Written evidence submitted by the
Sport and Recreation Alliance

The Sport and Recreation Alliance is the umbrella body for the national and representative bodies of sport and recreation. We represent approximately 280 members drawn from across the sector including national governing bodies of sport and recreation (NGBs), national and regional associations, Active Partnerships, sport for development charities, outdoor recreation and movement and dance bodies. Our membership is diverse and delivers everything from traditional sport to outdoor recreation, movement, dance and physical activity.

We welcome the opportunity to respond to the questions set out by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee. We have sought to structure our responses under the three broad themes of the inquiry and would be happy to provide additional evidence, either orally or in writing, to assist the Committee further.

Key points

• Grassroots sport, recreation and physical activity in communities and schools generates over £107bn in social value every year. This includes £96.7 billion in annual wellbeing value for adults and children, and £10.5 billion in health and social care savings.[1]

• Sport, recreation and physical activity has a key contribution to make to the Government’s five missions. Increasing participation in sport, recreation and physical activity can help drive economic growth by keeping people in the workforce for longer and improving productivity, help make the NHS fit for the future by reducing the costs associated with preventable illness, break down barriers to opportunity by improving the health, wellbeing and academic attainment of children and contribute to Britain’s net zero goals through more active, less carbon-intensive communities.

• There is a real opportunity to unlock even greater health, wellbeing and economic growth benefits from a more active population. Alliance research shows the UK ranks joint 11th out of 15 comparable European nations measured on levels of inactivity. Were the UK to match the best-performing nations, we would generate an additional £1bn in healthcare savings, an additional £3.5bn in GDP and over £70bn in wellbeing benefits.[2]

• Grassroots community sport, recreation and physical activity continues to face a range of challenges and more support is needed to drive increased participation and to tackle inequalities. Consultation with our members shows that there are:
• Significant barriers to accessing high quality, affordable and inclusive community facilities, places and spaces to be active.
• Growing legal and regulatory burdens within a highly constrained financial environment which is making it harder to deliver sport, recreation and physical activity to local communities.
• Significant pressures on the workforce with increasing challenges in recruiting and retaining the paid staff and volunteers needed to support the delivery of community sport and recreation.
• Specific barriers to participation for a range of groups and communities which require targeted action to address.

• Urgent action is needed to address the low levels of activity amongst children and young people to improve health, wellbeing and academic attainment and build a healthy, sporting habit for life. Sport England data shows that less than half of children and young people meet the Chief Medical Officer’s (CMO) guidelines on physical activity and overall levels of activity have remained broadly static having returned to pre-pandemic levels.[3] Concerted effort is needed to change this which must be centred on the provision of high-quality, accessible and inclusive PE, sport and physical activity in schools.

• A coordinated, long-term approach is needed to improve the quantity, quality and accessibility of community sports facilities and green and blue spaces. This must encompass capital investment in facilities, broader tax and regulatory reforms to reduce costs and stronger action to protect and improve the quality of the natural environment in which sport, recreation and physical activity takes place.

• The whole of Government has a role to play in supporting greater participation in sport, recreation and physical activity. This requires an ambitious, cross-Government approach built on a commitment to working in partnership with the sector and to using all available policy levers to unlock its full potential. While DCMS has a crucial role to play as sponsor department, it is essential that there is a shared commitment from the Prime Minister, Treasury and key departments to fully realise the benefits outlined above.

Community sport

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

• What interventions are needed to improve this provision?

The quality and availability of community sports facilities as well as outdoor places and spaces is essential in supporting participation.

In terms of built facilities, many community sport and leisure facilities are at or nearing the end of their operational lifespan. Overall, nearly two thirds of sports halls and swimming pools are over 10 years old, and nearly a quarter have not been refurbished in over 20 years.[4]

As a result, these facilities are more costly to operate, more carbon-intensive (due to poor energy efficiency) and often do not provide modern, inclusive and accessible environments. The energy crisis and broader input cost inflation has compounded these challenges, with rising operating costs forcing many facilities to reduce services, increase prices or close with attendant impacts on participation in local communities.[5] Indeed, Swim England research shows that around a quarter of all local authorities have a shortage of at least one swimming pool and since 2010 there has been a net loss of almost 500 publicly available swimming pools, with around 50% of this loss occurring since 2020.[6]

School sports facilities are also crucial to local provision. However, 45% of state schools’ sports facilities are not available for community use, including more than half of all primary schools.[7]

There is a clear link between the provision of high-quality facilities and the health of grassroots community sport. Alliance research on grassroots clubs shows that over three quarters of sports clubs and community groups cite the availability of leisure centres as being ‘important’ or ‘very important’ to their ability to deliver their activity and over two thirds say the same of school sports facilities.[8]

Beyond built facilities, our natural environment supports millions of people to be active through sport and recreation. Yet the quality and accessibility of these green and blue spaces is extremely variable. Water quality is of particular concern with only 15% of rivers in England achieving ‘good’ or better ecological status and high levels of pollution and waste causing harm to wildlife, biodiversity and water users’ health. Paddle UK’s Big Paddle Clean Up removed over 1,800 sacks of plastic and other waste from waterways last year alone and sampling by the Angling Trust’s Water Quality Monitoring Network shows many river sites have high levels of phosphates and nitrates.[9],[10]

In order to address these challenges, further Government action is needed to:

• Secure long-term, sustained capital investment to ensure every local community has access to high-quality, affordable and inclusive sports facilities. This should encompass investment in public leisure facilities, sports halls, community centres and village halls as well as outdoor facilities such as pitches and courts.
• Reform the tax and regulatory regime to reduce costs, for example by ensuring that proposed changes to business rates do not add further costs to sports bodies, clubs and facility operators.
• Strengthen measures to protect the natural environment, notably water quality, by ensuring regulators have the appropriate powers and resources to hold polluters to account alongside access to real-time water quality monitoring information for water users.
• Provide long-term support to enable greater community access to school facilities, building on the Opening School Facilities programme.[11]

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

• How can funds be distributed more effectively and application processes be improved?

There are several funding streams for community sport including:

• Exchequer and National Lottery funding for community facilities and participation programmes, primarily through Sport England and other Home Country Sports Councils. Sport England invests over £250m of Exchequer and National Lottery funding per annum into a range of partner organisations as well grassroots community providers. [12]
• Direct local authority funding for community sport, recreation and physical activity in their local communities. Local authorities invest over £1bn in community sport, leisure, parks and green spaces annually.[13]
• Direct investment by sports governing bodies and charitable foundations. By way of example, under the Alliance’s Voluntary Code of Conduct for Rights Owners, last year some of our largest sports governing bodies invested over £170m of broadcast revenue into community sport initiatives aimed at increasing participation and tackling inequalities.[14] This underlines the direct link between the success of elite sport and the health of the grassroots.
• Tax and giving benefits which provide financial support to grassroots sports clubs, notably the Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC) scheme which provides a range of benefits worth an estimated £40m per annum to registered clubs, with around half of this from mandatory business rates relief.[15]
• Bespoke schemes designed to support regeneration and local/regional growth including through investment in community sport, recreation and physical activity facilities e.g.  the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and the Levelling Up Fund.

However, while these funding streams are vital, they are not sufficient to support the ambition to drive significant increases in activity levels and tackle longstanding inequalities in participation. 

Alliance research demonstrates that compared to European peers, the UK is near the bottom of the table in terms of general government expenditure on sport and recreation .There is also a clear correlation between the level of spending and overall activity levels. The UK’s 0.4% share of government expenditure on sport and recreation compares to around 1% for Finland, the most active nation in Europe.[16]

In addition, as outlined above, many facilities are at or beyond their operating lifespan and in need of modernisation. And following the pandemic and cost of living crisis, many grassroots clubs and organisations are struggling due to rising costs and increased financial insecurity.[17]

In this context, we would urge Government to:

• Use the forthcoming Spending Review to protect and ideally increase Exchequer funding to support the core of sport and recreation provision in communities.
• Boost the tax and giving benefits available to clubs through reforms to the CASC scheme.
• Minimise tax and regulatory burdens – for example by ensuring proposed changes to business rates do not further add to costs – and better support major sporting events to maximise the amounts available for reinvestment back into grassroots sport.
• Simplify and broaden the criteria for small funding schemes to improve access for more volunteer-run grassroots organisations, particularly those with limited capacity or expertise to bid for funding.
• Provide for long-term, multi-year settlements for local authorities and streamline existing national funding schemes to make them easier to access and to support investment in local sport and recreation.

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

Volunteers are the lifeblood of grassroots sport and recreation. However, Sport England data shows that volunteering levels have been falling over the long term with over 2m fewer volunteers compared to six years ago.[18]

A significant reason for this trend is the growing regulatory and compliance burden on volunteers. Consultation with our members highlights concerns that the increasing burden on volunteers is adding stress, making volunteering more time-consuming and even acting as a disincentive to volunteering altogether. Indeed, Alliance research shows that although the average number of volunteer minutes dedicated to administrative duties had increased by 25% since 2019, this did not translate into an increase in participation opportunities – with the number of sessions delivered increasing by only 3% in the same period.[19]

These trends are likely to be exacerbated by new requirements arising from proposed new policy and legislation, for example requirements under the forthcoming Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill – also known as ‘Martyn’s Law’ – and proposals to introduce mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse. While we are broadly supportive of the policy intent behind these measures, we are concerned that if not implemented in a proportionate way, it will become more challenging to recruit and retain volunteers in community sport.

In this context it is essential that where new policy and legislative measures are proposed, the impacts on volunteers need to be fully considered and any additional burdens minimised where possible.

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

There remain significant inequalities in participation in community sport with clear evidence that disabled people, women and girls, older people, people from lower socio-economic groups and people from diverse communities are less likely to be active.[20]

Tackling these inequalities requires concerted effort across a range of areas including:

• Ensuring disabled people are explicitly reassured and supported to be active – this would help address the ‘activity trap’ whereby disabled people fear losing vital benefits if they are more active.[21]
• Investing in high-quality, accessible and inclusive facilities and outdoor spaces that enable people of all backgrounds to be active.
• Leveraging the power of movement and dance to reach specific groups which are less active – Alliance research into the social value of movement and dance shows it delivers £3.5bn in social value annually and is particularly effective in engaging and retaining girls, young women and older people.[22]
• Supporting and scaling existing programmes that are already working to engage underserved communities, for example the Lawn Tennis Association’s SERVES programme which takes tennis into the heart of local communities.[23]
• Ensuring individuals and households on low incomes or who face specific barriers can afford to participate including through measures to minimise the cost of kit and equipment. Research by Sported has highlighted how having the right kit can play a significant role in driving participation and that financial constraints and the rising cost of living have created barriers in affording the right kit and taking part.[24]
• Targeted support for children and young people – particularly those less likely to be active – to access sporting opportunities both in school and the wider community.
• Continuing to improve diversity and representation amongst volunteers and the paid workforce and provide inclusive and welcoming environments that better reflect and serve local communities.

School sport

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

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

As noted above, less than half (48%) of children achieve the UK’s Chief Medical Officers guidelines of 60 minutes’ activity a day. And there are significant disparities in participation levels. Girls and children from less affluent families and diverse communities are less likely to be active. [25] Further, just 71% of children in Year 7 meet the requirement to be able to swim at least 25 metres unaided by the end of KS2 and swimming competence is heavily dependent upon family affluence and ethnicity.[26]

Activity Alliance data shows that disabled children face particular barriers – only 25% of disabled children say they take part in sport and activity all of the time at school, compared to 41% of non-disabled children.[27]

For many children and young people therefore, PE and school sport provides the only means of regular physical activity. It also may be the only place they learn essential life skills like swimming and water safety.

Urgent action is therefore needed to address the current low levels of physical activity amongst children and to tackle stubborn participation inequalities. PE and school sport is central to this effort and we be believe further action is needed to:

• Develop a coherent national strategy to address children’s activity levels, underpinned by dedicated local infrastructure to support schools and better connect pathways to community sport.
• Through the ongoing Curriculum and Assessment Review:
• Set a clear expectation that PE, sport, dance and physical activity should be at the heart of every school’s curriculum.
• Reinforce the existing guidance which requires that schools provide a minimum of two hours of PE a week and ensure provision of equal access for girls and boys and for those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
• Ensure schools deliver the full breadth of the current national curriculum, including the teaching of swimming and water safety, outdoor and adventurous activities, dance and participation in competitive sport outside of school.
• Establish a reimagined, inclusive PE curriculum with clearly defined goals for each Key Stage (KS) supported by effective assessment and accountability measures.
• Consider changes to accountability to help schools to protect curriculum time for PE.
• Support schools to plan effectively by confirming the future of key funding streams, notably the PE and Sport Premium and Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. In addition, consideration should be given to additional funding to open up school facilities given the Opening School Facilities programme ends in March 2025.
• Take forward the recommendations set out in ParalympicsGB’s Equal Play campaign to support teachers and schools to provide equal access to PE and school sport for disabled children.[28]

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

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

Schools do not exist in a vacuum but are deeply connected to their local communities. To deliver a broad and diverse curriculum schools must work in partnership with a range of organisations in their communities including national governing bodies of sport (NGBs), sports clubs and public leisure providers.

NGBs in particular have a key role to play in supporting schools to help deliver activity and to connect children and young people to community clubs and programmes.

As an example, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has worked with partners and local authorities to invest in new facilities at Wixham Academy, Bedford. This investment has helped improve the delivery of cricket as part of the curriculum but also helped to drive up participation by girls in the local community.[29] Similarly, Swim England’s School Swimming and Water Safety Charter provides a wealth of resources to support schools with swimming lessons and to enable a smooth transition from school swimming and water safety lessons to regular swimming outside of school.[30]

To support improved sporting opportunities for children both in and outside of school, we would encourage measures to:

• Strengthen links between schools and national governing bodies to enable more children of all backgrounds to access community clubs and to support the transition from school to broader community participation.
• Identify, share and scale examples of where collaboration between schools and sports bodies has worked well to improve delivery of PE and sport in schools and support wider community participation and engagement.
• Support schools to deliver those elements of the national curriculum which extend beyond the school gates, notably the teaching swimming, outdoor and adventurous activities and participation in community sports clubs.
• Invest in the provision of high quality, inclusive and accessible community facilities which enable children to participate in a wide range of sports and activities both in and out of school.
• Extend funding to open up more school sport facilities, building on the Opening School Facilities programme, with support targeted at areas where activity levels are lowest and/or where facility provision is limited. This should also be used to enable community clubs to use school sites to engage more children.

Governance of sport

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?

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

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

As noted above, there are many examples of how NGBs and other sports bodies have worked in partnership with schools and local authorities to deliver investment in facilities and programmes which support improved provision in both schools and communities.

Key to ensuring these initiatives have the biggest impact is the wider policy environment within which the sector operates. Where there is clarity over policy objectives, high-level political commitment, long-term investment and clear accountability, significant progress can be made.

While there has been good intent in some areas, too often this has not been sustained. Policy has tended to be characterised by a lack of clarity and certainty – notably with respect to funding– as well as coordination which has hindered efforts to improve participation in schools and communities. As an example, while the PE and Sport Premium has seen positive collaboration between DCMS, DfE and DHSC, funding has typically been confirmed on a rolling one- or two-year basis, often late in the school year, creating significant uncertainty and making it hard for schools and sector delivery partners to effectively plan ahead.

More broadly, the whole of Government has a role to play in supporting greater participation and activity given the enormous social and economic benefits it already generates. The Alliance, alongside partners from across the sector, has long advocated for a properly joined-up approach to unlock the full potential of sport, recreation and physical activity.[31],[32] If the Government did this, the positive effects could be even greater. If the UK were to become the most active nation in Europe, we would:

• Grow the economy – by increasing GDP by £3.6bn every year.
• Reduce the burden on the NHS – by cutting spending on preventable disease by £1bn every year.
• Improve people’s life satisfaction – by increasing wellbeing by £71bn every year.[33]

In this context, the new Government’s mission-driven approach and the forthcoming Spending Review presents a crucial opportunity to invest in sport, recreation and physical activity and to strengthen policy coordination across departments – notably those with a core role such as DCMS, DfE and DHSC – but also other departments including DEFRA, MHCLG, DWP and HMRC.

In addition, the forthcoming NHS 10-Year Plan and the Government’s commitment to shifting healthcare from acute treatment to prevention is an enormous opportunity to establish a fundamentally different approach – one in which sport, recreation and physical activity helps people live healthier, happier and more productive lives.

DCMS has a key role to play as sponsor department in leveraging the benefits of sport, recreation and physical activity. However, given important policy levers sit in other departments which often have their own priorities, there must ultimately be strong political and financial commitment from the centre of Government – from both the Prime Minister and Treasury – to drive meaningful change.

Further, it is critical that the new Government works in partnership with organisations and leaders across sport, recreation and physical activity to best leverage the sector’s expertise and assets to deliver on its policy objectives. Such an approach would also help Government to better understand the challenges and opportunities facing the sector and build stronger relationships over time which would help to mitigate the impact of changes in personnel and portfolios.

The previous administration’s sport strategy Get Active established a National Physical Activity Taskforce (NPAT) which brought key Government departments together with sector representatives on a regular basis. This forum has so far not been carried forward by the new Government but we believe there remains a clear need for a similar mechanism to enable the sector to meaningfully engage with ministers and officials on a regular basis to discuss and shape policy.

Sport and Recreation Alliance

January 2025