House of Commons - Culture, Media and Sport

Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Written Evidence

Memorandum submitted by Pertemps People Development Group

INTRODUCTION

1. This document forms Pertemps People Development Group's contribution to the inquiry into Community Sport. It seeks to set out our views on how a greater level of sustained participation in sport might best be achieved. These views are based on our experience of delivering sports based programmes over the past five years, and also on our experience of using sport as a medium to deliver other, primarily employment focussed programmes. The Annex to this document explains who PPDG are and the level and type of involvement in Community Sport, in order to provide some context to our views. We would welcome the opportunity to provide further contributions to this inquiry, should the Committee find this useful.

BARRIERS TO SUSTAINABLE PARTICIPATION

Funding Streams

2. Much of the funding which is made available for Sports Development is both small scale and short term. In general, funding will cover the cost of the key workers or coach, but rarely allows scope for the further development of the programme for example; reward programmes such as awarding body qualifications or visits to see the "professionals" at work. These types of activities can be particularly motivating for young participants.

3. In general, a funding stream which lasts up to 12 months, does not allow sufficient time for providers to work with other organisations, in order to develop partnerships which might add value to the funding being given. By extending funding periods and contracts to 24 or 36 months, it might be possible to secure additional funding for specific activities from the private sector or professional sports clubs under sponsorship arrangements.

4. Often funding streams are also set up to deal with single issues, such as sports development, ignoring other areas of development which need to take place in order to make the sports development work sustainable. For example, the barrier relating to local ownership below may be related to low levels of qualification amongst the adult population of a neighbourhood. Without addressing these needs, the sports specific funding loses its ability to sustain activity once the funding ends.

Local Ownership

5. Our experience shows that very often local people are very willing to volunteer to help programmes operate, whilst external providers such as ourselves are involved. This willingness to volunteer rarely, however, develops into a willingness to lead the activity once the funding has ended, thus an opportunity to build social cohesion is lost. There may be a variety of reasons behind this which are likely to include issues such as low levels of educational achievement and the consequent fear of failure preventing them working towards coaching qualifications, unwillingness to take responsibility for potentially difficult children, and the fear of other parents' reactions to their attempts to maintain a good standard of behaviour.

Lack of Strategic Aims

6. As stated previously, many very short term programmes are set up for very specific reasons, for example school holiday play schemes. In these cases very often little thought is given to the longer term potential of what may be a taster session for a good number of people. Therefore opportunities to build social capital by linking up with local sports clubs or to set up new community teams are lost.

7. The presence of sporting activities in an area can have a positive economic effect. Where residents are involved in legitimate sporting activities, there is less of a propensity towards the sort of street crime and vandalism which blights many areas where young people in particular have few or no appropriate facilities. The presence of sporting activity can therefore help an area become a better place to live and more attractive to other people and potentially businesses which are looking to relocate. In this way sport can start to regenerate an economy so long as it provides a permanent facility. In effect it is the first step to economic recovery and therefore the strategic links to other initiatives are vital if the funding provided is to be used to best effect.

Environmental Issues

8. Whilst deprived communities are in desperate need of support in setting up activities which will divert residents of all ages away from anti-social and criminal pursuits; opportunities to develop sustainable participation in sports are limited through the lack of a safe environment in which participation can take place. For example, in areas where drug abuse and gun crime are prevalent, fears for personal safety or the safety of one's children is likely to prevent residents undertaking the journey to the new basketball court, or indeed any new indoor facility—regardless of the quality and safety of the facility once access has been gained.

THE FUTURE FOR COMMUNITY SPORTS

9. Through our delivery of sports and related activities in the community we have identified a number of clear benefits for the economy and for communities in general which span the whole age range of participation. In addition to the obvious health related benefits which clearly have a positive effect on the economy, PPDG would suggest that the following benefits:

Reductions in

Increases in

10. PPDG would strongly recommend that the further development of community sports is done in conjunction with other political and social agendas, in particular that the Social Inclusion, Social Justice and Health Agendas are combined to ensure that the barriers to sustainable participation are tackled through a single project. This could be achieved by developing projects which have clear, definable targets related to sustained sports participation in addition to outputs set by other funding bodies, for example achievement of qualifications or job outcomes. Our experience of Employment Zone, where funding is combined into a single budget in order to address the whole gamut of barriers, both work and non work related, has clearly demonstrated that a holistic approach to issues improves both overall success rates of programmes and in particular, the sustainability of their outcomes.

11. Through our use of sport as a medium of engagement, we have engaged clients who would normally not consider entering training or employment centred provision. We have not only given these clients' sporting skills, but also the confidence and motivation to enter or re-enter the labour market. Thus were sport to be the first line of attack in a co-ordinated approach to regenerating communities, providing a permanent hub for social activities onto which other services could be attached, the likelihood of sustained participation in sport would increase, possibly in line with the rate at which the community and its economy improves. The key to ensuring the continuing participation in sport, therefore, is to enable programmes to have sufficient longevity to allow the sport itself to become a part of each participant and communities life. In addition to forming a springboard for further growth, this would also enable programme providers to work with partners to provide value added services, such as sponsorship which ensure that additional support is provided and an effective exit route to independently funded provision can be found. Key points we would suggest the Committee should consider are:

— Ensure that both strategic and operational objectives of any initiatives are clearly defined and linked to key local agendas.

— Ensure that allocation of funds is made on condition that specific outcome targets are met. (Outcomes need not all be numerical—an exit strategy to ensure continuing participation could be a key criteria for funding).

— Pooling funding with other departments to ensure all the needs of the participants and their communities are met.

— Longer-term projects. Three years would be ideal to ensure the programme could produce "value added" outcomes.

— Greater use of the private sector providers when allocating funds. The drivers of the private sector are different to those present in public and voluntary sectors. Whilst traditionally this has been seen as negative in this arena, the private sector are more likely to ensure that outcomes are exceeded and to develop innovative partnership arrangements to ensure programmes are efficient. The success of Pertemps Coachright as a not for profit organisation has demonstrated the benefits of private sector drivers in the not-for-profit sector. Additionally "value added" may be achieved by involving companies with an active Corporate Social Responsibility Agenda.

— The development of "whole family" programmes. Sport is an inter-generational medium and can help with a path to a healthy retirement just as it can to the development of a healthy young adult.



© Parliamentary copyright 2005	Prepared 19 May 2005