Written evidence submitted by LTA and LTA Tennis Foundation

 

Summary of response

 

The LTA is national governing body for tennis and padel in Britain, and our role is to govern and grow the sport, from grassroots participation through to the professional game. We welcome the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry Game On: community and school sport, and the opportunity to give evidence.

 

The benefits of sport and physical activity are well documented, and the case for continued investment is clear and compelling. Sport England estimates that the total annual social value of sport and physical activity in England during 2022-23 was £107bn and that sport alone contributed £99.6 billion of direct economic output to the UK in 2021, equivalent to 2.5% of total UK economic output for the year. Tennis plays a significant role in that with 5.6million adults and 3.8million children playing every year, delivering significant health, wellbeing and economic benefits to the nation.

 

More significant benefits could be delivered with greater support and engagement from Government. The LTA believes that more needs to be done to ensure children and young people have equal access to quality PE and sport provision inside and outside of school, delivering an hour of physical activity a day. Through the LTA Youth Schools programme, since 2021 we have already reached over 50% of primary and secondary schools in Britian. However, the UK Government must re-imagine PE and school sport, backed by a long-term funding settlement, to ensure every child has the access and opportunity to participate.

 

Continued investment into facilities is also crucial, to ensure that communities around the country have a great place to play. The Park Tennis Project, an investment of over £30m by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation unlocking an additional £10m of local partner funding, to transform 3000 park tennis courts across Britain, is helping to significantly grow participation, particularly in underserved communities. But as this investment comes to an end, the LTA is calling for continued UK Government investment in grassroots facilities to deliver accessible, year-round Community Covered Tennis, Padel and Multi-Sport hubs in underserved communities across Britain.

 

Tennis and sport as a sector has a significant role to across the UK Government’s five missions to kickstart economic growth, build an NHS fit for the future, make safer streets, and in particular, break down the barriers to opportunity. It is vital that the UK Government supports the sector to unleash the potential of grassroots sport to support delivery of these missions.

 

About the LTA, LTA Tennis Foundation and tennis in Britain

 

The LTA is national governing body for tennis and padel in Britain, and our role is to govern and grow the sport, from grassroots participation through to the professional game. The LTA’s vision is to open tennis up to more people and places across the country, and our mission is to transform communities through tennis by making it welcoming, enjoyable and inspiring.

 

The LTA Tennis Foundation is the LTA’s official charity, which shares the LTA’s vision of Tennis Opened Up and their mission is to improve lives through tennis. As a grant and loan giving charity, the LTA Tennis Foundation’s ambition is that every child, young person and adult can have access to the unique and life-changing benefits that tennis offers. They aim to achieve this by:

 

5.6million adults and 3.8million children play tennis every year, with strong growth in participation in recent years. This has made tennis the third biggest traditional sport in terms of participation in Britain, and globally Britain has the highest percentage of population playing tennis, above other Grand Slam nations, the USA, France and Australia. Tennis is one of the most gender equal sports, with females representing 42% of adults and 49% of children who play every year. A range of formats including wheelchair, learning disability, visually impaired, deaf, para-standing and walking tennis provide opportunities for people with a range of different impairments and long-term health conditions to take part in the sport.

 

The sport also delivers significant economic benefit to the UK economy, through major events including The Championships, Wimbledon as well as through 18,000 LTA registered venues across the country spanning tennis clubs, schools, parks and other venues, c7,000 LTA accredited coaches who help deliver and earn a living from the sport, and 25,000 volunteers. 

 

Since 2020, the LTA has also been the recognised national governing body for padel, a rapidly growing format of tennis which is low impact and easy to pick up, therefore appealing and accessible to new and diverse audiences as well as an older demographic. In line with significant growth across Europe, the LTA believes padel in Great Britain has the potential for rapid growth, particularly reaching those who have previously been inactive, and an older demographic.

 

Community sport

 

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

 

Tennis is delivered in a wide variety of venues across the country, including public parks, community indoor tennis centres, tennis clubs, leisure centres, multi-sport clubs, as well as schools, universities, faith and community venues. In Britain there are 18,000 LTA registered venues, which span these varied types of facility. These venues deliver a wide range of tennis activity, from our sport for development programme for beginners LTA SERVES, to comprehensive coaching programmes including LTA Youth, our disability tennis programme LTA Open Court, and performance player development.

 

Park tennis courts are particularly important in providing affordable, engaging, and accessible opportunities for more female players and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and are the most popular venue for women to play after they have left education. However, in 2021 around 45% of all park tennis courts were in an unplayable or poor condition. These courts in public parks date back, in many cases, to early 20th century, meaning a legacy of provision of public facilities dating back over 100 years.

 

The LTA has been working with DCMS and local authorities to invest significantly into facilities around the country, aiming to impact 3000 park tennis courts across Britain, spanning 250 local authorities. The Parks Tennis Project is a nationwide investment of over £30million by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, delivered by the LTA, to transform park tennis courts across Britain and open up the sport to many more people, between 2022-25. 

 

This project is renovating the courts in greatest need, to ensure that they are accessible and in a good condition for local communities. To ensure that the investment is opening up tennis to underserved communities, over half of the courts being impacted are in areas of highest social deprivation. 

 

As well as bringing courts in the worst condition back to life for local communities, the Park Tennis Project investment is also making it easier to find, book and get on court through introduction of online booking systems and digital gate access technology. This is helping to remove one of the key barriers to participation in tennis, which is finding and booking a court, a session to take part in, or someone to play with. Through the project, we are aiming to grow participation by 500,000 more people playing tennis in parks annually, with significant progress already made.   

 

Alongside renovation of these facilities, to grow participation and ensure tennis is accessible to all, the LTA is also working with local authorities and operators to ensure a range of activity is in place at park tennis venues to engage communities. This includes weekly organised Barclays Free Park Tennis sessions for all ages, playing levels and experiences with equipment provided (tennis’s equivalent to Park Run), and flexible, social competition through Barclays Local Tennis Leagues. We are also working with local authorities to ensure long-term sustainability plans are in place so that renovated courts are maintained for many years to come.

 

The Park Tennis Project will come to an end in Spring 2025. Park tennis courts that have benefitted from the project can be found on the UK Government website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/park-tennis-court-programme-completed-projects.

 

While the UK Government investment into park tennis courts have had a significant positive impact on the provision of outdoor courts, Britain has fallen far behind other European nations in providing year-round facilities, with only 1600 indoor tennis courts across Britain. In comparison, Czech Republic, a country with roughly one-sixth of the population of Britain, has around 2700 covered courts. France, with a similar population to Britain but far better weather, has over 9700 covered courts.  

 

With an average of 150 days rainfall in Britain, this is a significant challenge in driving participation throughout the year. This lack of community accessible year-round provision reduces opportunities for people to play during throughout the autumn and winter, particularly impacting opportunities for those with a disability or long-term health condition and female participation, as well as the ability to develop performance players. 

 

Padel in Britain has seen significant growth over recent years. In 2019 there were only 50 padel courts across the country, but the total is now over 770 courts at over 220 venues. Padel courts are being installed at a wide range of venues including tennis clubs, by local authorities, standalone padel venues and other multi-sport clubs. Over 200,000 people are currently playing padel in Britain once or more a year, but there is huge potential for growth, with 20,000 courts in Spain and 6million people playing every year.

 

In order to leverage the benefits of padel for all, accessible facilities are available to every community. Alongside securing funding for new developments, challenges in securing planning permission for new padel facilities is proving to be a barrier to development, so it is vital that the role padel can play in supporting health and wellbeing is recognised in planning decisions.

 

 

Building on the success of the Parks Tennis Project, the LTA’s long-term ambition is for every community to have access to covered tennis and padel facilities, providing year-round opportunities to play.

 

Using population data and mapping existing indoor tennis facilities, the LTA has completed an extensive demographic analysis to identify 96 locations across England, Scotland and Wales which are currently lacking provision, but where there is high latent demand, the majority of which are in areas of higher social deprivation that have historically lacked quality facilities.

 

The LTA has developed an innovative new solution to deliver covered, year-round tennis, padel and multisport courts. Canopy structures are a lower-cost option to covering tennis and padel courts. They provide year-round opportunities for people to play, providing lighting and shelter from the elements. They are also notably less complex and costly to construct than traditional indoor facilities, which have seen significant inflation in costs to build in recent years. The LTA’s ambition is to work with Government and local partners to develop Community Covered Tennis, Padel and Multi-Sport Hubs in areas that currently lack provision, sitting at the heart of local neighbourhoods, to substantially grow participation in sport, particularly among underrepresented groups. These facilities would help act as community hubs, providing opportunities to participate in a range of sporting activities with a focus on underserved groups, including those with a disability or long-term health condition, and protecting time for female participation.

 

To deliver on this ambition, the LTA wants to see continued investment into facilities by the UK Government, unlocking additional funding from the LTA Tennis Foundation and other local partners. Following the conclusion of the Park Tennis Project, it is vital that the Government continues to invest into tennis and padel facilities as part of its commitment to multisport investment. This would continue to drive increased participation, with all the related physical, social and mental health benefits, particularly among underserved communities.

 

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

 

As a non-for profit National Governing Body, every penny the LTA invests is focused on the growth and long term development of tennis in Britain. The vast majority of the LTA’s revenue comes from The Championships, Wimbledon run by the All England Lawn Tennis Club, through the LTA’s own major events, and through commercial partnerships. This sees the profits raised from professional tennis events in Britain, reinvested into the grassroots of our sport.

 

As the arm’s length body for sport, Sport England invest National Lottery and Exchequer funding into grassroots sport in England. In the current five year cycle the LTA is benefitting from a total of £10.2m of Sport England funding, announced in 2022, a significant amount of funding but less than the NGBs of other traditional sports with fewer participants, such as the RFU and ECB. Grassroots sport organisations, including tennis clubs, venues, and charities, can apply for directly for funding from Sport England, for example through their Movement Fund.

 

In Wales and Scotland, the LTA funds and works closely with Tennis Wales and Tennis Scotland, who also benefit from funding from Sport Wales and SportScotland respectively.

 

Grassroots sport and community organisations can also apply directly for funding through a range of charitable organisations, including the LTA Tennis Foundation. The funding they provide is solely for the grassroots of the game, and as the LTA’s charity the foundation is committed to working in all parts of Great Britain with a particular focus on diverse and underserved communities where the game is less well established. The LTA Tennis Foundation partner with experts in their areas of work and delivery who are embedded within communities, ensuring the biggest impact is achieved for beneficiaries and communities. In 2023, the LTA Tennis Foundation awarded £2.3m in grants to 32 organisations to improve lives through tennis. Over 500,000 were impacted by LTA Tennis Foundation Funding in 2023.  

 

2024 was also a significant year for LTA Tennis Foundation investment in new facilities. £3.5 million has been spent through the Quick Access Loan Scheme across 31 projects, increasing court facilities and driving participation growth. This brings the total overall investment from the LTA Tennis Foundation to £11 million since 2019, over and above the Park Tennis Project investment, which has unlocked significant additional third party investment into the sport, including £4.5m in 2024 alone. The scheme has supported the delivery of 17 new covered tennis and padel courts, along with 78 new floodlit tennis and padel courts. These courts have added an additional 250,000 new hours of playing opportunities In England, Scotland and Wales. The new facilities mean grassroots players can get on court around the country more often - inspired by the success of our elite British players on the international stage.

The UK Government also provide direct funding for sports facilities. This includes through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme delivered by the Football Foundation, which will deliver £123m in 2024/25 to support football facilities with the intention that 40% of projects provide a multi-sport benefit. Recognising that tennis facilities do not benefit at all from the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the LTA Tennis Foundation has invested £30m in park tennis facilities between 2022-2025. This funding will come to an end in Spring 2025; however, the LTA has identified a need for continued investment in tennis and padel facilities going forward, specifically for developing covered year-round facilities.

 

This direct investment from the Government into facilities is vital to supporting growth and growing participation among underserved communities. It allows delivery at pace and provides value for money, using a centralised capital investment model in partnership with an expert organisation which understand their sport and facilities landscape, with flexibility to meet local context and need. This flexibility enabled the LTA to work with local authorities to develop a sustainability plan to ensure that the courts would be fit for future generations, an operating model which suits the needs of the local community and programmes which are linked with wider community provision including LTA SERVES venues, local schools and clubs. Over a three-year period, the LTA will have transformed over 3000 park tennis courts through the Park Tennis Court, engaging 250 local authorities around the country to significantly grow participation. This has also helped to unlock £10million additional funding from councils and other local partners on top of the LTA Tennis Foundation’s investment, ensuring that the investment from Government has gone as far as possible.

 

 

It is vital that the UK Government continues investing in models and mechanisms which are already proven to deliver significant change efficiently. In addition to the facility investment programme through the Football Foundation, alternative investment streams are needed to benefit court-based sports, including tennis and padel, and to increase participation in sport particularly amongst less active groups. The Park Tennis Project has demonstrated that additional investment can be unlocked by central Government investment, to ensure that this has the maximum impact.

 

Using a centralised delivery model for capital investment ensures value for money and delivery at pace, with flexibility to meet local context and need. Crucially, rather than passive fund for which local authorities bid, the LTA proactively engaged with every council with park courts in order to make them aware of the investment opportunity and drive delivery in a short timescale. The project is designed to open up tennis to people of all backgrounds to level up sports provision across the nation and provide greater opportunities for children and adults to be active. Using the same funding mechanism and delivery model, continued capital investment from central Government would enable the LTA to address the lack of covered, year-round tennis, padel and multisport facilities across Britain, at scale and pace.

 

The success of this centralised investment approach has been enabled by the LTA’s local delivery approach. The LTA has a dedicated team which have developed local delivery plans for each local authority area in the country, in collaboration with local councils and Active Partnerships – analysing the existing provision in an area, and any barriers to growth, and ensuring that we are focusing our efforts on where there is the most potential for growth and transformation of communities through tennis. One of the challenges which features in many local delivery plans, as it restricts participation - particularly among those with a disability, women and girls, and underserved communities - is a lack of community accessible covered tennis and padel courts.

 

The LTA also supports continued Sport England programme funding for a range of organisations and interventions, which break down barriers to participation for the least active groups, so that everyone can feel the benefits of sport and physical activity.

 

It is also important to note that the climate crisis, resource scarcity and changes to the natural environment represent global challenges but will have an impact on sport in Britain at all levels. Tennis in Britain is already experiencing these impacts, with venues around the country increasingly impacted by flooding resulting from extreme rainfall. This can lead to significant damage and cost to venues, and increasingly venues that are impacted are struggling to find insurance against this threat. More extreme weather resulting from the climate crisis has the potential to impact both community tennis and Britain’s major events, meaning that play is affected due to increased rain or high temperatures. Future funding must take into account the need to support the sport sector to future proof against climate change and become more environmentally sustainable, but also ensure that these impacts do not further exacerbate inequalities in participation.

 

 

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

 

Sport England estimates the social value of volunteering in sport and physical activity to be £8.2bn and tennis, like many sports, is reliant on volunteers to function. Over 25,000 people choose to volunteer in tennis across Britain at a local, county, regional and national level, carrying out roles including tennis activators, competition organisers, club or county committee members, welfare officers, and many more.

 

The recruitment and retention of volunteers in tennis and more widely in the sport sector does face challenges, not least with many people lacking the time and capacity to commit to the roles needed. Many volunteers give up their time in addition to working full time jobs and do not have a background in sport or venue management or any training beyond what is provided by the LTA as their national governing body. This can also mean that people lack confidence or skills needed to fulfil volunteer roles with more specialised responsibilities such as finance, commercial and marketing.

 

LTA insight has found that there is a strong relationship between getting support and recognition and how valued volunteers feel. The LTA supports its volunteers through a number of ways depending on their role, including providing free tennis activator training, free safeguarding training, and dedicated venue support and resources. In addition, the LTA runs a Volunteer Wimbledon Ballot, to ensure volunteers have an enhanced opportunity to attend the Championships. We also celebrate volunteers from across our sport through the LTA Tennis Awards and other internal recognition.

 

The LTA has a particular focus on the recruitment of volunteer “Activators” to plan and lead fun tennis activities on court as well as collaborating with venues and operators to more people get active and enjoying tennis. The success of programmes such as LTA SERVES and Barclays Free Park Tennis rely on the recruitment and training of trusted community leaders, with established networks within their communities, who can engage people who otherwise would not think to try tennis.

 

The LTA is concerned about an increase in the administrative burden on grassroots sports volunteers over the last decade. With legislation such as Martyn’s Law and the potential introduction of mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, both of which the LTA supports in principle, we are concerned about a further increase in administrative and resource burdens on grassroots volunteer-run tennis clubs, venues and events at a time when recruiting and retaining volunteers remains a challenge. The additional compliance burdens and the perceived threat of legal action in particular, could lead to an exodus of volunteers in sport. This in turn would leave to a reduction in the provision of sport and recreation participation opportunities and events, undermining efforts to get more people participating in sport and recreation and to maximise the benefits this brings in terms of physical and mental wellbeing, economic development and community cohesion, particularly for underrepresented groups.

 

The LTA is keen to work with UK Government to ensure that any legislation introduced which impacts grassroots sport remains proportionate and volunteers are supported to deliver on their responsibilities, while ensuring that sport is as safe as possible.

 

Around 7,000 LTA accredited tennis coaches also play a key role in developing and growing the sport. However, with the positive growth of tennis in recent years, the workforce has yet to catch up with the demand, resulting in a shortage of tennis coaches. We are conscious that there is more to do to ensure that the tennis coach workforce represents and reflects the full diversity of our sport and wider society. For example, currently only 24% of LTA accredited coaches are female and the number of female coaches decreases as the levels of coaching qualifications progress. We are working hard to address the coach shortage and lack of diversity through a number of interventions, including the development of coach traineeships, a focus on recruiting more female coaches, and upskilling our existing coaches.

 

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

 

Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the very core of the LTA’s vision of Tennis Opened Up, and we are committed to reducing inequalities and increasing participation amongst underrepresented groups.

 

The LTA Inclusion Strategy is focused on ensuring that everyone involved in tennis understands that inclusion is central to our vision for the sport, and they confidently choose to be inclusive every day.  The strategy covers five areas, including: inclusive leadership and governance, people empowered to be inclusive, tennis looking and feeling Opened Up, targeted interventions for greater diversity, and holding ourselves to account. As part of our Inclusion Strategy, we have made a sector-leading commitment to produce and publish an inclusion annual report detailing our progress and reporting on how representative tennis is of the population.

 

For grassroots sport to be more accessible for underrepresented communities, it is vital that they have a place to play and affordable activities to take part in. This has been a key motivator behind the Park Tennis Project and for the need for further investment in Community Covered Tennis, Padel and Multi-Sport Hubs. Continued UK Government investment in tennis facilities is key to making sport more accessible for underrepresented groups. Using population data and mapping existing indoor tennis facilities, the LTA has identified 96 locations across England, Scotland and Wales which are currently lacking indoor or covered tennis provision, but where there is high latent demand, the majority of which are in areas of higher social deprivation that have historically lacked quality facilities. Indoor and covered tennis is particularly important for disability tennis, with some formats such as visually impaired tennis being reliant on a sheltered environment

 

The LTA also has a number of specific programmes and interventions which have been designed to make tennis more engaging and accessible to underrepresented groups including LTA SERVES - our industry leading sport for development programme. The programme takes tennis into the heart of local communities to those who may never have had the opportunity to play before, or thought the sport was for them through training trusted community leaders. Since its launch in 2017, LTA SERVES has reached more than 40,000 young people, including 14,000 monthly participants in IMDs 1 to 4, and trained more than 1,800 community leaders to deliver tennis, delivering £7.16 of social value for every £1 invested. 

 

School sport

 

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

 

Less than half of children in England meet the Chief Medical Officer’s guidance of taking part in sport and physical activity for an average of 60 minutes or more each day – that’s 8.9 million children who are not active enough and missing out on benefits like improved physical and mental wellbeing, education attainment, confidence and teamwork.

 

After their parents, schools are the biggest influence on children’s activity levels and our greatest opportunity to reach children from all communities, places and socio-economic groups. LTA Youth is the LTA’s overarching junior programme, created to help many more children enjoy the benefits of playing and staying in tennis, whatever their age, gender, ability, disability or background, and whether they pick up a racket in a club, park, at school or elsewhere. The programme has developed the first “national curriculum” for tennis, ensuring a consistent look and feel of tennis for children and young people across all venues tennis is delivered in. LTA Youth Schools is a key strand of this programme.

 

Through LTA Youth Schools the LTA provides free teacher training and resources for schools, with a focus on fun and improving physical literacy and fundamental motor skills and movements – skills for tennis rather than tennis skills. Each school that completes training receives a £250 voucher from the LTA for a bag of tennis equipment or 10 hours of LTA Accredited coaching to build links with community clubs.  So far, over 14,000 schools (over 50% of all schools) across Britain are registered with the programme, and 25,000 teachers have been trained to deliver tennis within curriculum time or as part of extracurricular provision. Since the beginning of the programme in 2020, it has benefitted over 1.2m children.

 

From the most recent survey of teachers who have been trained to deliver the LTA Youth Schools programme (August 2024), we know that 90% believe tennis improves pupils’ confidence, 79% believe it improves pupils’ aspirations, and two thirds believe that tennis has improved the academic attainment of their pupils. 99% of teachers believe that their teaching has improved as a result of LTA Youth Schools. 91% of teachers have increased / will increase the amount of tennis they teach, with 24% starting to deliver tennis having never taught it before. Through LTA insight, we know that if children pick up a tennis racket in primary school, they are twice as likely to play tennis as an adult if they are a boy, and three times more likely if they are a girl.

 

Yet as it stands, primary school teachers on average accumulate only 6 hours of PE training on a four-year course despite the majority do not have a sport or PE background. Since 2011, Youth Sport Trust has found the number of hours of PE taught in state secondary schools has also fallen by 13%, a total loss of 42,285. 

 

Transforming PE and school sport would give more children from all walks of life the opportunity to develop physical literacy, try a broad range of sports, and establish a healthy relationship with physical activity so they can experience its life-long benefits. Ensuring quality provision and a good first experience of sport at school is vital to establishing future habits and to building confidence, breaking down the barrier of not feeling good enough to participate. Improved physical activity levels among children are also shown to improve educational outcomes too.  

 

Youth Sport Trust’s PE and School Sport Survey 2023 has found that:

 

The LTA wants to see a commitment for every child to have equal access to quality PE and sport provision inside and outside of school, including as part of a balanced and broad curriculum, delivering an hour of physical activity a day in line with the Chief Medical Officers’ guidance. The foundation of every child’s sporting experience begins at school. Whether they are in an urban or rural area, or an underserved community, schools should be supported and enabled to provide quality PE and school sport provision for every child, no matter their gender, religion, socio-economic background, whether they have a disability or long-term health condition, or are from a diverse ethnic background. 

 

The following reforms to Government’s approach to PE would help to deliver on this commitment:  

 

One of the reasons that sport and physical activity, including PE, is not being fully harnessed by the education system at present is because a lack of assessment, benchmarking and accountability, by OFSTED or otherwise. This contributes to PE being regarded as a lower priority than other subjects – schools are not held accountable for the quality or quantity of PE and school sport they offer, and after 11 years of PE a student can leave school with nothing tangible to demonstrate what they have learned and achieved. This not only devalues the subject in relation to others, meaning time allocated to PE is more likely to be cut than other subjects, but it can lead to a lack of intent, focus and consistency in the delivery of PE. 

 

The UK Government does currently monitor levels of physical activity for children and young people in England, through Sport England’s Active Lives Children and Young People Survey as well as delivering the School Games Mark, a government-led awards scheme rewarding schools for their commitment to the development of competition across their school and into the community. However, these measures are not seen as central to school accountability and whilst the Government recommends two hours of PE a week through statutory guidance, there is currently no public monitoring of how many schools are meeting this target.

 

A new approach to assessment and accountability for PE and physical activity should be developed which:

 

The changes needed to ensure that every child has access to quality sport provision, however, go far beyond PE within the curriculum, assessment system and qualifications pathway. To deliver a step-change in delivery of sport and physical activity for children and young people, to support an hour a day of physical activity for every child, the following is required from Government:

 

A long-term, cross-government, strategic approach is required to transform opportunities available for children and young people, driven by the centre of Government. The LTA believes that the Government should deliver a bold commitment: for every child to be entitled to an hour a day of sport and physical activity, both within and outside the school day, in line with the Chief Medical Officers’ guidance. This should be accompanied by a government-led awareness campaign, akin to the “five a day” campaign, which the LTA and wider sport sector can support through the various channels available.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sport and its associated benefits provide an opportunity to level the playing field for the most disadvantaged children and young people, providing them with enjoyable and enriching experiences, health benefits, and a positive impact on aspirations.

 

As it stands, tennis participation amongst children in Britain is broadly gender equal, with 3.8million (41%) of children playing tennis once a year, over 1.5million playing monthly and over 600,000 children playing weekly in Britain. Annual and monthly participation amongst children and young people in tennis is at a record high. 49% of children who play every year are girls, whilst a range of formats including wheelchair, learning disability, visually impaired, deaf, para-standing and walking tennis providing opportunities for people with a range of different impairments to take part in the sport.

 

Many of these children experience tennis through the LTA Youth, our fully inclusive and adaptable junior programme, created to help many more children enjoy the benefits of playing and staying in tennis, whatever their age, gender, ability, disability or background. The LTA also support disability tennis across Britain through the LTA Open Court programme, which works with tennis and padel venues all across the country, to provide disability specific sessions for tennis and padel – including adaptations for learning disability, wheelchair, visually impaired and deaf. We’re also expanding our programme into other long-term health conditions such as mental health and dementia. 

 

More broadly however, Sport England has found that there are significant inequalities present between different demographic groups. 44% of children from the least affluent families are active, compared to 55% of children from the most affluent families. Just one in four disabled children say they regularly take park in sport at school, and Activity Alliance research shows that a third of disabled children take part in less than 30 minutes of sport and physical activity per day.  Boys are also significantly more likely to be active than girls. It is clear that many children and young people face barriers restricting their ability to be physically active every day, both in and outside schools. As a result, too many children are missing out on the many health benefits and wider social and cultural benefits associated with being active in both their childhood and later in life. 

 

Furthermore, the proportion of pupils taking a GCSE in PE has fallen from 19% in 2010, to 11% in 2023 and there is a widening gender divide with two-thirds of those taking a GCSE in 2024 being male. This has coincided with the removal of the ability to complete a GCSE qualification within the categories of “leadership” and “officiating”, with the qualification now being solely focused on performance – making it less relevant to careers within the sport workforce. While the decline in GCSE participation may be partially due to the introduction of the EBacc, it has contributed to PE being deprioritised in schools.

 

Supporting adapted approaches according to the needs of individual pupils to improve PE and sport participation should be an ambition for a curriculum which prioritises inclusion, so no child misses out. Through uptake of the fully inclusive LTA Youth Schools training and resources, we know that there is a real demand from teachers for training and information about how to adapt PE and sport to suit the specific needs and disabilities of children.  Not only is this important for the development of physical literacy and healthy habits during childhood which can persist throughout life, but it can guarantee every child access to the social and cultural capital, enrichment and experiences, character education and essential life skills which are accessed, learned and developed through PE and sport.

 

To ensure PE, school sport and daily physical activity meet the needs of all children and young people, it is critical that the Government works with the sector to deliver the following:

 

 

 

 

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

 

The LTA and LTA Tennis Foundation is investing heavily and working hard to reach as many children as possible within a school setting through the LTA Youth Schools programme. However, access to quality PE and sport opportunities remains inconsistent across the country.

 

The LTA wants every child to have access to quality PE and sport provision inside and outside of school, delivering a commitment of an hour of sport and physical activity a day for every child. This will not be possible without a long-term cross-government approach to transform opportunities available for children and young people including the prior mentioned reforms to both PE and extra-curricular school sport.

 

In addition, we believe it is important that the UK Government works closely with NGBs, as the experts in their sport when it comes to best practice and curriculum development. The LTA, for example, have developed extensive free resources and teacher training through the LTA Youth Schools programme which should be utilised in improving the quality of PE and school sport. The LTA is also keen to work with the UK Government, both to roll out the LTA Youth Schools programme to the remaining 50% of schools in England and to shape and implement reforms to PE and school sport so that every child benefits.

 

There is also more that can be done to effectively incorporate sporting opportunities into wraparound provision. As the Government rolls out free breakfast clubs for every child, it is vital that opportunities for activity are incorporated within these, so that every child has the opportunity to take part in an Active Breakfast Club. Resources from the LTA Youth Schools programme have been designed so that activities could be deployed flexibly in this sort of environment.


Additionally, the LTA is also looking to develop an early years offer, building on the same principles of LTA Youth and focusing on supporting pre-school children aged 2-4 to be active and develop movement skills in an enjoyable environment.

 

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

 

LTA Youth Schools is designed to build links between schools to community sport. By ensuring that the £250 voucher can be spent on 10 hours of LTA accredited coaching, schools are empowered to build links with local coaches and clubs without incurring any cost. See Case Study 5 for further details on how this can work in practice.

 

Opening up school facilities for community use outside the school day is also an important way in which children and young people can be encouraged to take part in more sporting activity, the Government’s focus and funding commitment to this is welcome. Not only can opening facilities to pay and play provide an additional funding stream to schools, but it can also build relationships with local clubs and coaches, so that schools can direct children and young people to community activity outside of the school day.

 

Furthermore, building links between schools and their local community facilities can mean that they are able to deliver additional sports which they do not have facilities for, and can ensure that children and young people know and have experience of where they can play sport outside of school hours. The online booking platform installed as part of the Park Tennis Project empowers schools to block book local facilities for their use, should they not have tennis courts at their school.

 

Greater co-ordination of extracurricular opportunities and links between schools and wider community provision is needed, however. Existing School Games Organisers play an important role in the current infrastructure, but their capacity is limited. In the past ten years the LTA has seen a reduction in inter-school tennis competitions. To both co-ordinate and facilitate engagement with all 24,000 schools, the introduction of an enhanced network, such as through School Sport Coordinator roles, would help to plug the gap in support for inter-school competitions. Reforms should draw on the strengths of the former school sport partnership model under the last Labour Government and also consider how these roles could support better school-club links, to help sustain participation. 

 

Specific measures which the UK Government should take to improve coordination between school and community sport have been detailed in the answer to question 6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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?

 

As national governing body for tennis in Britain, the LTA is focused on supporting the long term development of the sport, working with a range of stakeholders including national and local government. The LTA has strong existing relationships with central government and Sport England, as well as hundreds of local authorities around the country. This is collaboration is key to delivering on the LTA’s vision of tennis opened up and our mission to transform communities through tennis. Strong national partnerships are critical to delivering change at scale, but partnerships at a local level are also vital in ensuring that barriers to participation and growth are understood and tackled, working with those who know the local community best. Greater co-ordination between national and local government is needed, in partnership with national governing bodies, to deliver the greatest possible impact.

 

An example of where this has worked well is the work that the LTA has undertaken with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to deliver the Park Tennis Project over the last three years. The £30m project has been an example of achieving efficient and significant change at pace and scale, with a tangible impact on tennis participation in the communities which have benefitted from investment. This was made possible due to the centralised approach taken based on local insight and delievered in partnership with local authorities to suit the specific context and needs of their area. Facility investment like this is one importanty way in which central Government can play a role in supporting delivery of grassroots sport, by ensuring that there are accessible facilities available for communities around the country. The LTA wants to see the UK Government continuing to invest in tennis facilities through this efficient mechanism going forward, working with the LTA Tennis Foundation as a funder and LTA as a proven expert delivery partner, to continue transforming grassroots tennis facilities with a particular focus on covered tennis and padel facilities.

 

The LTA is one of over 130 organisations working in partnership with Sport England to co-deliver the ambitions of its 10-year Uniting the Movement strategy, of which our vision of “tennis opened up” is fully aligned. Investment of £10.2m of Exchequer and National Lottery funding from Sport England for the LTA over five years was announced in 2022. This is supporting the LTA to drive sustained systemic change to open tennis up; to work with counties, venues and coaches to ensure that the governance of our sport is inclusive and safe for all; to continue to diversify our talent pathway, ensuring it is open to people of all backgrounds; and to continue with the delivery of sector leading programmes specifically targeting increased participation by disabled people and by those from lower socio-economic groups.

 

The Sport England funding supports the breadth of the LTA’s work to make tennis relevant, accessible, welcoming and enjoyable for everyone – including:

 

As it stands, the Sport England funding model is largely based on historic levels of Exchequer and National Lottery funding awarded to sports organisations. The LTA believes that this funding could be better distributed to sport NGBs and organisations based on their alignment with and contribution towards delivering Sport England and UK Government sport strategy and priorities.

 

In line with this work with central Government and Sport England, across the country we are working with partners at a local level to focus our efforts on delivering the greatest impact to transform communities through tennis. This means looking at the existing infrastructure and where there are gaps in provision to access tennis and padel, and identifying partners to collaborate with. Understanding barriers to play in underserved communities is key to tackling inequalities and growing participation. But not every community is the same, and so the LTA is focused on working with local councils, and other partners like Active Partnerships to best address the gaps in and barriers to participation at a local level. This is critical to delivering meaningful change, and central Government and Sport England should ensure that they work effectively with national governing bodies operating in this way, to maximise the benefit of investment.

 

In England, this approach has been made possible through the LTA’s dedicated National Delivery Team which drives strategic projects forward to ensure of their successful delivery and implementation, with the aim of transforming communities through tennis. The c30 full time members of the National Delivery Team develop Local Delivery Plans based on the specific needs of their geographic areas, aligning with Sport England’s focus on place-based systemic work to foster partnerships with local government and organisations to develop tennis and overcome any barriers to tennis in their communities. The LTA also fund and work with Tennis Scotland and Tennis Wales to develop and support tennis in Scotland and Wales.

 

This localised approach has provided a wealth of insight to support investment decisions and address barriers to increasing participation. The UK Government should be investing in initiatives based on this local insight, particularly where there is a common barrier which could be addressed at pace, using a centralised approach, benefitting from economies of scale. Whilst every place is different, there are some common themes including the need to:

 

With many local authorities under significant financial pressure, sports facilities as a non-statutory service can be deprioritised, to the detriment of participation in the local community. The LTA partnered with c.250 local authorities to deliver the Park Tennis Project, flexing rennovations and sustability plans to suit the local context, with the funding unlocking c£10m of additional funding from local partners. Throughout the course of the project, it has been clear that focus and resources attributed to sporting initiatives varies significant across different local authorities. Given the financial pressure many local authorities are under, it is therefore vital that we are innovative in delivering public opportunities, we look to utilise economies of scale through centralised funding models, and we unlock other funding streams.

 

While centralised UK Government funding is often the key to unlocking partner funding, research by the Home Builders Federation has shown, that there is up to £2.8bn in unused home builder contributions being held by local authorities, with an estimated £334M in unspent social contributions and £1,405.7m in unspent section 106 funding across England and Wales. This is a significant missed opportunity from local authorities to secure funding for the building or renovation of sports facilities, and central and local government should place greater focus on ensuring that this is addressed.

 

Delivery of the LTA’s work is also supported by the membership of the LTA, which includes 38 County and Island Tennis Associations who play a role in supporting the administration and development tennis at a local level. In 2022 the LTA launched our new County Governance Framework, introducing a requirement for County and Island Associations to align to the UK’s Code for Sport Governance and outlining how the LTA will support them in optimising the way they work, such as through their operations and ways of working, financial and risk management, recruitment and inclusion and diversity. The framework also clearly articulates the role of Counties in helping to achieve the LTA’s vision to open up tennis in Britain to more people, and therefore its adoption allows the LTA to better support, fund and expedite delivery at a local level to help grow tennis. Compliance with the County Governance Framework is a condition of LTA membership.

 

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

 

Government has a key role to play in setting the long-term, strategic approach required to transform grassroots and school sport, which the LTA and wider sports sector can help to deliver. With the new UK Government, comes an opportunity for Government to reflect on the role and value of sport to the nation and commit to working with the sports sector to deliver its full potential.

 

The sports sector already has significant reach and influence across Britain. The LTA alone has reach into over 50% of schools, has regular engagement with local authorities across England and has a network of over 18,000 LTA registered venues. With the right engagement support and coordination from Government, the sport sector can unlock even more social and economic benefits across the UK.

 

The work that the LTA does to support, grow and promote tennis in Britain is ultimately impacted by policy across Government, of course including DCMS, but also DfE on PE and school sport; MHCLG on planning, parks and local government; DHSC on social prescribing and public health; DBT on support for tennis businesses, to name a few. This therefore not just as the responsibility of DCMS to realise the potential of sport but it would be most effectively delivered through a cross-departmental taskforce for sport with leadership from the heart of Government to deliver on the ambition of a truly active nation and all the associated health, economic and social benefits.

 

 

The health, economic and social benefits of sport are well understood, and the case is clear and compelling for continued investment in sport from across UK Government departments. Sport England research from 2020 found that every £1 spent on community sport and physical activity generates nearly £4 for the English economy and society.

 

The UK Chief Medical Officers famously stated that "If physical activity were a drug, we would refer to it as a miracle cure, due to the great many illnesses it can prevent and help treat.” When it comes to health and wellbeing, Sport England estimates that the total annual social value of sport and physical activity in England during 2022-23 was £107bn, and that the savings in prevention of disease and chronic health conditions alone was £9.3bn.

 

Tennis is a lifelong sport with significant health benefits. Tennis players have been found by the Mayo Clinic’s Copenhagen Heart Study to leave 9.7 years longer than non-exercisers, and that tennis can reduce anxiety and depression. A study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that tennis players have improved aerobic fitness, lower body fat percentage, a more favourable lipid profile, and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. Research conducted by the USTA in 2019 showed that tennis players report better general, physical, social, and mental health compared to non-players.

 

Sport also has the power to reach into our communities, reduce social isolation, and foster a sense of pride and belonging. Local sports clubs and activity groups serve as community hubs, bringing together people of various ages, cultures, and backgrounds who might not otherwise meet, united by a shared passion. This interaction boosts social trust and enhances the sense of belonging and community spirit, with Sport England estimating that the economic value of this community building and social trust is estimated at £14.2 billion

 

From an economic perspective, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s own research has estimated that sport characteristic and connected activity contributed £99.6 billion of direct economic output to the UK in 2021. This is equivalent to 2.5% of total UK economic output for the year. Tennis in particular delivers significant economic benefit to the UK economy, through major events including The Championships, Wimbledon, as well as through 18,000 LTA registered venues across the country spanning tennis clubs, schools, parks and other venues, c700 LTA accredited coaches, and 25,000 volunteers. Sport England and DCMS have a significant role to play in making the economic case for government investment in sport, including supporting individual sports to calculate and demonstrate their social return on investment.

 

Responsibility for different aspects of sport and physical activity sits across a wide range of UK Government departments beyond the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, including the Department for Health and Social Care, Department for Education, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and many more. With sport playing a significant role in our national identity and with its reliance on public funding, 10 Downing Street and HM Treasury also have vital roles to play. Former Governments have recognised the importance of cross-government working for this reason and have looked to coordinate this through bodies such as the National Physical Activity Taskforce.

 

The LTA therefore welcomes the introduction of mission based cross-government working, recognising that sport has a role to play across the 5 missions to kickstart economic growth, build an NHS fit for the future, make safer streets, and in particular, break down the barriers to opportunity. While we are still in the early stages of this process, we would like to see the Government place sport at the centre of its agenda, particularly on opportunity and health prevention, with DCMS taking an active role within the Mission Boards, with a view to achieving better prioritisation of sport and physical activity across all departments and policy making. This approach of working, however, must be backed by the right investment to realise the full potential of sport in Britain.