22. Memorandum submitted by
the Central Council of Physical Recreation (CCPR)
BACKGROUND
The Central Council of Physical Recreation (CCPR)
is the umbrella body for 270 national governing bodies of sport
and national sports organisations and represents and promotes
the interests of voluntary sector sport and recreation. CCPR welcomes
the opportunity to respond to this inquiry.
THE LOTTERY
AND SPORT
1. The CCPR welcomed the continued commitment
to the principle of additionality, made in the National Lottery
Funding Decision Document last year. CCPR believes that this principle
is particularly important for sport and recreation, for which
exchequer budgets have been traditionally very limited and its
uses circumscribed. Funding for sport through the Lottery should
not be a substitute for mainstream government funding. Currently,
we are particularly concerned that programmes related to the development
and support of talent and top class sport are almost wholly dependent
upon Lottery funding. We believe that such programmes should properly
be funded through exchequer grants to the sports councils, but
that the advent of the Lottery Sports Fund has had the effect
of masking this newly emerging need for exchequer funding for
sport.
2. CCPR reaffirms the principle that, in
any reforms to the Lottery distribution structure, funding decisions
should remain at arm's length from government. CCPR is concerned
about the effects of the merger between the Community Fund and
New Opportunities Fund. It supports the expressed concerns of
many organisations in the wider voluntary sector, that this could
result in lower levels of accountability, possible erosion of
additionality and less innovation. It will be important for the
new merged body to address these concerns, since it will be responsible
for distributing such a high proportion of Lottery funds.
3. However, CCPR has much welcomed the substantial
Lottery investment into infrastructure to sport and recreation,
particularly in schools, which has been made available through
the New Opportunities Fund; and the added value this should provide
through innovative approaches to teaching and learning in physical
education and creating more effective links with community sport.
There remains some concern that such links have not been as central
to the bidding process as was indicated in the criteria for NOPES.
4. Similarly, the CCPR applauds the Awards
for All scheme, funded by several Lottery sources. This has proved
very accessible for local voluntary groups, and hopes that this
scheme will continue in the long-term.
5. The proposal for an Olympic Lottery has
been embraced by our membership, although the CCPR seeks reassurance
that this will not result in further reductions in the funds available
for non-Olympic and community sport. CCPR is concerned that there
is no indication as yet, of parallel investment in sustainable
infrastructure for sport and recreation, which should be a major
legacy of the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.
OPERATION OF
THE LOTTERY
1. This concern relates to a further important
Lottery principle—that Lottery funding is sustainable and
aimed at reaping long-term as well as more immediate results.
CCPR is concerned about the volatility and uncertainty of Lottery
funding, and its effects on programmes of and provision for sport
and recreation, which require long-term commitment.
2. CCPR would like to see more projections
on the potential benefits of multiple license holders. It is difficult
to see, with the current level of information, what benefits this
would have, although CCPR would wish to see greater effort being
made to convey to the consumer public, the particular benefits
which Lottery funding can bring. The power of public support for
such good causes as sport and recreation and charities, CCPR believes
has been under-utilised in Lottery marketing.
January 2004
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