England Athletics and UK Athletics – Written evidence (NPS0102)

1. How can local delivery, including funding structures, of sport and recreation be improved to ensure that people of all ages and abilities are able to lead an active lifestyle? For example, how successfully do local authorities and other bodies such as Active Partnerships, Leisure Trusts, local sports clubs and charities work together, and how might coordination be improved?

• The local picture can be confusing for volunteers to navigate. Volunteer run sports clubs and groups should be supported to “glue” things together locally supported by NGBs of Sport. Activity Partnerships have a role to play in brokering and supporting this work county wide but locally it is important that clubs are empowered, resourced and supported to reach out to communities, schools and others to extend access to participants of all abilities, backgrounds, ages and aspirations to enjoy a lifelong experience of sport and physical activity. They require support and development opportunities to help them- this is the core work of NGBs. Local sports officers and activators employed by NGBs and Activity Partnerships working in communities can help this work

2. How can children and young people be encouraged to participate in sport and recreation both at school and outside school, and lead an active lifestyle? If possible, share examples of success stories and good practice, and challenges faced.

• Young people need to be able to do the fundamentals well – they need to be introduced and competent in the athleticisms that will not only be a springboard for sporting success but most importantly for a healthy and active life. Athletics and running is a sport that transcends many other sports – it provides the foundation skills, arguably alongside gymnastics and swimming for life and can be used by providers of activity for young and older people to embed good habits for life. One such programme is a multi skills product from England Athletics called www.funetics.co.uk supported by Katarina Johnson Thompson and Usain Bolt. It is a fundamental skills programme delivered in clubs, schools and communities across England through the provision of introductory, progressive and developmental running, jumping and throwing skills, games, competitions and awards. Such schemes should be embraced and financially supported to roll out by government and through other providers of sport as they can be used to support other core sporting activities but also to address the dangers of inactivity and obesity. Educating coaches, parents, leaders and teachers to be able to deliver such programmes is also fundamentally important and this is a key aspect of the programme. The product operates through an interactive digital platform where progress of participants can be tracked and recognition given to young people as they progress. Parents and teachers can track progress too.

3. How can adults of all ages and backgrounds, particularly those from under-represented groups, including women and girls, ethnic minorities, disabled people, older people, and those from less affluent backgrounds, be encouraged to lead more active lifestyles? If possible, share examples of success stories and good practice, and challenges faced.

• Invest in community leadership through the provision of skills and training of people from those communities to establish new activities and groups – one such programme that addresses this is RunTogether an England Athletics programme with 2,800 community leader led social running groups providing opportunities for 150,000 participants from a range of backgrounds with a high level of participation amongst women and girls. The programme operates from an interactive and supportive digital platform used by leaders to coordinate their groups and sessions and EA offers mentoring and support to leaders through the provision of education programmes such as the Leader in Running & Fitness Course (LiRF)
• A further example to work in from a UK Athletics would be the Street2Stadium project specifically looking at Talent ID for both Para and non-disabled athletics from inner city areas.
• Schools, through clubs and community organisations should be supported to develop their offers, empowered and in some cases funded to make this a priority.
• In athletics our joint Athletics Unified UK wide Strategy specifically states our joint purpose is to  ‘inspire more athletes and runners of all abilities and backgrounds to fulfil their potential and to have a lifelong love for the sport’
• Also, organisations need to ensure that their governance, policies, recruitment procedures and programmes are inclusive at source – this is fundamentally important to changing culture and making sport more inclusive. This applies at all levels from national organisations through to local clubs and groups and funding programmes aimed at supporting such organisations should require adherence to this approach.

4. Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation, the Government’s 2015 sports strategy, outlines five outcome priorities: physical health, mental health, individual development, social and community development and economic development. Are these the right priorities and how successful has the government been in measuring and delivering these outcomes to date?

• Yes, but Sport England has just launched its new 10 year strategy and vision and this needs to be considered in the context of this consultation as a number of the questions posed here are covered in that document. Ensuring that the core structures that support community sport in this country remain supported as the bedrock of our sporting system is really important to remember though – the large majority of delivery in this country is carried out by volunteers and supporting the education and skill development and experience of volunteers is fundamentally important too. The new England Athletics Strategic plan places the importance of ‘improving experiences’ as a key building block which if delivered successfully brings about the wider benefits that are captured within the current themes.

5. Is government capturing an accurate picture of how people participate in sport and recreation activities in its data collection? How could this be improved?

• The Sport England Active lives survey is an established and robust method of measurement at national government level we feel but sport specific insight that goes into greater detail should be funded/supported and carried out by NGBs of sport to provide a deeper and more granular layer of detail and understanding.

6. How can racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny and ableism in sport be tackled?

• Education, education, education at all levels
• Standards/accreditation for funded bodies but not a tick box exercise – evidence that this is being lived and is engrained culturally is fundamentally important
• Punishment/no compromise on standards/expected levels of behaviour in sport at all levels
• Share best practice on developments to tackle this work
• Celebrate role models and where organisations have changed their governance, policies, procedures, recruitment, programmes to showcase and help sector change
• Ensure the code for sports governance from Uk Sport reflects the changing expectation of board representation of diversity, not just about gender percentages. Changes must be adhered to and fully implemented at board level, and this should reflect the sport/community/social demographics.

7. What can be done to improve and implement effective duty of care and safeguarding standards for sports and recreation actives at all levels?

• Mandate sporting bodies at a national level to do this properly with expected standards akin to governance codes
• Check and challenge independently through regular audits of management and practice as we would do in other areas such as anti-doping/financial management etc…
• Provide education and training to support national bodies responsible for oversight and management
• Establish a central sports welfare/safeguarding body akin to UKAD to support/provide independence leadership and oversight/management of this area of work to support sports – panels of investigators, mediators, consultants etc...

8. What are the opportunities and challenges facing elite sports in the UK and what can be done to make national sports governing bodies more accountable? For example, accountability for representing and protecting their membership, promoting their sport and maximising participation.

• Duty of care/athlete welfare standards of management and implementation
• Anti doping standards in management and implementation
• UK Sport and Sport England currently play these respective roles in accordance with funding agreements – perhaps regular reviews are needed to ensure standards are adhered too?
• NGBs producing annual governance statements that cover these areas
• NGBs producing annual reports that cover these areas of accountability – publicly available not just at an AGM.
• NGBs promoting work they are doing openly/providing resources/education training in these areas
• Challenges with organising and sustaining mass participation and spectator events on the roads (we license 4,000 road races per annum and major events such as the Diamond League and these are at risk due to COVID impacts) – they contribute a lot to the economy of that area and to participation growth and interest in sport and physical activity.

9. What successful policy interventions have other countries used to encourage people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to participate in sport and recreation, and lead more active lifestyles?

• Not sure

10. Should there be a national plan for sport and recreation? Why/why not?

• How does this align with existing plans for sport i.e. Sport England new strategy, UK Sport strategy, NGB strategies, SRA strategy, UK Active Strategies, Youth Sport Trust strategies for young people etc? It needs to add value and not duplicate. What is its purpose?

29 January 2021