Memorandum submitted by Sport England
(EM02-05)
1. WHO IS
SPORT ENGLAND?
1.1 Sport England is a Non-Departmental
Public Body (NDPB) sponsored by the Department for Culture Media
and Sport (DCMS), charged with creating a world-leading community
sport system. Our aim is to grow and sustain levels of adult sporting
participation and to nurture those with talent to achieve their
potential.
1.2 Our remit covers all sport except in-curriculum
school sport and elite level sport.
1.3 To achieve our ambition we have set
out the following targets:
— One million people doing more sport by
2012-13.
— A major contribution to the five hour
offer to children and young people (eg school club links; Sport
Unlimited).
— Reduce "drop off" in participation
between the ages of 16 and 18 in nine sports.
— Increase participants' satisfaction with
their sporting experience.
— Improve talent development systems in
at least 25 sports.
1.4 We receive approximately £250 million
per annum—Exchequer (£135 million) and Lottery
(£160 million)—to achieve our outcomes for sport.
2. HISTORICAL
INVESTMENT IN
SPORT IN
THE EAST
MIDLANDS
Sport England has a long history of investment
in the East Midlands. In 2008 we published a new strategy
for the period 2008-11, which built upon our previous strategy
period from 2004-08. Both overlapped two Comprehensive Spending
Reviews periods (2004-07 and 2008-11). The points overleaf
reflect this.
Exchequer
2.1 Between 2004 and 2008 DCMS
allocated over £366 million Exchequer funding to Sport
England to invest in community sport and specific local sporting
interventions. The majority was distributed to national projects
affecting all areas of England. For example, the National Sports
Foundation invested in the FA Skills intervention, which helps
young people develop their football skills and was delivered in
all regions of the country. Step into Sport is another national
programme which is delivered in all regions, and helps young people
get involved in volunteering in sport.
2.2 Of the projects that were delivered
in the East Midlands £17.4 million was allocated to
146 projects. An example of this is an award of £400,000 towards
a six—court badminton facility at Etwall Leisure Centre
in Derbyshire.
Lottery
2.3 In the period 2004-08, £630 million
lottery funding was available to Sport England to distribute to
projects across England.
2.4 Of this figure £39.5 million
was invested into projects specifically based in the East Midlands
in accordance with "Change for Sport", the regional
plan for sport in the East Midlands 2004-08, which drew priorities
from the national plan a "Framework for Sport in England".
2.5 As with Exchequer funding, the region
benefited from funding via national awards such as £330,000 for
a gymnastics analysis centre at Loughborough University. £750,000 was
also awarded to Loughborough SportPark via the regional lottery
allocation. This funding was matched by a national allocation—the
National Investment Fund—making the organisation's contribution
£1.5 million.
2.6 Every county across the East Midlands
has benefited from our lottery funding and a complete breakdown
of lottery distribution since 1994 is attached.
2.7 Major capital investments since the
start of the Lottery in 1994 include:
2.7.1 Grantham Meres Leisure Centre, Grantham,
Lincolnshire received £3,092,300 of the total project
cost of £8,646,500.
2.7.2 The National Ice Arena, Nottingham
received £22,496,601 of the total project cost of £36,861,039
2.7.3 The Radcliffe Road Stand, Trent Bridge,
Nottinghamshire received £5,250,000 of the total project
cost of £9,084,000.00
2.7.4 The Gateway Centre, Derby received
£1,508,775 of the total project cost of £4,131,225
2.7.5 The Athletics High Performance Centre,
Loughborough University, Leicestershire received £5,695,250 of
the total project cost of £5,760,493
2.7.6 The 50m swimming pool, Loughborough
University, Leicestershire received £6,092,662 of the
total project cost of £7,092,662
2.7.7 The Benham Arena, Northamptonshire
Association of Youth Clubs received £825,396 of the
total project cost of £1,261,935
2.8 Finally, Sport England has invested
over £5 million since 2004 into the operating costs
of Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham. In addition to the running
costs, we have invested in various upgrades to the facilities,
the latest of which was £900,000 in 2008-09 to
renovate the water park.
3. SPORT ENGLAND'S
FUNDING STRATEGY
2008-11
3.1 In June 2008, Sport England published
a new strategy with a mission to create a world-leading community
sport system. To achieve this we have focused our effort on delivering
specific outcomes, and directed our investment in strategic partnerships
to best deliver these outcomes.
3.2 As part of our strategy, we commissioned
46 national governing bodies of sport (NGBs) to invest £480 million
Lottery (70%) and Exchequer (30%) over a four-year period (2009-13)
to increase and sustain participation, and encourage those with
talent to reach their potential. As a return on investment the
NGBs are required to deliver an absolute increase in participation
in their sport through attracting new and retaining existing participants.
For example, cycling received £23 million to deliver
125,000 additional participants to the sport and swimming
received £20 million to deliver 270,000 more people.
3.3 We have also invested £10 million
Exchequer funding into National Partners (such as the Women's
Sport and Fitness Foundation) to support the NGBs to effectively
target women, black and ethnic minority groups, disabled athletes
and low socio-economic groups.
3.4 Each County Sport Partnership has received
£200,000 lottery funding to lever more funding into
sport, connect NGBs with local authority initiatives and develop
more effective coaches and clubs to support the sporting infrastructure.
This benefits five county areas in the East Midlands directly.
3.5 Sport England is also investing in every
community through our various initiatives to get more children
and young people staying involved in sport beyond age 18, as part
of the Government's five-hour offer. Approximately £13 million
(Exchequer funding) per annum over three years is being invested
nationally, of this £3.8 million is being invested into
the East Midlands.
3.6 The Sustainable Facilities Fund has
allocated £10 million (£6 million Lottery
and £4 million Exchequer) to capital projects across
England. In the first funding round 11 projects have been
awarded funding. One project in the East Midlands has been successful.
3.7 This year we are making £20 million
lottery funding available through our Themed Rounds, which aim
both to address barriers and create new opportunities for participation
in sport in under represented communities or where there are particular
needs. The Rural Communities Fund, (£10 million lottery
funding) is the first of the Themed Rounds and was launched in
June 2009. A proportionate number of applications from the East
Midlands have progressed through to stage two evaluation. Final
award decisions will be announced in February 2010.
3.8 Current figures available for the first
quarter of the year—April 2009 to June 2009—show
that 173 projects have been awarded funding from our Small
Grants programme (up to £10,000) from a pot of £5 million
per annum. Of these, 47 are projects in the East Midlands.
3.9 Sportsmatch, which distributes £3 million
Exchequer funding per annum, has awarded six grants in the East
Midlands from a total of 44.
3.10 We have also recently opened our Innovation
Fund, which invests in projects which can change the patterns
of people's participation habits and £5 million lottery
funding is available to projects across the country.
3.11 Finally, Sport England administers
and advises on the funding allocation of the capital element of
the Government's free swimming initiative, which provides local
authorities registered with the scheme with the opportunity to
upgrade their swimming pools. We have advised the Department of
Children, Schools and Families in the administration of £14 million
for capital upgrades to swimming pools used for educational purposes,
of which £3.1 million was spent in the East Midlands.
We also responsible for administering an investment of £10 million
into public pools, of which £2.4 million was allocated
to the East Midlands.
4. THE PROCESS
OF ALLOCATING
FUNDING
4.1 Our new strategy uses a market driven
approach to understand what types of sport people want to take
part in and what keeps them motivated to stay involved, so that
investment is targeted to achieve the greatest impact. Investment
is awarded following a competitive process and there is no target
or guaranteed level of funding.
4.2 All applications are considered against
other applications from across the country, and the success of
an application depends upon its quality and how effectively it
can help us achieve our outcomes. The process is extremely competitive
and strict, so only the best applications receive funding.
4.3 We use regular and rigorous measurement
to understand what is working, how we can extend effective projects
and where we can add value.
4.4 DCMS policy directions to the lottery
distributing bodies include the desirability of ensuring all areas
of England have access to the money distributed. In response,
Sport England has done much to build capacity in areas which have
tended to lack the expertise to submit successful applications.
The role of the County Sport Partnerships is instrumental to achieving
success in this area.
5. CONCLUSION
5.1 Sport England is not simply about awarding
grants; we work with the private sector and local authorities
to lever additional funding into grassroots sport, as well as
providing expert advice through our centres of excellence. We
have just agreed a commercial with Facebook worth £20 million
over four years. This investment will help 20 universities
enable their sports clubs to reach out to a wider audience. Universities
in the East Midlands involved in the scheme include Nottingham
Trent University and Loughborough University.
5.2 While the majority of investment benefits
a particular area, some national investment has a much wider geographical
benefit. These types of grants are not recorded against a particular
district or region, even though all regions benefit. An example
of this is funding allocated to NGBs who run programmes which
are delivered nationally, and benefit all regions. Sport England
does not hold records of this type of grant award.
5.3 It is worth noting that investment in
sport in the East Midlands has had an impact on participation.
The Active People Survey which measures sports participation amongst
adults, showed that in 2008-09 that 16.7% of people (603,000)
in the East Midlands take part in 30 minutes moderate intensity
sport activity three times per week. This compares with a national
average of 16.52%, demonstrating that the investment in the East
Midlands has had an impact on levels of participation.
5.4 The ability of Local Authorities and
County Sports Partnerships in the East Midlands to support the
development of strong applications will help secure future investment
for East Midlands projects.
5.5 It is clear that the East Midlands has,
and will, continue to benefit proportionately, from Exchequer
and Lottery investment made by Sport England, alongside every
region in England.
5.6 Sport England is happy to provide further
detailed information if requested by the Committee.
5 October 2009
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