches are in educational ownership[11]. Sport England works closely with the Department for Education’s planning team on its capital rebuilding programs, to maximise the opportunities for new facilities, whilst minimising the loss of the playing fields.

24. In 2023, permitted development rights were granted to Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) affected schools, allowing them to place temporary classrooms on their land, including playing fields, without the need for planning permission for a period of three years. This removed Sport England’s role as a statutory consultee. Although supporting guidance was issued to schools[12] to see development on playing fields as a last resort, it is too early to understand the extent of the impact this will have on the playing fields of affected schools.

Sport England funding

25. Sport England’s Strategic Facilities Fund (2017-23) supported over 60 new public leisure facilities being constructed, leveraging over £1 billion of additional public sector investment. Sport England’s capital funding is now focused on tackling inequalities, allocated through place-based partnerships. Question 2 covers the rationale and strategy behind this in more detail.

26. Along with the Football Association and the Premier League, Sport England invests in the Football Foundation on behalf of the Government. The Football Foundation invests in football and multi-sport facilities. Since its inception in 2000, the Football Foundation has awarded over 71,000 grants, worth over £1 billion. Approximately 1,400 changing rooms have been built, 1,100 3G pitches installed, and 12,000 grass pitches improved[13].

1b. What interventions are needed to improve this provision?

Capital investment

27. Multiple reports have highlighted a decline in the quality of leisure facility infrastructure due to aging stock, and the need for substantial investment in public leisure[14][15][16].

28. Sport England’s Future of Public Leisure report[17] highlights the importance of the public leisure sector and demonstrated the work within the sector to ensure facilities and provision are positioned to support an active wellbeing hub, creating a closer relationship between health and leisure.

29. A substantial capital investment strategy from Government would stimulate greater investment from local authorities. Where local authorities currently invest – often linked to rationalisation programmes – there is strong evidence of greater utilisation and improved financial sustainability. However, it is often the initial capital outlay which prevents initiation of projects.

30. Intervention is required to continue to improve the energy efficiency and overall sustainability of existing facilities, recognising that this can improve financial viability by providing some protection against fluctuating energy prices. A recent example of such intervention is the second phase of the Swimming Pool Support Fund. The fund allocated £60 million of Exchequer and £20 million of National Lottery funding to improve the energy efficiency of swimming pools and keep their running costs down[18].

1. To address the challenges posed by a changing climate, facility design must incorporate resilience measures to accommodate weather disruptions. This is critical as lower motivation and enjoyment during extreme weather meant 6 out of 10 adults reduced activity levels in 2023[19], and 30% of children were unable to stay active during extreme heat in July 2022[20]. Sport England can play a key role in advocating for climate-adapted facilities and policies.[21]

Alternative forms of investment

31. As part of the Future of Public Leisure report, Sport England committed to exploring alternative forms of investment for public leisure – such as the potential for attracting pension fund investment. This is at an early stage, and it remains to be seen whether it could translate into investment, and whether it requires a national initiative or programme for public sector leisure investment.

National Vision for Facilities

32. The former Government’s Get Active sport strategy[22], published in August 2023, committed to working with the sector to develop a National Vision for Facilities before the end of 2023. This would seek “to develop a full picture of current provision across the country and use this to ensure that future investment decisions are made in a strategic way”.

33. We understand this has been delayed due to external factors including the 2024 General Election. Sport England welcomes this commitment and stands ready to support.

Non-fiscal interventions

34. The pressure on local authority budgets has also led to some local authorities looking to lease playing fields to professional sports clubs, with the effect of either removing community use entirely or providing very limited community use. Sport England would therefore support further exploration of the following non-fiscal policy levers:

1. Every local authority requiring an up to date Playing Pitch Strategy, to feed into the evidence base for local planning decisions. This could help steer investment (for example from Community Infrastructure Levy and Section 106 planning obligations) towards playing pitch developments and upgrades.[23]

1. Sport England will be publishing revised guidance for local authorities on preparing a Playing Pitch Strategy in Spring 2025.

2. An amendment to the Localism Act to allow for communities the ‘right to buy’ assets of community value.

3. A grant or loan scheme that could help local communities to buy community assets.

2. What sources of funding are available for grassroots sport and are they sufficient?

35. Sport England invests c.£300 million National Lottery and Exchequer funding each year into projects and programmes that support people to be physically active.

36. In line with its ten-year Uniting the Movement strategy, Sport England distributes funding across four broad categories (detailed below): the Movement Fund, place-based partnerships, system partner funding, and behaviour-change campaigns.

37. These are designed to achieve Sport England’s primary objective of tackling inequalities in sport and physical activity. As Sport England’s Active Lives figures show, there's still a significant activity gap between people based on where they live, how affluent they are, their sex, ethnic background or whether they have a disability or long-term health condition.[24][25]

Movement Fund

38. In April 2024, Sport England launched the Movement Fund, an open funding programme which can provide up to £15,000 of support in the form of either a grant or a pledge towards a Crowdfunder campaign.

39. The fund is aimed at community and grassroots organisations who are seeking to make sport and physical activity opportunities more readily available to their local community. Between April 2024 and March 2025, the Movement Fund will award approximately £16.5million. To December 2024, the Movement Fund has supported approximately 1,300 grassroot organisations.

40. Aligned with Sport England’s strategic priority of tackling inequalities, the Movement Fund prioritises projects that support groups who face the greatest barriers to activity and focus on the communities who need the most support to get active.

41. As an open fund, the Movement Fund also serves as Sport England’s emergency response in supporting grassroots organisations affected by weather events. This ensures spaces and facilities where people are active can be restored as quickly as possible.

42. The Movement Fund, which will distribute circa £160 million over four years, simplifies the funding application process, combining previous Small Grants and Active Together funds, to create a single front door. The application portal[26] includes guidance, eligibility criteria, and contact details for email and telephone assistance.

Place-based partnerships

43. In November 2023, Sport England announced a groundbreaking £250 million investment to support the expansion of our place-based approach to tackling inactivity and associated underpinning inequalities.

44. This investment, which unapologetically focuses on those with the greatest need, is informed by learning from Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilots[27], which tested a whole-system place-based approach to tackle the barriers to physical activity we see in local communities.

45. Learning from Sport England’s Local Delivery Pilots tells us that physical inactivity cannot be the sole domain of one organisation or service at a local level, but must involve multiple stakeholders from education, planning, housing and adult social care through to health, transport, criminal justice and leisure. Working in a collaborative way with a shared ambition can create the conditions to change local landscapes and promote and enable the decision to move more.

46. Sport England’s place-based approach follows Marmot’s principle of proportionate universalism, which recognises that inactivity and inequalities exist in all parts of the country, but they are deeper in some areas than others. Sport England’s place model reflects this in determining that the greatest level of place investment will support areas with the greatest need.

1. To help identify places of greatest need, Sport England has established a Place Need Classification (PNC) to support prioritisation and decision making.[28]

47. The £250 million investment is distributed approximately as follows:

1. £35 million deepening the work across the initial 12 Local Delivery Pilots.
2. £130 million expanding the work through revenue investment in up to 80 new places.
3. £60m needs-led capital investment to support a pipeline of infrastructure projects in the above places.
4. £20 million to support the Place Universal Offer, predominantly distributed to active partnerships to support challenges elsewhere in England.
5. £5 million for investment in evaluation and learning.

Behaviour-change campaigns

48. Recognising that promoting activity and tackling inequality is about more than facilities and access, Sport England invests in three campaigns designed to support specific demographic groups to be active: This Girl Can, We Are Undefeatable and Play Their Way.

49. Informed by deep consumer insights, Sport England backed campaigns look at barriers from the audience’s perspective and apply the COM-B model to support behaviour change.

1. This recognises that behaviour change (B) only happens when the target audience feels they have the capability (C), opportunity (O) and motivation (M) to change.

50. This Girl Can[29] tackles the emotional, practical, cultural and systemic barriers that can stop women taking part, with a particular focus on less active, under-represented groups – those on lower incomes and from Black or Muslim communities, who are over 55 or are pregnant or have a child under one. 

1. This Girl Can launched in 2015, and Sport England’s current funding commitment is £28.2m over four years (2024-28).

51. We Are Undefeatable[30] is delivered by Age UK on behalf of the Richmond Group of Charities and gives those with long-term health conditions the confidence, encouragement and advice to get active in a way that works for them with their particular condition.

1. Sport England’s current funding commitment is £6 million over three years (2025-28).

52. Play Their Way[31] is delivered by UK Coaching on behalf of the Children’s Coaching Collaborative. The campaign targets coaches, encouraging them to adopt a child-first approach that results in more positive sporting experiences for children. Research shows that fun is the biggest motivator for children[32] – bringing more fun into the experience helps them stay active now and as they grow up. 

1. Sport England’s current funding commitment is £4 million over three years (2025-28).

System partner funding

53. Sport England is investing £600 million over a five-year period (2022-27) into a network of ‘system partners’ – organisations identified to be crucial to the delivery of its Uniting the Movement strategy. System partners connect into much wider networks and systems than Sport England can achieve alone.  The investment in and relationship with system partners involves a significant workforce focused on delivering the vision and mission of Uniting the Movement.

54. Sport England’s 137 system partners[33] have been identified and selected due to the important roles they play, and their relationships and inter-dependencies. They include, but are not limited to, active partnerships, national governing bodies, sector partners, and health charities.

55. System partners perform a combination of roles, defined in four categories – systemic, governing, delivery, and talent development.

Other funding for grassroots sport

56. In addition to the four categories detailed above, Sport England supports and promotes grassroots sport in multiple other ways including, but not limited to:

1. Exchequer investment via the Football Foundation for football facilities - £286 million since 2021 – creating opportunities for numerous sports in addition to football, through the Foundation’s multi-sport policy and dedicated programmes such as ‘PlayZones’.[34]

2. Managing one-off funds such as the Swimming Pool Support Fund, which was funded by the Government and administered by Sport England. The Swimming Pool Support Fund provided £80 million (£60 million Exchequer, £20 million National Lottery funding) to local authorities in England to support public leisure facilities with swimming pools.

3. Sport England also provides non-financial support to clubs and community organisations offering sport and physical activity via Buddle[35]. Buddle provides free learning and support resources to assists organisations with marketing, safety and welfare, accounting, environmental sustainability and much more.

57. Crucially, in accordance with its Uniting the Movement strategy, Sport England funds and supports more than grassroots sport. To tackle inequalities and achieve broader social outcomes, Sport England is funding more Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations that are helping people to be physically active.

58. In September 2023, Sport England announced a £14.83 million investment to establish a national network of welfare officers to mentor and support clubs across England[36]. The Sport Welfare Officers support local clubs in ensuring the welfare of their members, both children and adults, whilst promoting good practice and safe sport.

1. The Sport Welfare Officers project was developed alongside National Governing Bodies, the NSPCC’s Child Protection in Sport Unit, the Ann Craft Trust, and the network of 42 Active Partnerships. There are now over 60 Sport Welfare Officers in place across the country.

59. Multiple other funders also support broader grassroots sport activity for wider community benefit, including but not limited to, the National Lottery Community Fund, the London Marathon Trust, and other independent trusts and foundations.

2b. How can funds be distributed more effectively and application processes be improved?

60. Sport England’s Uniting the Movement strategy recognises that, to impact upon individuals and groups within society that are less engaged with sport and physical activity, we need to work differently, in different places, and with different organisations. To deliver on our strategic vision and ensure funding is distributed more effectively, we have adopted three separate but interconnected approaches.

1. Expanding our place-based approach. Described in more detail above, Sport England is targeting the greatest resource to areas with highest inactivity levels and other social need indicators to achieve the most effective impact on key societal outcomes.

2. Identifying new strategic and system partners. Sport England has expanded its range of system partners, with 20 new partners not previously funded by Sport England. System partners now receive longer-term (five year) investments, providing longer-term financial security as they recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.

3. A simplified and targeted Movement Fund. Described in more detail above, the Movement Fund is designed to simplify access to open funding and pull together existing funds. It now takes less time to submit an application and receive a decision. To ensure effective and strategic distribution of funds, applications from places with the greatest need are prioritised.

61. To ensure this approach is evaluated thoroughly, and that funds are being distributed effectively, Sport England has created a performance framework and a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to:  

1. evidence its effectiveness and efficiency as organisation; 
2. show its quantifiable contribution to the delivery of Uniting the Movement; 
3. demonstrate the collective impact and value of the wider system in delivering Uniting the Movement.  

62. One of the specific indicators focuses upon investing more in the places of greatest need, and the people who are currently under-represented.

3. How can volunteers be better supported and what is needed to attract and retain more volunteers to grassroots sport?

Benefits of volunteering

63. Volunteering benefits the health and wellbeing of volunteers themselves, as well as increasing the capacity for people to take part in sport and physical activity. Sport England’s recent Social Value of Sport and Physical Activity report calculated that adult volunteering in sport and physical activity is worth £8.2 billion[37].

64. Our Active Lives survey data shows that those who volunteer score higher for happiness, life satisfaction and feeling that their life is worthwhile compared to those who don’t volunteer[38].

Current data and trends in volunteering

65. The latest Active Lives data shows that 10 million adults[39] (November 2022-23 survey) and 2.2 million children and young people[40] (2023-24 academic year) volunteered to help others be active in the last year. Previous surveys have shown that on average clubs require one volunteer for every nine members[41].

66. As with wider UK civil society, the sport and physical activity sector in England has seen a long-term decline in volunteer numbers since 2012. This trend is reflected across all volunteering sectors and continues to become more pressing. The Covid-19 pandemic caused significant disruption to volunteering habits.

Barriers to volunteering

67. Active Lives survey data highlights an ongoing lack of diversity in sports volunteering. Women, those from lower socio-economic groups, those who live in a more deprived area, disabled people, people with a long-term health condition and those from a Black or Asian ethnic background are less likely to volunteer in sport and physical activity.

68. Barriers to volunteering for underrepresented groups can include[42]:

1. Volunteering opportunities being too rigid, with expectations of regular time commitments;
2. Lack of role models – people not being able to see others like them volunteering;
3. Cultural sensitivities;
4. Understanding and addressing the motivations and expectations of volunteers;
5. Language barriers;
6. Lack of IT skills to find out about volunteering opportunities.

What is Sport England doing?

69. Sport England’s online platform Buddle offers content, case studies and a workshop on the volunteer experience[43]. This supports clubs to better look after their volunteers and implement the right practices to retain them.

70. Sport England has made investments that specifically seek to engage people from culturally diverse communities in volunteering. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), with match-funding from Sport England, has recruited over 5,500 British South Asian women as ‘cricket activators’ in its Dream Big Desi Women programme over the last five years. 4,600 women have continued to volunteer for two years or seasons or more[44].

71. Sport England has recently invested £2 million into the Leadership Skills Foundation[45]. This work will be focused on improving understanding of the barriers and needs to sports-based volunteering for young people who are under-represented in the workforce. The programme will look to train, engage and support place-based delivery partners to test and learn from our adapted programmes and engagement methods, whilst sharing best practice across the sector,

72. Sport England’s previous volunteering funds (2019-22) supported 37 local partners to engage 8,900 volunteers and distributed up to £6 million. 39% of these people had never volunteered before, 38% were from an ethnically diverse community, and 19% were from areas of high deprivation.

73. Sport England is working with its system partners and through its place-based approach to embed volunteering best practice.

74. The updated Code for Sports Governance (2022)[46] includes a new requirement for Tier 3 partners’ boards to develop and consider their organisational people plans annually. This involves building increased strategic decision-making in workforce development, including volunteers.

4. How can grassroots sport be made more engaging and accessible to under-represented groups?

Current data and trends

75. Sport England’s Active Lives data shows that there are a range of characteristics that are associated with the likelihood of being active. These characteristics overlap and intersect with one another to create individual identities and diverse communities, all of which have different needs and lived experiences of sport and physical activity.

76. More than three-quarters (78%) of community groups said the lack of representation of minority groups within sport has an impact on young people from their community taking part[47].

Significance of intersectionality

77. Sport England has developed an inequalities metric[48] which recognises the impact of intersectionality, and which characteristics have the most impact on activity. The most important indicator of lower levels of activity is when a person has two or more characteristics of inequality. The more characteristics you have, the less active you are likely to be.

78. For adults these characteristics are:

• Aged 65 or over
• Disabled people and those with a long-term health condition
• Lower socio-economic groups (NS-SEC[49] 6-8)
• Asian, Chinese and Black adults
• Pregnant women and parents of children under one year
• Adults of Muslim faith

79. For children and young people these characteristics are:

• Girls
• Other gender for those secondary school age
• Children from less affluent families
• Asian and Black children
• A lack of access to a park/field or outdoor space (secondary school age children)

80. In England, 58% of the adult population has at least one characteristic of inequality. While 75% of adults with no inequality factors meet recommended activity guidelines, only 44% of individuals with two or more characteristics of inequality meet the same guidelines[50].

81. In England, 62% of children and young people have one or more characteristic of inequality. 51% of those with no inequality factors meet activity guidelines, compared to 39% of those with two or more characteristics[51].

82. If everyone with one or more characteristic of inequality could be as active as those with no characteristics of inequality, there would be 4.9 million more active adults and 328,000 more active children and young people.

Principles of inclusive physical activity

83. Evaluations of physical activity provision identify several broad inclusive principles, as well as specific insight for certain demographic groups. However, it is important to note that what is inclusive for one person, may not be for another.

84. The below are common principles for inclusive physical activity, drawing on learnings that were common across multiple audiences or programmes[52]. These are as much about a culture change in the way sport and physical activity is shaped and delivered, as having specific suitable programmes and initiatives to engage people and communities. These principles are:

1. See the world from their view. Any service should begin with understanding the world from the audience’s point of view – their lives, communities, local services, motivations, barriers, culture and more. To ‘meet people where they are at’ is a central focus of Uniting the Movement.

2. Put the person first. Prioritise the needs of individuals, offering holistic and complementary support. For example, mental health or confidence building.

3. The right partnerships. Work with a wide range of partners, both inside and outside of the sports sector, who are trusted and have existing relationships with the community or targeted audience.

4. Emotional, not just practical. Support people on an emotional level. Be mindful of their mental wellbeing and take steps to anticipate and relieve anxieties. Consider emotional barriers to activity (for example, feelings of ‘not for me’) and create an emotional connection with people.

5. Get the basics right. Think about access, safety, travel, signage and the facility itself. Consider what else the audience might need, for example toilets, parking, benches, clothing and equipment.

6. The right environment, the whole experience. Create an environment where people new to sport and physical activity feel comfortable and welcome – somewhere safe, supportive and non-judgmental.

7. Flexibility. Design a core offer that can be delivered flexibly and allows people to choose, drop in and out, and attend as they can.

8. Reframe and reimagine. Old models of delivering physical activity do not work for everyone. Reframe, reimagine, and rethink how sport and physical activity can be enjoyed by everyone, particularly underrepresented groups.

9. Communication covers lots of things. Tailor the language and imagery you use and be cautious of excessive use of ‘sporty’ terms that can alienate some people from participating. Listen to your audience and invite feedback about the service.

10. Workforce is key. Coaches, volunteers, and other frontline staff are key to delivering inclusive physical activity opportunities. The workforce can serve as friendly, empathetic and relatable role models for all participants.

11. It will take time, resources and effort. Creating truly inclusive physical activity offers that tackle inequalities will take time, resources, and money. From engaging with the audience to co-designing the service to changing behaviours, we must be prepared to invest greater time and effort in the people and places that need it most.

The importance of diverse leadership

85. A more diverse and upskilled group of leaders is needed to overcome the challenges and realise the opportunities facing the sector. Sport England is investing £6 million over four years into a new Leading the Movement programme, supporting leaders at all levels to prioritise tacking inequalities in their work. The definition of ‘leaders’ for this programme is broad. It is not based on seniority, but those who can act on tackling inequalities in sport and physical activity.

86. Leading the Movement aims to increase the skills and abilities of leaders, and to develop and support the recruitment and retention of leaders from more diverse backgrounds. The programme includes professional coaching and cross-sector mentoring to develop understanding about tacking inequalities and leadership. There will also be place-based leadership offers, linked with our Place Expansion areas, and an ‘universal offer’ for all to develop knowledge.

Behaviour-change campaigns

87. Sport England supported behaviour-change campaigns – This Girl Can and We Are Undefeatable – also target under-represented groups (women and girls, and those with long-term health conditions respectively) and their unique barriers to being physically active. These campaigns and investments are described in more detail above, in answer to question 2.

88. Crucially, changing sport and physical activity habits is a long-term endeavour – behaviour change takes time, and progress will not always be linear.

School Sport

5. How can schools better enable children to develop positive and life-long relationships with sport and physical education?

89. Positive early experiences of sport and physical activity are crucial in helping children and young people to develop lifelong habits.

1. Sport England’s Active Lives Survey shows that children with more positive attitudes towards sport and physical activity are more likely to be physically active – and this follows them through into adult life.

90. Schools are often the first environment where children encounter organised sport and early experiences of PE lessons are important in forging positive relationships with activity.

91. Ofsted reported that ‘for many pupils, PE will be the first and only place where they are taught safe, efficient, and intelligent movement’[53].

92. Presently, only 47.8% of children and young people meet the Chief Medical Officer's physical activity guidelines and just under half report they strongly agree that they enjoy being active'.
93. Furthermore, data from Sport England’s Active Lives Children and Young People Survey Report 2022-23 tells us that close to 500,000 young people are only reaching the threshold of being fairly active (an average of 30-59 minutes a day) through the provision that school offers.

94. With schools playing such a crucial role, it is imperative they prioritise providing positive experiences of sport and physical activity during these formative years.

95. Separately, young people aged 18-24 are over-represented within the sport and physical activity workforce – both for paid employment (30%)[54] and volunteering (18%)[55]. Experiences of leadership, coaching and volunteering during their years in education, as well as exposure to appropriate careers advice and aligned career pathways, can all help to ensure young people remain engaged with sport and physical activity.

Embedding sport and physical activity into the whole school day

96. Schools can create more opportunities for young people to have more regular and positive experiences around movement by embedding physical activity into the whole school day and not limiting opportunities to PE lessons.

97. Movement should be put at the heart of every school day - active children are better learners. After-school activities, playtimes and active lessons in other subjects are all viable tactics to increase rates of physical activity.

98. The Creating Active Schools Framework[56] is a whole school approach that encourages the whole school community (including school leaders, teachers, parents, and other external stakeholders) to inspire and influence children's physical activity, so it becomes embedded across the school day and forms habits beyond school.

1. The true value and impact of Creating Active Schools is amplified if it is part of wider place-based systemic approach where other organisations and physical assets are supported to also promote and use sport and physical activity.

Adopting a physical literacy-informed approach based around the voices of young people

99. Physical literacy refers to the degree to which we have a positive and meaningful relationship with movement and physical activity.

100.                      Positioning enjoyment, value and meaning at the heart of PE, school sport and physical activity help foster a lifelong love of movement.

101.                      We know that youth voice is a key enabler for building positive experiences and some of the key learnings from the Secondary Teacher Training programme[57] highlighted the importance of enhancing student voice and co-creation in developing more student centred, enjoyable activities.

102.                      This included using student voice to identify the activities that students want to try, testing and learning to see what activities young people enjoy and allowing students to choose how competitive they are during lessons by allowing them to participate with others of their own perceived standard.

Upskilling the workforce

103.                      Having a skilled, trusted and engaging workforce is an important factor if schools are to provide positives opportunities.

104.                      However, research shows there is a need to improve teacher confidence to teach PE and school sport, especially in primary schools where only 56% of primary school teachers felt confident to deliver PE[58].

105.                      The curriculum changes made by schools involved in the Secondary Teacher Training programme were well received by both staff and students, increasing engagement and enjoyment in PE lessons and reinvigorating staff who developed new skills.

106.                      When compared to the year before, 45% students said they enjoyed PE more, 14% less and 41% remained the same. Increased enjoyment was also linked to higher engagement, greater choice, higher attendance at extra-curricular activities, wider representation on school clubs and teams and improved feeling of inclusion. These changes led to higher overall engagement of students with increased attendance in extra-curricular activities, wider representation of students within teams and clubs, and improved feelings of inclusion.[59]

107.                      There continues to be a strong reliance on sports coaches delivering within schools, with 14% (434,000) of sports coaches operating in primary schools and 7% (217,000) operating within secondary schools[60]. Of these, up to 85% are paid[61].

Effectively engaging with active travel activations

108.                      Active travel is the most common mode of transport for getting to school, and over half of all children and young people use active travel (walk, ride, scooter) to get to school. Active travel is a unique activity in that it is as accessible to children independently of their economic status.

109.                      We have seen positive results from schools actively engaging in local active travel initiatives. For example, the Active Travel for Schools Toolkit, which has been created by Active Essex, Essex County Council, Essex County Council’s Cycle Training Team and Safer Greener Healthier, offers schools guidance on promoting active travel to enhance student well-being and reduce traffic congestion.[62]

School Games and the School Games Organiser network

110.                      The School Games network[63] provides young people with the opportunity to learn through physical activity and competition to achieve their personal best.

111.                      Since its inception in 2010, it has engaged more than 19,500 schools and created 13.4 million competition opportunities for young people, supported by a nationwide network of over 450 School Games Organisers.

112.                      School Games Organisers coordinate appropriate competitive opportunities for young people based around their needs, with a focus on those who will most benefit from increasing their level of activity.

113.                      Maintaining a school sport network will be critical in supporting schools to give children universal, equal access to sport and physical activity. A review of the current School Games Organiser network is underway and proposals, for what a future more fit for purpose school sport network could look like, will be presented to Government in April 2025.

Curriculum and assessment review

114.                      In November 2024, Sport England submitted to the Department for Education’s ‘improving the curriculum and assessment system’ call for evidence.[64] A full copy of Sport England’s submission is available on request.

115.                      In summary, Sport England’s submission made recommendations including but not limited to:

1. Putting PE at the core of the curriculum by protecting time for it, giving every child regular access and opportunities, and giving it the same assessment and rigour as other subjects.

2. Creating active schools where opportunities to be active are embedded throughout the school day.

3. Reimagining the current PE curriculum for Key Stages 1-4, helping young people find enjoyment, meaning, and value in movement, sport and physical activity. 

5b. What can be done to engage groups with lower participation rates - such as girls, those with disabilities or from lower socio-economic backgrounds?

116.                      Sport England’s inequalities metric has found that multiple overlapping inequality factors lead to compounded disadvantages in activity levels. For children and young people these inequality characteristics are girls, children from low affluence households, Asian and Black children, and secondary-aged children who have a lack of access to park/field or outdoor sports place. 

1. 17% of children and young people are living with two or more of these characteristics of inequality and these children are significantly less active than those without these characteristics, with only 40% meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines, reflecting how intersecting protected characteristics amplify barriers to physical activity.

117.                      The COM-B model of behaviour change tells us that capability, opportunity and motivation combine to drive behaviour. The absence of just one of these can lead to someone becoming inactive. This model helps us to analyse and understand changes in activity levels.

1. In order to help groups with lower participation rates to be active, we need to increase their capability, opportunity and motivation.

118.                      An example of a successful activation is Studio You[65], which takes This Girl Can's ambitions into schools through co-creation with girls and PE teachers across the country to understand what makes a positive PE experience.

1. The platform has over 140 video lessons designed to put more fun into PE, led by on screen experts covering disciplines girls have said they want to try. The learning hub has resources for teachers to help break down the challenges the least active girls face.

2. Studio You is used in 60% of secondary schools in England and is estimated to have reached 161,000 girls across its 3-year lifespan.

119.                      Research by Activity Alliance[66] shows that disabled children and young people are less likely to enjoy PE and feel less confident to take part.

120.                      One of the barriers to inclusion for disabled children in PE and wider school physical activity is there is a lack of confidence and competence among teachers in delivering inclusive PE in mainstream schools due to lack of teacher training, despite willingness from teachers.

121.                      The Secondary Teacher Training programme aimed to increase the competence and confidence of staff to deliver new activities and change current practice, and the impact of the programme was particularly noticeable for disabled students who reported feeling more included in PE lessons (up from 51% to 57%).

122.                      Inclusion 2024 is a programme funded by the Department for Education which aims to improve the quality of PE and school sport provision for SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) pupils. It is led by a consortium of partners – the Activity Alliance, the British Paralympic Association, the National Association for Special Educational Needs, Youth Sport Trust and Swim England.

1. Through the programme, young people have been taking part in more inclusive and accessible PE lessons, school swimming and para sports by empowering an expert network of schools to help other schools across the country.   

123.                      Listening to children and young people and providing more choice is essential in better engaging under-represented groups.

1. The Secondary Teacher Training programme’s final report[67] found that an enhanced student voice led to the development of a more student-centred and dynamic PE curriculum, focused on enjoyment and participation and provided students with meaningful PE experiences. This was particularly important in relation to the least active and least engaged groups.

6. How should schools and sports organisations work together to deliver better sporting opportunities for children in and outside of school hours?

124.                      School sports facilities are an important component of the overall stock of sports facilities. We know that 70% of operational sports halls and 48% of operational grass pitches are based on school sites.[68] Access to these facilities outside of the school day for community use can be limited in some areas.

125.                      Sport England’s 2023-24 Active Lives Children and Young People’s Survey shows that 89% of state secondary schools and 45.7% of state primary schools make their facilities available for community sports-related use, equating to 55.4% of all state schools.[69]

126.                      Schools are often the hub of the local community, offering a safe, trusted and accessible space for people of all ages and backgrounds to be active. Sport England advocates for schools to open their facilities for community use.

127.                      Sport England has also developed Use Our School[70], a free resource that supports schools to open their facilities to the community during evenings, weekends and holiday periods.

128.                      The Opening School Facilities programme, funded by the Department for Education and led by the Active Partnerships Network, in collaboration with national partners StreetGames, ukactive, and the Youth Sport Trust, has had some success in supporting schools and the local community to develop strong connections.[71]

1. In 2023-24 Opening School Facilities supported 1,467 schools, 168,889 children and young people and 57,006 community users, with a focus on tackling inequalities across schools within the most disadvantaged areas.

2. The Department for Education recently announced that it will not be extending funding for Opening School Facilities beyond 31 March 2025.

129.                      A number of barriers have been identified to schools being able to make their facilities available to community use ranging from not having a sustainable operating model, having staff available to manage community bookings, and practical barriers around site access, lighting and safety.

130.                      To maximise the potential for sports organisations to work together to deliver better sporting opportunities it’s important to take a needs-led approach that puts young people’s voices at the heart of design and development.

1. Work undertaken by StreetGames with over 1,000 young people as part of the Opening School Facilities programme shows that young people's biggest motivation when taking part in session was to have fun (45% of young people), spend time with friends (38%) and to improve their health and fitness (33%), whereas the biggest barriers were cited as a lack of confidence (25%), not having anyone to go with (24%) and people judging them (22%).[72]

131.                      Sport England encourages partners to take a place-based approach whereby schools can create and cement meaningful relationships with a range of community sport and physical activity partners across the local system.

1. This includes sports clubs and other locally trusted organisations working together to benefit young people, schools and communities by providing a wider range of extra-curricular opportunities for young people and linking to wider health and social outcomes.

2. Pivotal to this approach is local co-ordination and capacity to build relationship and connections to wider work. Successful examples include the role that Active Partnerships play as part of the Opening School Facilities programme.

7. What measures are needed to make the pathway from school to community sport easier?

132.                      Many children and young people see their relationship with sport and physical activity change when they leave school, and we see a marked decline in activity levels after individuals have left full time education.

133.                      Proactive programmes have been proven to work to help bridge this gap and Sport England’s system partners – including Active Partnerships, national governing bodies of sport, and wider national partners – continue to play a key role in this area.

1. Examples of successful interventions include The FA’s Girls Football School Partnerships[73] and Shooting Stars[74] programmes, while Chance to Shine[75] delivers cricket in schools as well as street cricket clubs in the community.

134.                      Shared facilities are also natural links between schools and community sports clubs. 62% of respondents taking part in the Opening School Facilities programme says it helped engage their community in physical activity to a greater extent.

135.                      Introducing children and young people to community sports clubs creates the potential to provide more positive experiences of being active.

1. Not every child enjoys PE or the varied curriculum, whereas access to specialist community sports and physical activity clubs are able to focus on the particular activities they enjoy.

136.                      Government-funded programmes, such as the School Games and Holiday Activity and Food programme, help to tackle the underlying causes of social, health and other problems experiences by young people.

137.                      An adequately funded and sustained school and community sport network is more effective in building trust, cementing meaningful relationships and activating opportunities.

Governance

8. How effective are national and local government and sport governing body initiatives in delivering school and grassroots sport, and how might they be improved?

Children and young people

138.                      Over three-quarters (78%) of Sport England’s system partners have committed to objectives focussing on children and young people as part of their award. It is important to note that these goals and approaches are varied, and work with children and young people is not solely focused on school settings.

139.                      Sport national governing bodies have made progress in delivering school and grassroots sport through various initiatives supported by system partner funding. The overall effectiveness of their approaches varies across different regions, sports, and demographics.

140.                      Sport England’s assessment of system partner effectiveness in delivering school and grassroots sport has identified the following strengths and barriers.

Strengths

141.                      Building pathways for post-school transition. Many initiatives have successfully created pathways for young people to continue their sports participation after school. For example, initiatives like those by England Rugby and British Cycling are helping bridge the gap by directly connecting school programs with local clubs, ensuring a smooth transition.

142.                      Focus on equality, diversity and inclusion. Many governing bodies have focused on improving access to sport for underrepresented groups, targeting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, those with disabilities, and those experiencing mental health challenges. Programmes like England Rugby’s All Schools initiative and The FA’s Book Football are good examples of governing bodies creating inclusive opportunities.

1. Sport England levers positive change within these organisations to support better equality, diversity and inclusion. The requirement for all system partners to meet the Code for Sports Governance[76], standards for safeguarding and protecting children in sport, and to develop diversity and inclusion action plans, ensures that they prioritise inclusion in how they are organised, led and deliver their work. 

143.                      Collaboration with schools and communities. Organisations have been particularly effective in delivering school and grassroots sport where they have formed strong partnerships between schools, local councils, and community sports clubs. Active partnerships in particular work closely with schools and other community stakeholders to foster trust, build capacity, and ensure activities for children and young people are accessible.

Common challenges

144.                      Retention of young people. Many national governing body and community sport programmes are successful in introducing young people to sport and physical activity. However, it is often difficult to retain young people as they transition out of school sport programmes.

2. After-school engagement often drops off, particularly among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Factors like a lack of suitable local infrastructure, the cost of continued participation, and a lack of mental and physical health support can all contribute to this issue.

145.                      Geographical barriers. Access to sport opportunities is a continuing challenge in rural and underserved areas. Many regions still face issues with limited transport options and a lack of local clubs or facilities. This limits the impact of initiatives that might be highly effective in more urban settings but struggle to reach children in more remote areas.

146.                      Inequalities in access. Despite progress, there are persistent inequalities in access to sports, particularly for children from low-income families, those with disabilities, and from culturally diverse backgrounds. Even though initiatives are increasingly targeting these groups, some programmes lack necessary resources or infrastructure to provide truly equitable opportunities. Issues such as the availability of adapted equipment, specialised coaching, and funding for low-income families remain barriers to full inclusion.

147.                      Long-term funding and support. Many grassroots programmes face difficulties in securing consistent, long-term funding. Funding gaps can lead to disruptions or a lack of sustained provision. Without sufficient funding, local clubs and community initiatives often struggle to offer the level of support needed to keep young people engaged in sport over time.

Addressing these barriers

148.                      There is clearly no quick fix to remove these barriers. Sport England’s latest Active Lives Children and Young People survey[77] results tell us that 47.8% children are ‘active’[78] and stubborn inequalities persist. Moreover, we are beginning to see the longer-term impact of Covid-19, with children who were in nursery to school Year 4 (ages 4-9) when the pandemic struck in 2020 particularly disadvantaged.

149.                      Sport England’s insight and evaluation tells us that a place-based approach to funding and support, taking into account local facilities, needs and capacity, have been more successful in overcoming the barriers described above. 

150.                      Local authority provision and capital investment is critical to the delivery of school and grassroots sport. Pressure on local authority finances, increased energy costs, and aging stock, all contribute to an increased risk of facility closures.

Grassroots sport and system partner investment

151.                      Sport England is approximately halfway through its five-year (2022-27) system partner investment programme, investing c.£600 million into 137 system partners to enable the core infrastructure and delivery for sport and physical activity.

152.                      Alongside this investment Sport England is carrying out a comprehensive and independent evaluation through our partners IPSOS, analysing how system partners are changing individually and collectively to better meet the needs of communities.

153.                      There is evidence of partners changing their internal structures and processes to focus more on tackling inequalities. This includes:

1. Changing organisational processes, structures and strategies to align with objectives from Sport England’s Uniting the Movement strategy.
2. Streamlining workforces into regional or geographical hubs, particularly for talent pathways.
3. Improving systems that connect workforce and stakeholders, and refining delivery based on feedback from people and communities.
4. Improving understanding of needs and supporting diverse participants and communities, using expertise, and collaborating with other sectors and trusted organisations.

154.                      Investing in system partners over a longer period has created autonomy and flexibility which enables partners to better meet the needs of their communities. It has contributed to system partners’ financial stability, supporting longer-term strategic planning and provided credibility to create more connections.

9. How can the Government facilitate better coordination across the sport ecosystem to deliver grassroots and school sport?

155.                      Sport England and organisations across the sport and physical activity sector work closely with colleagues across government to develop and protect the delivery of grassroots and school sport – whether that be DCMS, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), the Department for Education (DfE), the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) or other departments.

156.                      Crucially, the levers to optimise the delivery of sport and physical activity sit across government, rather than within any one department’s portfolio. Effective cross-government working is therefore critical to improving coordination to deliver grassroots and school sport – as is consistent and meaningful engagement with the sport and physical activity sector.

157.                      While DCMS holds the broad responsibility for ‘sport’ within government, other departments are critical partners in different elements of sport delivery. For example:

5. MHCLG holds the levers around local authorities and combined authorities’ funding of public leisure facilities and programme delivery;
6. DfE oversees sport and physical activity in schools, and is the primary influencer of primary and secondary schools’ practice;
7. OHID and the wider Department for Health and Social Care are best placed to support and incentivise colleagues across the public health system to promote physical activity to patients who might be more likely to be inactive.

158.                      Sport and physical activity is a proven and cost-effective way to improve the nation’s quality of life. If the scale of this opportunity is to be realised, we must work cross-sector and cross-government to knit together investments and interventions across sport, health, education, planning, transport and the environment.

159.                      Equally, there must be commitment to a long-term approach to supporting more children, young people and adults to be active. Short-term policy making presents a real challenge to delivering sustained social change, and improving population-wide outcomes in the long-term. Changing sport and physical activity habits will often not change quickly – behaviour change takes time, and progress will not always be linear.

160.                      As an example, major sporting events alone cannot drive long-term change in sport and physical activity habits. They have an impact, but long-term, the picture is more complicated. Major events are a fantastic opportunity to turn inspiration into participation – but this is reliant on inclusive and affordable local opportunities. Turning moments of inspiration into activity habits demands planning, infrastructure, grassroots activations and funding.[79]

161.                      Beyond this example, the importance of sustained funding cannot be understated. Acknowledging the current fiscal environment, long-term funding for insight-led, targeted interventions is essential. Interventions must be maintained for a critical period if we are to drive marked improvements to the coordination and delivery of grassroots and school sport.

9b. Is the Department for Culture, Media and Sport successfully leveraging the economic and community benefits of sport and physical activity across Government?

162.                      Community sport and physical activity generates £107.2 billion in social value in England each year[80]: £96.7 billion in annual wellbeing value for adults and children, and £10.5 billion in health and social care savings.

163.                      Such significant health and social care savings relieve critical pressure on the NHS. We know that active lives prevent 1.3 million cases of depression per year, 600,000 cases of diabetes and 57,000 cases of dementia, as well as saving £540 million per year on reduced GP visits and £780 million on reduced mental health service use. An active nation is happier, healthier and more resilient.

164.                      Cross-government working is vital to enabling more people to enjoy the benefits that come from being active. Supporting people to move more contributes to a range of Government’s policy priorities – whether tackling health inequalities and preventing illness, increasing productivity, or bringing together communities across the country.

165.                      The most recent Government strategies for sport - Sporting Future[81] published in 2015 and Get Active[82] published in 2023 – were outcome focused, and sought to align sport and physical activity policy with other parts of government, for the first time. The scale of intent was welcomed by the sport and physical activity sector, but there was concern regarding the level of resource committed to deliver the stated ambitions.

166.                      Sport England is determined to support more people to be active, but no one organisation, Department or sector can do it alone. Helping more people to be active must be a cross-government, cross-sector endeavour.

167.                      The opportunity to deploy sport and physical activity further as a policy tool cannot be understated – Sport England and our partners are ideally placed to help drive the Government’s Growth, Opportunity and Health missions. Supporting people to move more can make a real contribution to the Government’s policy priorities – whether tackling health inequalities and preventing illness, increasing productivity, improving attainment and attendance at school, or bringing together communities across the country.

Further information

Sport England is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry and would welcome to the opportunity to give further oral evidence. Should the Committee have any questions about this submission or require any further information, please contact:

George Bateman
Senior External Affairs Manager
 

Sport England
January 2025

Annex A: Active Places

Sport England manage and maintain the national sports facility database Active Places. The database records 15 facility types (example facility types include grass pitches, swimming pools, sports halls) with over 200 attributes used to describe a facility and its associated site. At present the database holds information on c. 120,000 sports facilities, located at c. 42,000 sites. The database is updated daily with each facility being audited on a rolling annual basis. 

Active Places Power provides a window into the national sports facility database. The website is designed to provide those involved in sport provision with a series of tools to guide investment decisions and develop sport provision strategies. The tools within the website have a range of capabilities from quick searches and simple reports to a series of push-button analytical tools that aim to make complex modelling techniques as user-friendly and intuitive as possible. The Active Places Power data is available in a variety of formats via our Downloads page. With our advanced tools available via a password protected login for Local Authorities, and the wider sports sector.

Reporting based on Active Places must adhere to the license terms outlined on the website and include appropriate acknowledgements. 

Active Places Power can provide a detailed report on the current facility stock by region (i.e. London) and/or local authority. This report would be a good starting point to review facility provision. When working with the Active Places Power data, it is important to consider: 

• Facility type: Active Places includes 15 facility types. These facility types can be further subdivided into subtypes if appropriate. 
• Facility/site relationship: Facilities occur at a site. A site can contain one or more facilities, for example, a pool and hall. It is also possible for a site to contain multiple facilities of the same type (for example, a site may have two sports halls). As Active Places considers only 15 facility types, all facilities at a site may not be included in the database. 
• Facility counts: A facility may represent one or more opportunities to undertake a sport. For some facilities there is a one-to-one relationship, for example, a facility recorded as a main pool in the database represents a single pool. Conversely, for other facility types, it is a one-to-many, for example, a Grass Pitch >> Adult Football facility could include multiple pitches. These different relationships are important to consider when reporting facility counts. 
• Ownership: Active Places captures all facilities irrespective of their ownership. Reporting must define which ownership type (i.e. Local Authority, Private, Education) is being considered. 
• Access: Active Places captures all facilities irrespective of their access type. Reporting must define which access type (i.e. pay and play, registered membership, free public access, private etc.) is being considered. 
• Status: Active Places does not delete facilities. If a facility is closed, or a grass pitch not marked out, this will be recorded in the database. Reporting must consider the current status of facilities. 
• Built year and refurbishment: Facilities will be attributed with a built year (excludes grass pitches). This built year may be estimated. The latest refurbishment of a facility will also be included. 

More information on each of these attributes, and the reporting capability of Active Places can be found in the FAQs published on the website. 

As part of this analysis, it is important to remember that Active Places is a current snapshot of facility provision. It is not intended for longitudinal analysis and caution is required when it is used for this purpose. Due to the annual audit cycle, Active Places cannot be used to understand recent closure patterns.

When approximating temporal change, using the Active Places data. The following should be considered:

• No sites/facilities are deleted from Active Places. Sites/facilities are closed or in the case of grass pitches identified as “Not Currently Marked Out”.
• Active Places facilities each have a “Build Year”.
• These “temporal” attributes can, in some use cases, support an estimation of the change in facility provision over time.

The approach, which should use the most current version of the database, assumes that facility supply in any given year can be estimated by considering those facilities with a “Build Year” prior to that year and a “Closed Year” (if applicable) after that year.

Where using “Build Year” and “Closure Year” to estimate change over time, it is important to remember:

• Active Places is updated via an annual audit cycle as a result, it can take up to 1-year to identify site/facilities closures. Recent change will have a high degree of uncertainty and should be treated with caution.
• The “Build Year” for a facility may be estimated. This is indicated by a flag in the database.
• Closed sites/facilities may reopen. The “Closure Reason” is a good indicator of whether a site/facility is being replaced.
• The approach does not consider temporary closures, for example, a facility currently operational may have been temporarily closed, due to refurbishment, in earlier time periods.
• Sites/facilities which were closed prior to the establishment, and routine collection of facility data, by Active Places will not be included in the database.
• The appropriate time-period for any temporal analysis of Active Places data is a function of when that facility type was added to the database and the completeness of the dataset that was added for that facility type.
• Some facility definition and attributes have changed over time this may result in temporal inconsistencies.
• Facility counts should not be used where there is a one-to-many relationship between the facility and the number of courts, pitches or rinks.
• Facility, court, pitch or rink counts should not be considered in isolation. Other attributes which describe the size or type of facility may be applicable.

The approach outlined above is most appropriate for built facilities (e.g. swimming pools or sports halls). Active Places cannot be used to create temporal statistics for grass pitches. This is because:

• “Build Year” is known to be missing and/or to contain high levels of uncertainty for grass pitches.
• The pitch configuration detailed in Active Places reflects the current markings. These markings may not represent those at any earlier time period.
• Pitch types identified as “Not currently marked out” may have been operational in earlier time periods. Active Places does not identify when a pitch configuration was changed, and pitches of a given size no longer marked out at a site.
• Active Places does not include information on the change in pitch configuration at a site over time (i.e. an increase/decrease in the count of adult football pitches).
• Active Places does not include information on the relationship between pitches. For example:

      Adult grass pitch provision may decrease to allow for the marking of multiple junior grass pitches or rugby pitches

      Junior grass pitch provision may increase due to an increase in overmarking on adult pitches.

      Grass pitch provision may decrease to enable the creation of an Artificial Grass Pitch at the site

Further information on how opening and closed year can be used for built facilities, and not grass pitch facilities, can be found within our FAQ.

Finally, when undertaking a comparative analysis within Active Places, it is important to consider that a direct comparison of facility counts can be misleading due to the properties of these facilities. For example, it may be important to consider the size, accessibility and/or attractiveness of a facility. 

39

Appendix 1: Currently Operational Facilities by Type & Ownership

Assumptions/Criteria (Table A1.1)

Please note we do not recommend summing the individual values of facilities/pitches/courts to create a total. Totals should be based solely on facilities/pitches/courts and not a mix of units.

Active Places is a database of sports facilities. Facility audits are undertaken via an annual rolling audit. Data reported is as at 11/12/2024. Sites/facilities will continue to be audited throughout 2024 and, as such, the count of facilities opened and closed in 2023 and 2024 are subject to change.

39

Appendix 2: Currently Operational Facilities by Subtype & Ownership

Assumptions/Criteria (Table A2.1)

Please note we do not recommend summing the individual values of facilities/pitches/courts to create a total. Totals should be based solely on facilities/pitches/courts and not a mix of units. Active Places is a database of sports facilities. Facility audits are undertaken via an annual rolling audit. Data reported is as at 11/12/2024. Sites/facilities will continue to be audited throughout 2024 and, as such, the count of facilities opened and closed in 2023 and 2024 are subject to change.

39

Appendix A3.1: All Swimming Pool Facilities by Decade Built since 1950

*Please review the Assumptions/Caveats table overleaf. Facility counts prior to 2000 will/may be underestimated.

Assumptions/Criteria (Figure A3.1)

Active Places is a database of sports facilities. Facility audits are undertaken via an annual rolling audit. Data reported is as at 11/12/2024. Sites/facilities will continue to be audited throughout 2024 and, as such, the count of facilities opened and closed in 2023 and 2024 are subject to change.

Appendix A3.2: All Sports Hall Facilities by Decade Built since 1950

*Please review the Assumptions/Caveats table overleaf. Facility counts prior to 2000 will/may be underestimated.

Assumptions/Criteria (Figure A3.2)

Active Places is a database of sports facilities. Facility audits are undertaken via an annual rolling audit. Data reported is as at 11/12/2024. Sites/facilities will continue to be audited throughout 2024 and, as such, the count of facilities opened and closed in 2023 and 2024 are subject to change.

Appendix A3.3: All Artificial Grass Pitch Facilities by Decade Built

*Please review the Assumptions/Caveats table overleaf. Facility counts prior to 2000 will/may be underestimated.

Assumptions/Criteria (Figure A3.3)

Active Places is a database of sports facilities. Facility audits are undertaken via an annual rolling audit. Data reported is as at 11/12/2024. Sites/facilities will continue to be audited throughout 2024 and, as such, the count of facilities opened and closed in 2023 and 2024 are subject to change.

Appendix 4: Difference in the Count of Swimming pools (on sites owned by Local Authorities) which have closed since 2015.

Assumptions/Criteria

Active Places (see Annex 1) is a database of sports facilities. Facility audits are undertaken via an annual rolling audit. Data reported is as at 30/01/2024. Sites/facilities will continue to be audited throughout 2024 and, as such, the count of facilities opened and closed in 2023 and 2024 are subject to change.

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