Public Policy and Sport in the United Kingdom

1. Public Policy and Sport in the United Kingdom Dr Thomas Carter University of Brighton July 15, 2019

2. Outline of Talk • Definition of sport • History of UK Sport Policy • Structure of Sport Governance

3. Defining Sport

4. Definition of Sport • All forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aims at improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships, or obtaining results in competition at all levels (Council of Europe, 1992) • Definition also used by Sport England (1997 and thereafter)

5. The precarious nature of British sport • Non-statutory • Local government spends approximately £1 billion per year on sport and leisure - more than 50% of the total resources available to sport every year. • Not just leisure centres, parks, playgrounds, etc. • Countryside provision • See the Sport England Active Lives Survey –https://www.sportengland.org/research/active-lives-survey/

6. UK History of Sport Policy • Historically limited role in sport • Post-1960, government took more interest • Sports Council (1972) • Sport had low priority in 1980s • Sport became more central in 1990s, especially tied to London 2012 Olympics; now more business driven

7. Changes of Government, Changes in Policy • Conservative Party 1979 -1997 • Labour Party 1997-2010 • Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition elected in May 2010. • Public deficit - £155 billion – IMMEDIATE IMPACT ON SPORT • Conservative Government – May 2015 • Further cuts and Comprehensive Spending Review Nov 25th 2015 • BREXIT – 2019 or 2020 - changes will happen now or later • The cabinet –http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32658697 • The opposition –http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34241395

8. The key historical documents • DNH (1995) Sport: Raising the Game • DCMS (2000) A Sporting Future for All • The Cabinet Office (2002) The Game Plan • Sport England (2004) The national framework for community sport • DCMS (2008) A New Era for Sport, • DCMS & Sport England (2012) Creating a Sporting Habit for Life, • https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2010-to-2015-government-policy-sports-participation

9. Where were we? The Sporting Landscape 2008 (DCMS, 2008;4)

10. The context of sport under ‘New’ Labour 1997-2010

11. The context of sport under the Coalition Government of 2010

12. Coalition policy 2010-2015 • In a letter … https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/322261/SoS_letter_to_YST-october_2010.pdf • … to the Chair of the Youth Sport Trust in October 2010, the then Education Secretary, Michael Gove, announced that the Coalition Government was lifting the requirements of the previous Government’s PE and Sport Strategy and would end ring-fenced funding for School Sport Partnerships. The letter, along with a further announcement made in December 2010, outlined the Coalition Government’s approach to school sport. This included: • revising the physical education (PE) curriculum to place a new emphasis on competitive sports; • encouraging more competitive sport through the creation of an annual Olympic-style school sport competition; and • providing funding for secondary schools to allow PE teachers to spend one day a week encouraging greater take-up of competitive sport in primary schools. • https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-approach-for-school-sports-decentralising-power-incentivising-competition-trusting-teachers

13. Starting Point: Sporting FutureA new strategy for an active nation ‘All new government funding for sport and physical activity will go to organisations which can best demonstrate that they will deliver some or all of the five outcomes in this strategy. We are open-minded about what type of organisation should receive this funding. However, it is likely that organisations which show that they can work collaboratively and tailor their work at the local level will be best placed to access this funding.’ Sporting Future, Page 16 Sport for a purpose not for its own sake

15. DCMS Strategy Sporting Future (December 2015) • Key Outcomes the Government wants to achieve • Physical Wellbeing • Mental Wellbeing • Individual Development • Social & Community Development • Economic Development • “All new government funding for sport and physical activity will go to organisations which can best demonstrate that they will deliver some or all of the five outcomes of this strategy (physical health, mental wellbeing, individual development, social/community development, economic development) (p16)”. • https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sporting-future-second-annual-report

17. Structure of Sport Policy makers • Dept. of Digital Culture, Media and Sport, Dept. of Education, Dept. of Health and Social Care • UKSport, Sport England, Sport Scotland, Sport Northern Ireland, and Sport Wales • National Governing Bodies, Professional Bodies, and other agencies (Youth Sport Trust) • Multiple sub-regional and local agencies

18. Structure- where do NGB fit in? Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Sport England National Governing Bodies (NGBs)

19. GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE In the UK, sports recognition is managed by • Sport England, • Sport Northern Ireland, • Sport Scotland, • Sport Wales and • UKSport

21. Key Shifts in Focus for Sport England • Investing for a purpose, not sport for sport’s sake • Behaviour change • Customer focus • Under-represented groups • Children & young people • Wider partnerships - its what you can do that counts, not who you are • A new approach to measurement & evaluation • Sport England as broker and collaborator

22. Sport England – Strategy 2016-2021Towards an Active Nation Two elements to the vision: Everyone able to engage in sport and physical activity A sector that welcomes everyone and treats them as customers Seven new investment programmes Tackling inactivity (25% of funding) Children & Young People – 5yrs+ Volunteers – new strategy (Nov 16) Taking sport to the mass market – make it easier, use of technology Support sports core market - NGB Local delivery – 10 collaboration pilot projects, mix of rural and urban Facilities – Community Asset Fund Supported by a new Coaching Plan (Sept 16) and new Workforce Strategy (end 2017)

23. What is a NGB? • NGBs are typically independent, self-appointed organisations that govern their sports through the common consent of their sport. • NGB recognition- aim is to identify a single lead NGB structure which governs a sport at UK, GB or home country level. Sport England (2015)

24. What do NGBS do in the UK? • Oversee the existing vision for that sport as well as the future direction and focus of that particular sport. • NGB strategy, which outlines the focus of that particular sport and explains in detail how aims and objectives are to be met.

25. NGB responsibilities • Facility development • Club development • Coaching development • Volunteer recruitment and retention • Participation – Young People and Adults • Competition development • Talent identification and development

26. NGB characteristics • Not driven by profit motive • Imprecise objectives • Difficult to monitor performance • Accountable to different stakeholders • Rely on volunteers for service, delivery, and governance roles

27. How do NGBs gain funding? • Develop Whole Sport Plan (4 years) to illustrate how they propose to deliver against negotiated and agreed outcomes. • SE commission NGB to deliver against key outcomes • These plans will be assessed and reviewed by Sport England. • This is not a right but a privilege • Competitive process • NGBs need to show accountability and transparency • SOME CHANGES for 2017-2021

28. How are NGBs going to be measured 2017-2021? • Each NGB will be treated as a different entity • Areas of interests and needs • Provide more certainty to plan ahead • One size fits all weekly participation measure of success replaced by new Active Lives survey • Insight behind mental wellbeing, personal community and economic development • Variation to the four year funding cycle

29. CYCLING

30. 3 Key elements to UK Sport Policy • Elite Sport – examples Olympics, professional sport, funded athletes. • PE and School Sport – curriculum based, some after school clubs - Sport vs PE • Community Sport – the ‘problem’ child - funding, access, overuse of volunteers

31. PE and school sport (aims, instruments, short and long term impact) • Long term impact: • From school sport to youth sport • Danger of a disconnection between youth sport and school life and between youth sport and PE • Youth sport becomes linked to education, but no longer defined by it; located in schools, but no longer shaped/controlled by schools; and increasingly defined by sports clubs and coaches as elements in their sport development strategies

32. Sport and PE • The terms sport and physical education are often used interchangeably in school contexts, where traditional, competitive, sex-segregated school sport and health continue to shape what is understood by the term physical education.

33. Physical Education v Sport • Physical Literacy • Health Related Fitness • Skill Acquisition • Skill Development • Decision Making Skills • Evaluation Skills • Educating the Body • Outside of Physical Education Lessons • Focus on Performance • Tactics & Strategies • Competitive Nature • Alternative Activities • Team Representation • Training Sessions

34. Purpose of Physical Education • The aim of Physical Education is to develop physical competence so that all children are able to move efficiently, effectively and safely and understand what they are doing. The outcome – physical literacy – is as important to children’s overall development as literacy and numeracy. • The case of swimming in schools

35. Purpose of school sport • School sport is the structured learning that takes place beyond the school curriculum (i.e. in the extended curriculum), sometimes referred to as out-of-school-hours learning. Again, the context for the learning is physical activity. The ‘school sport’ programme has the potential to develop and broaden the foundation learning that takes place in physical education. It also forms a vital link with ‘community sport and activity’.

36. PE and School Sport 2010-15 • October 2010: Funding for 450 School Sport Partnerships Investment of £2 billion since 2002 replaced by £126 million for the School Games • Increasing disconnection between youth sport and PESS: blurring of policy boundaries. • Youth sport situated in schools but no longer controlled and shaped by them. Increasing reticence of head teachers in an era of localism and austerity – sport costs! • Youth sport linked to education but not defined by it and increased variability of practice (quantity and quality)? • BUT - Primary PE Premium £150m per year direct to primary schools.

37. 3 Sectors of Sport • Private Sector • Public Sector • Voluntary Sector

38. Community Sport: Private Sector • Concentrates on the provision of individual activities • health clubs - ‘health’, racquet sports, swimming • golf (and country clubs) • Sponsorship and Marketing • Sport and Social Clubs • Growth of the Sports Industry • Professional Sport and Community Improvement • Media Regulation

39. Community Sport: Public Sector • Sport, recreation, leisure and cultural services which are for the public ‘good’. • Cultural services are non-statutory • Public sector responsible for policy, structure, organisation and provision of sport • Local playing fields, Leisure Centres, parks, gardens, allotments, museums, galleries, etc. • Work with other agencies - partnerships

40. Community Sport: Voluntary Sector • 26% of all volunteering is sports related • In April to December 2012, 23.8% of adults in England had volunteered and 19.2% of these volunteered in sport. • Nearly 2 million adults (1,914,300) in England contribute at least one hour a week to volunteering in sport. • Backbone of British sport but ... numerous barriers to involvement. See http://www.sportandrecreation.org.uk/lobbying-and-campaigning/sport-research/UK-fact-figures SRA (2014)

41. National value of sport • Sport’s contribution to the English economy reached £20.3 billion in 2010, 1.9% of the English economy. • The number of people with sport-related jobs was estimated at over 400,000 – that’s 2.3% of all employment in England. • This placed sport up in the top 15 industry sectors in England above motor vehicles, telecoms services, legal services, accounting, publishing, advertising and the utilities. • The estimated economic value of sport-related volunteering is £2.7 billion • The annual value of health benefits from people taking part in sport is estimated at £11.2 billion