House of Commons - Women and Sport - Culture, Media and Sport Committee

Women and Sport - Culture, Media and Sport Committee Contents

2 Attracting new participants

16. Between 2012 and 2017, Sport England will invest over £1 billion in a Youth and Community Sport Strategy. As part of this, Sport England is investing £100 million a year in 46 national governing bodies of sport (NGBs) over the same period. This investment is intended to bring about four outcomes:

· An increase in participation (at least once a week for 30 minutes at moderate intensity) by 14-25-year-olds

· An increase in participation (as defined above) by adults over 25

· An increase in participation by disabled people

· Improved talent pathways for English athletes (up to the level of performance covered by UK Sport, i.e. podium potential for Olympic or World championships—or their equivalent).

The DCMS commented: "Virtually all of the 46 NGBs have a quantified target in each of these four areas. While there is no separate target for participation by women, in many sports (tennis and swimming are obvious examples) it is difficult to increase participation without having a good offer for women and girls."[19]

17. Sport England found the main things that motivated women and girls to play sport were the opportunity to take part with friends, a non-competitive atmosphere, the support of family or links between the sport-provider and trusted partners such as faith groups, the availability of childcare, girls-only sessions, having fun, safe and comfortable environments, and flexibility in timing.[20] We were told that the Us Girls programme—an award-winning programme run by the charity StreetGames, focused on encouraging participation in sports by young women in disadvantaged communities[21]—has shown that (non-sporty) young women want sport that is less formal and is based on friendship groups and fun. Young women from disadvantaged communities generally need subsidised sporting activities that are delivered locally in a relaxed, safe, female-only environment, involve music, include a variety of activities to try but are linked to the promotion of health and well-being, and are delivered by the right coach/leader.[22]

18. However, according to StreetGames, the way sport has traditionally been organised has made it hard for even interested and motivated young women in disadvantaged areas to participate in sport. This is because sporting outlets are scarce in disadvantaged communities, especially for women, traditional sports are often not offered or packaged in a way that are attractive to women, transport is not available and cost is a significant issue, as well as the problems of lack of confidence and cultural barriers.[23]

19. The Muslim Women's Sport Foundation (MWSF) said that women and girls from BAME communities wanted to be more active, but a lack of understanding of their particular needs made participation even more difficult for them than for women in general. In addition to the barriers already listed, they faced a lack of opportunities suited to their needs (for example, many leisure centres ran women-only swimming sessions but could not guarantee that a female lifeguard would be present); practical difficulties such as safety concerns and travel time; family commitments (which persisted throughout their lives); and negative cultural attitudes toward sport for women.[24]

Types of sport on offer

20. Whilst some sports have seen gains in the past few years, most have not witnessed sustained increases in female participation. Currently, women are far more likely to take part in individual as opposed to team sport, or in non-competitive activities, and—generally—not to belong to clubs. This means that their sporting activity takes place outside the reach of sports governing bodies, through which much of the funding for sporting activities is funnelled. Swimming, going to the gym, running/jogging and Zumba are the top four activities women choose to participate in.[25] The WSFF commented:

21. Sport England provided information about some of the most popular sports for men and women from the point of view of participation.

Examples of sports popular with women and girls

Sport
Overall Participation
Female (%)
Male

Swimming
2,892,200
1,870,400 (65%)
1,021,800 (35%)

Athletics (which includes running)
1,958,000
823,000 (42%)
1,135,000 (58%)

Tennis
424,300
192,900 (45%)
231,400 (55%)

By comparison - examples of sports popular with men

Sport
Overall Participation
Female (%)
Male

Football
1,939,700
119,900 (6%)
1,819,800 (94%)

Cricket
189,400
12,900 (7%)
176,500 (93%)

Rugby Union
166,400
10,900 (7%)
155,500 (93%)

SPORT AT SCHOOL

22. A recent survey showed that 51% of girls were deterred from physical activity by their experiences of school sport and PE.[27] They associated school sports with:

· Lack of choice—46% of the least active girls said they "don't like the activities we get to do in PE"

· Overly competitive environments—45% of girls agreed that "sport is too competitive"

· Lack of confidence—Over a third of the least active girls didn't think they had "the skills to do well in sport"

· Body image—75% of girls agreed that "girls are self-conscious of their bodies"

· Sport is undervalued—59% of the least active girls didn't think it was important to be good at PE.

Some girls argued that they had too much schoolwork to take part, they had encountered sexism when playing sport, and they would prefer single sex games lessons.[28] Others perceived the focus in PE lessons to be always on those who represented the school in sports, with the result that most girls felt neglected and therefore apathetic towards sport. As a result, girls often preferred to play sport outside school. Where a greater variety of sport was on offer, they could exercise more seriously and they were more likely to have a coach to guide and encourage them.[29]

23. Lottie Birdsall-Strong, a football player, former member of the England youth squad and recipient of a scholarship to study and play college football in North Carolina, USA, argued that many of the problems in relation to women's sport in the UK derived from a lack of equality in sports at school. She suggested that a key factor in the comparative success of the USA in encouraging women's participation in sport was Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (also known as the 'Equal Opportunity in Education Act'). Amongst other things, Title IX requires that schools allocate participation opportunities in a non-discriminatory way: in other words, that schools receiving state funds must provide female students with equal opportunities to participate in educational programmes, including Physical Education. Since Title IX was passed, the number of girls participating in secondary school athletics in the USA has increased from fewer than 300,000 to nearly 3 million—from 7% of the relevant female population to nearly 41%.[30]

24. In the UK there is no requirement that schools' expenditure on sport benefits girls and boys equally. Lottie Birdsall-Strong suggested there was overwhelming anecdotal evidence that funding in the UK was given primarily to boys' sports in schools—anecdotal evidence was the only evidence available because neither the allocation nor the impact of spending was appropriately measured. She did not suggest that the UK replicate Title IX, but preferred an amendment to schools' Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010, adding that the Youth Sport Trust could be an appropriate organisation to monitor funding allocation, resource and opportunity in terms of gender equality.[31] The Football Association (FA) also considered the impact of Title IX and concluded that, though Title IX itself might not be directly transferable to the UK, the principle of equitable investment for schools was worth considering.[32]

25. Sports authorities have been making efforts to improve the teaching of their sport in schools and to increase the enthusiasm of children to play them. The FA noted that the WSFF research (already cited in paragraph 22 above) pointed to poor coaching and lack of support in schools as the two issues most pertinent to girls dropping out from playing football.[33] With a number of our other witnesses, the FA believed that increasing the number of teachers with a sporting interest and improving their training was essential. Our sister committee, the Education Committee, raised concerns about the short-term (two year) nature of the Government's primary sport premium funding scheme and the lack of a long-term strategy for school sport with sustained funding.[34] The FA welcomed the Government's current pilot projects which aim to improve the skills of PE teachers, but would like further increases in physical education training during Initial Teacher Training. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Football Association, Lawn Tennis Association and Premiership Rugby all cited programmes to train teachers in primary schools in delivering the skills relevant to their particular sport.[35] The ECB and tennis authorities (Tennis Foundation and LTA) also run initiatives which aim to provide young players with regular league matches against similar standard players in a competitive team environment. Similarly, in 2012 the RFU launched a programme to help state secondary schools to offer rugby to their students, the schools being identified in clusters so that they could play rugby against one another locally.[36] While none of these initiatives was aimed specifically at girls, we were told that in a number of them participants split roughly half and half between boys and girls. Premiership Rugby was very proud of the number of women teachers trained under its primary school programme, commenting: "This is critical because our experience shows that where female teachers or role models are involved programmes generate higher levels of participation and retention."[37]

26. When girls were asked to select their favourite sports, and those they would like to do in the future, sports such as swimming, gym, dance and trampolining were ranked highest.[38]BT argued that, while there were practical reasons (mainly financial) why schools were unable to offer a wide variety of sports to girls, "Outings to climbing walls, velodromes, riding schools, mountain bike courses should not be out of the question. Links to public schools who have the facilities could be fostered. Every sort of sports club could throw open its doors on a regular basis and make a special point of inviting girls."[39]

Other witnesses emphasised the importance of forging links between schools and sports clubs. Joanne Herbertson suggested that school teachers should concentrate on instilling a view of sport as fun, core skills and sportsmanship, while external coaches could provide opportunities to try activities such as swimming, Zumba, aerobics, futsal, tennis, badminton, cricket, football, rugby, squash, hockey, karate, basketball and volleyball.[40] However, we were told that this was not happening: BT cited a failure by local clubs to be inspired by the Olympics to promote their sports to primary schools.[41] England Netball claimed: "The recent announcement of £150 million for primary schools has failed to have the impact it could have had due to the lack of consultation and communication with NGBs [National Governing Bodies] and a seemingly uncoordinated approach to distribution and delivery," adding that while research indicated that the drop off in physical activity starts as early as nine years of age, direct funding to NGBs was only for those over 14 years.[42] Others agreed that there was a lack of co-ordination among Ministries, schools, clubs and sports governing bodies.[43]

27. In 2013 our sister committee, the Education Committee, reported its concerns that, following the abolition of the requirement for schools to report on the proportion of children taking part in at least two hours per week of sport or PE at school, there was no longer any way of measuring the performance of individual schools in this area.[44] While recognising that the former system did not give an indication of the quality of provision just its quantity, the Committee recommended that the requirement on schools to report on participation be re-instated. Activity levels and fitness are already measured by a number of schools through 'bleep tests' on individual pupils, and the results of these could form the basis of a more informative report on progress in improving activity levels amongst pupils.

28. Since the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, the Department for Education has announced an increased focus on competitive sport in schools. A number of those who submitted written evidence to us argued that, while they were not opposed to improving competition, if this change in focus were at the expense of providing general opportunities to participate it might have the perverse consequence of decreasing activity levels among girls.[45] The WSFF considered that the government needed to make it clear that the first priority for school sport and PE should be health, focusing on getting every girl (and boy) active.[46] Getting girls active would, it thought, lead to more girls playing competitive sport; however, if the starting focus was on competition then it was likely to lead to fewer girls being active. Ofsted's report Beyond 2012 — outstanding physical education for all (2013) found that "only a few schools have achieved a balance between increasing participation and generating elite performance".[47] The WSFF commented: "more needs to be done to turn best practice in a few schools into common practice".[48] There was general agreement that best practice consisted of three elements: schools should give children "physical literacy", so that they could run, jump and throw with confidence; school sport should be fun; and schools should offer a range of sports to encourage the widest possible participation.[49] From September 2013 the WSFF has been working on a Department of Health funded project with 25 schools to produce best practice examples, and the Youth Sport Trust has been helping 21 schools to engage better with 11-14 year-old girls in sport and to increase participation rates.[50] We were provided with an example of best practice from New College Leicester, which provides single sex PE lessons, is trying to build links with female community sports clubs and has changed its PE uniform for both girls and boys to be more comfortable and up-to-date.[51]

29. The increasing inactivity of children is, and should be, a major concern to the Government, to parents and to society in general, and schools are key to addressing the problem. We recommend that children's activity levels be measured annually, and that best practice amongst a few schools is turned into common practice in relation to encouraging higher levels of overall participation. This will need to include addressing specific problems such as poor facilities.

30. Though there have been initiatives to improve the training of teachers in PE, more needs to be done—at both primary and secondary levels—to ensure that PE staff are equipped to support every child in a wide range of activities. We agree with the Education Committee that the two-year timeframe for the primary sport premium is too short and runs the risk of replicating previous short-term fixes rather than providing a long-term solution to the inadequacy of PE teaching in schools.

31. Girls are being deterred from participating in sport by their experiences in school PE lessons. Unfortunately, an emphasis on competitive sport may make this situation worse for some girls. Schools need to be more imaginative in the type of sport that they provide for girls: while some enjoy team games like football and netball, or athletics, others would enjoy sampling a wider variety of activities, such as dance or cycling, or non-traditional games for girls like rugby.

32. While it is unrealistic to expect schools to provide facilities and coaching for a wide variety of sports, there are good opportunities for sports governing bodies to reach out to potential future players and spectators through forging links between local clubs and schools. While some progress is being made in this area, sports governing bodies need to inject more urgency and enthusiasm into this task, otherwise it is doubtful that they will meet their target of increasing participation in sporting activity by 14-25 year olds.

33. Whatever the reality, there is a perception amongst pupils and others that schools care more about, and spend more money on, sport for boys than for girls. We do not want to add to the bureaucracy on schools, but we consider that the decline in girls' participation in sport is sufficiently serious that schools should be made to focus more attention on the sports offered to girls. This might most easily be done by an amendment to schools' Public Sector Equality Duty, which we consider to be an effective but less heavy-handed alternative to the USA's Title IX legislation.

34. Although the Department for Culture, Media and Sport 'owns' the Olympic sport legacy, the bodies through which the legacy is preserved have been largely the Department for Education (DfE) and, until recently, the Cabinet Office. The Minister's responses to our questions about the amount of communication—let alone the co-ordination—between departments were unconvincing and suggested there was little or no real contact.[52] Sport for girls appears to have suffered as a result. The School Sport Partnership scheme provided the sort of co-operation between schools and community clubs that we are advocating to give girls the chance to try new sports. While the scheme was not perfect, it is regrettable that it was scrapped rather than reformed, and it appears to us that the DCMS would not have abolished it so hastily.

35. Given the importance of encouraging children to sustain a life-long commitment to sporting activity, and the fact that school sport currently appears to deter a significant number of girls from sport, we are very concerned about the lack of communication and co-operation between Government departments, which we think presents a serious obstacle to the DCMS in its attempts to deliver the Olympic legacy. We recommend that the DCMS, Department for Education and Department of Health publish a joint annual report to Parliament on school sport, focusing on participation levels, the availability of different types of sport, partnerships with clubs and charities, and training for teachers.

OPTIONS AFTER SCHOOL

36. The WSFF argued that not only would greater participation by women in sport benefit women themselves, but also it offered the greatest opportunity for sport to grow. It was not alone in suggesting, however, that insufficient attention has been paid to how sport may be incorporated into women's wider lifestyles, the level of competition for women's leisure time, and how the opportunities for women to engage in sport may change at different points in their lives.

37. A number of sporting bodies have conducted research into the barriers to women's participation in their sport and have tried to address them.

· In the case of cycling, over 30% of female respondents to a survey identified safety concerns as the main barrier to participating in cycling. The other most common responses were 'lack of knowledge of local routes' and 'nobody to go with'. British Cycling therefore set up a number of programmes to design safer routes, give women the opportunity to gain confidence by cycling in a group, ensuring widespread coverage so that women could find a local event, and providing activities free or keeping costs low. At least in part as a result of these efforts, the number of women cyclists has increased greatly since 2008.[53]

· England Netball—at least initially—significantly increased participation among women and girls by first conducting extensive consumer research, identifying ten different audiences who had different wants and needs and then trying to adapt what was offered to meet the requirements of the ten groups. A number of the new products were successful, including Back to Netball, a gentle reintroduction to the sport for women over the age of 16 (which won the National Lottery Sports Project of the Year 2012), and Netball Now, a 'pay and play' option for women who did not wish to commit to weekly activity but wanted the flexibility to turn up and play netball when it suited them.[54]

· The LTA reported that, like most other sports,[55] the number of women playing tennis regularly dropped significantly at the ages of 16, 19 and 25. It decided to "create a range of products" that adapted tennis to "modern lifestyle demands". This included a programme called Cardio Tennis, which combines an aerobic workout with tennis drills in hour-long sessions run by a qualified tennis coach.[56]

· Female participation in contact rugby is currently low compared to other sports, but, according to the RFU, it is growing rapidly (a 90% increase since 2004). The RFU has been keen to translate the comparatively large proportion of women attending rugby matches into greater participation. It has developed a Women and Girls' strategy, the key strands of which are to: create a warm and welcoming club environment; provide local options to meet local need; increase opportunities for girls to play rugby in education settings; and change the perception of rugby to make it more attractive to girls and women. The RFU also expects to see increases in female participation from further development of modified forms of the game, such as rugby fitness and O2 Touch rugby, as research shows these appeal more to women and girls. Premiership Rugby cited the Worcester Warriors' involvement in forming the Midland Ladies Touch League.[57]

· The FA and Premier League told us they had a number of programmes to encourage women to try or to continue to play football, including recreational programmes at local football clubs, satellite projects set up with Premier League and Football League Clubs to provide opportunities for women aged 14 to 25 to try football and develop their skills, and Just Play festivals based on university and college grounds.[58]

· England Golf described its approach of group tester sessions for women at low-cost, friendly facilities, leading to structured sessions as women became more confident.[59]

· The ECB highlighted the fivefold increase in cricket clubs with women's and/or girls' sections between 2002 and 2012, and its programmes for developing the links between local clubs and schools and colleges.[60]

38. StreetGames described its promotion of 'doorstep sport', taking sport to disadvantaged communities, working with traditional governing bodies but also with people who had set up their own community interest companies, charities or businesses to deliver sports activities to women and girls. It advocated more support for these people in the form of financial help, expert advice, grants and mentoring schemes.[61]

39. The media are also involved. The BBC recently launched a campaign, 'Get Inspired', working alongside sports bodies responsible for promoting grassroots initiatives, to inspire people to try new sports and activities, through films, features, guides, and links to events and clubs near them. The related website included a database of more than 60 sports, a postcode finder to locate clubs and events plus links to national governing bodies. [62]

40. Beyond the programmes of sports governing bodies, Parkrun was presented to us as a case study in promoting participation. The model consists of weekly runs in public parks, which are organised by community groups, free to the user, local and easy to access, open to all, require no pre-booking or selection, there is no dress code; they encourage family involvement; they are timed (offering the opportunity to track progress) and often there are post-run social gatherings. Women and girls accounted for 49.5% of registrations.[63]

41. While all of the examples address some of the difficulties faced by women, they do not tackle many of the generic problems: the perception of sport as unfeminine, low confidence levels, family and work commitments (and childcare difficulties), access and cost.

42. One of the fundamental problems faced by those wishing to increase women's and girls' participation in sport is the poor body image many women have of themselves. In response, the Government set up a Body Confidence Campaign, which aims to promote positive and diverse representations of appearance in the media and other cultural forms, greater media literacy so that individuals are more resistant to unrealistic and harmful presentations of 'ideal' body shapes, and young people's confidence in their value to society. The 2013 Body Confidence progress report has demonstrated "significant successes" to date while recognising that what is sought is major cultural change, and there is still much to be done.[64]

43. Chrissie Wellington, the triathlon champion, suggested that clubs and facilities should offer beginner classes open to all to reduce embarrassment amongst participants; relax dress codes; provide greater flexibility in membership packages (including 'try before you buy' schemes); offer classes that parents could take part in with their children, or child-minding exchanges among gym or club members; and establish partnerships with transport providers and share-a-ride schemes. She and StreetGames suggested that the Government could subsidise entry to sports facilities—especially for children. [65]

44. The FA noted the differences in coaching needs between boys and girls: boys laid emphasis on an experienced and qualified coach, while girls said they needed an understanding and empathetic coach. To this end the FA has worked with the Us Girls programme (through StreetGames) to deliver sessions to all County FA staff on the importance of tailoring sessions to the needs and motivations of young female players.[66] Joanne Herbertson advocated an approach including 'girls only' coaching opportunities in football and cricket (mother and daughter open nights, women only coaching sessions in schools, sports clubs, or in open spaces like local parks or the beach), using social media, flyers and e-mails to encourage new participants and varieties of games.[67] We comment further on the importance of coaching later in this report.

45. One of the initiatives by Sport England is the Place Based Pilot, which was launched in Bury on 10 May 2013 with £2.3 million funding. This intensive campaign is focused on changing the sporting habits of local women and girls by targeting and engaging with the inactive. The four pillars to the main programme are:

· outdoor fitness

· NGB fitness programmes (including netball, tennis, running, cycling)

· later life activities (including Pilates, yoga, tea dances) and

· fitness and dance (e.g. Zumba).

46. Sport England described the approach as follows:

47. As well as recruiting a workforce and making use of social networks and digital platforms to publicise the initiative, the project has involved refurbishing Bury's tennis and netball courts, installing three outdoor gyms, modernising the changing rooms in the main leisure centres and installing two mobile swimming pools. Providers include the local authority, private gym operators, sports and fitness coaches and local sports clubs. The Bury project uses 68 venues.[69] Small grants (of up to £1,000) are available to clubs or groups who need some investment to support coaches and activities directly working with women and girls. The scheme was intended to be rolled out nationwide after a year, implementing the successes and discoveries gleaned from the pilot.

48. While the Bury pilot seems to be succeeding in recruiting women to sport, previous programmes have found it more difficult to retain them: in 2011 Sport England put £8.2 million of Lottery funding into 20 projects to get more women from disadvantaged communities playing sport. At the end of 2012, almost 30,000 women had taken part in this Active Women programme, and the majority said that they would have done less or no sport without the project, and most said that they had had fun and felt better and more self-confident as a result of taking part.[70] Reaching the target groups and retention had proved difficult however.[71] With the Bury pilot, the aim is to reach 45,000 women in Bury and retain 10,000 of them.[72] Sport England was confident this was possible for three reasons. The first was that the investment being made into improving facilities would help retention. Secondly, the approach taken in deciding on provision—listening to what women wanted and then supplying it—meant that women were more likely to continue with the activities. Finally, continuing demand gave an incentive for local sports providers to make the commercial investment in continuing activities after the programme had ended, and would give health benefits also which would encourage the local authorities to help in offering low cost facilities.[73]

49. We look forward to the analysis of the Bury project, which appears to be imaginative and sensitive in adapting provision of sport to women's lives rather than expecting the reverse to take place. We hope that it is successful in sustaining the initial level of interest among women.

50. Sports providers are experimenting with a number of options designed to meet women's needs for flexible, fun sporting activity. Some of the examples listed above are also low-cost and comparatively easy to organise, requiring only readily-available facilities and little or no specialist equipment. It seems likely, from the success they have achieved so far, that these initiatives will spread through the country. However, parkruns and cycling do not suit everyone, and there remain difficulties in accessing suitable facilities for other types of sport.

51. We recognise that some progress has been made since 2005, but we are concerned about the persistently low rates of participation in sport by women and girls. We believe that this issue should be higher on the Government's agenda and, to this end, we recommend that the DCMS and Department for Health publish a joint report annually, in the wake of the APS statistics, indicating their response to those statistics.

Availability of facilities

52. One of the main barriers to participation is the shortage of suitable facilities near to where people live and work. Studies have shown that 64% of women would exercise more if there were more facilities in their local area and they were cheaper.[74] We were told that the facilities that existed were not welcoming enough, did not offer 'fun' activities, too much ability was expected of participants at the start, coaches were unfriendly and not local, and often the facilities were inaccessible to people with disabilities.

COST AND LOCATION OF FACILITIES

53. There are a significant number of outdoor facilities for team games and some other sports—for example, there are more than 35,000 football pitches across the country, shared by about 113,000 teams, there are about 2,000 community rugby clubs in England, 77% of which have their own ground, and there are over 20,000 tennis courts in Great Britain, about 7,000 of which are community facilities open to the public. However, many players are dependent on access to publicly owned and managed facilities. For example, 52% of football games are played on school and college grounds and a further 31% in local authority facilities, and over 40% of cricket is played on local authority pitches. Few of the 5,000 women's and girls' football teams own their own ground or are primary tenants.[75] The pressure on local authority and educational finances has led to a reduction in the number, availability and quality of facilities. The FA told us that in some places local authority hire charges seemed likely to rise by 200%.[76] There were press reports of football teams boycotting local authority pitches earlier this year because of rising hire costs and the poor state of the grounds after a wet winter and resulting intensive use of grass pitches in the drier weather.

54. Although our witnesses supported the development of better facilities, they were uniformly anxious that there should be no net loss of facilities. While welcoming the enhanced protections outlined in the Government's National Planning Policy framework, the ECB remained very concerned about the sustainability of local authority facilities because of the budgetary constraints. The FA strongly supported the maintenance of Sport England's role as statutory consultee. It also considered that strengthening any community programmes that protect playing fields, such as the Community Right to Bid, would be very beneficial for sport.[77]

55. England Netball was "in no doubt that its ability to grow participation in netball will be constrained by the lack of accessible and affordable facilities". Its strategy to increase participation is based on a netball centre model, where multiple programmes for all ranges of ability take place on one site. It has found that where netball centres exist participation rates are higher than areas where programmes are spread across a number of sites. However, the netball centre model requires both outdoor and indoor facilities on one site and, according to England Netball, the impact of local authority budget cuts is adding to a significant shortage of appropriate indoor facilities and a serious deterioration in the condition of a number of the outdoor facilities across the country, some of which it considered potentially dangerous. Moreover, many local authority sites are threatened with closure due to budget cuts, and hire costs are rising.[78] As a result of shortage of facilities elsewhere, England Netball was turning to commercial providers. The LTA also noted a growth in partnerships between private tennis clubs, community facilities and schools to help maintain the community facilities and to try to increase participation.[79]

56. StreetGames emphasised that, especially amongst 'hard to reach' demographics like low income teenage girls and women from black and ethnic minority groups, there is a strong preference for using indoor rather than outdoor facilities (only 14% of Us Girls sessions that took place in 2012 and 2013 were at outdoor venues), but—like England Netball—it complained of a shortage of indoor facilities, and the cost of hiring them.[80] Moreover, StreetGames suggested that young women who have limited or no previous sporting experience are unlikely to visit traditional sport settings/venues, so providing activity in non-traditional sports venues in the local community is likely to be more attractive to them.[81] The US Girls programme delivered by StreetGames used a variety of local community venues, including both traditional and non-traditional sports facilities, but StreetGames (and England Netball) reported reluctance on behalf of some schools to open their facilities up for community use.[82]

57. Sport England's Iconic Facilities Fund has invested £39 million to support 26 large-scale, multi-sport construction projects.[83] Though welcome, this is a small contribution to the provision of local, inexpensive facilities.

58. We are concerned that there are too few facilities to enable people easily to participate in sport. We acknowledge the pressure on local authority budgets, but we fear that a diminution in the number and quality of sporting facilities will simply increase the need for more expensive health and social care interventions in a less fit population, even if one does not take into account the loss to individuals. Provision of some basic facilities—pitches, swimming pools, sports halls—at low cost should be seen as a contribution to public health rather than a leisure programme.

59. We recommend a review of programmes, such as the Community Right to Bid, to enable local people more easily to defend the open spaces and facilities that they value.

60. Schools also have an important role to play in ensuring facilities are available in every community. We acknowledge the pressures on schools because of local authority budget cuts, but nevertheless we were disappointed to learn that some are reluctant to open up their facilities. This should be challenged. Both publicly-funded schools and those which claim charitable status have a duty to serve the local community, and, if they have sports facilities, should be required to report to the local authority, DfE or Charity Commission, as relevant, how they make those facilities available to local people.

SUITABILITY OF FACILITIES

61. Sport England acknowledged that improvements in facilities could make a significant difference to women's inclination to play sport,[84] and there were concerns that for some women, such as Muslim women and those with disabilities, a lack of appropriate facilities was a major barrier to participation. More generally, it was felt that some facilities needed to be of a higher standard and the service to customers improved so that women were not deterred from continuing with sport once they had started.[85]

62. A study by the WSFF found that 55% of women would exercise more if local facilities were of a better quality. In the Sports Satisfaction Survey 2012, 56% of women said that the quality of non-sports facilities such as changing rooms was of particular importance to them.[86] Research by the Rugby Football Union and the WSFF suggested that the main barriers to women and girls playing rugby were the changing and clubhouse facilities.[87]

63. School changing rooms often lack privacy and basic amenities, like adequate hot water. The Business Development Manager of New College Leicester said: "Secondary school changing rooms are probably the last place on earth that a young female 11-16 years old would like to be seen in."[88]

64. The Government has recognised the problem of inadequate facilities and, through Sport England, has provided investment, including £69.9 million for 1,361 small facilities upgrades, including changing rooms (through the Inspired Facilities programme), and over £9 million for 38 medium-sized projects, initially focusing on artificial pitches and swimming pool changing facilities (through the Improvement Fund), as well as the £39 million for large-scale construction projects mentioned in paragraph 58 above.[89] Sport England emphasised that changes were often as basic as ensuring that toilets could be used by women as well as men, showers had individual cubicles and there was warm water—it was not a matter of cosseting women.[90]

65. The football and rugby authorities described their programmes for investing millions of pounds in improving club facilities, especially changing rooms, over the last decade and for the next few years, for the benefit of both men and women. However, as the Football Foundation admitted,[91] its investment of £780 million in the last ten years has regenerated only around 6% of facilities in England, and "has barely scratched the surface of the renovations and builds required." The RFU's £72 million of investment in 763 projects in community rugby clubs also is just part of the investment needed to improve changing rooms.[92] The tennis authorities have also invested substantially over the last few years, though in their case mainly to provide floodlights and indoor structures to extend playing hours and to provide opportunities to play tennis all year around.[93]

66. Both StreetGames and the MWSF pointed out that some women, often those from BAME backgrounds, either preferred or had to exercise in an exclusively female environment. The ability to provide female-only sport sessions is currently protected in the 2010 Equality Act (where it can be demonstrated that the sessions are in response to low participation rates amongst women). 'Women only' sessions are often very popular, but while many facilities offer them, this does not necessarily meet the needs of some members of ethnic or religious minorities, who require an area with no male access or viewing, where windows and doors are closed off to the general public, and where participants and staff are all female. The MSWF reported that there was a serious shortage of appropriate facilities, giving as an example that many new sports halls were built open-plan or with viewing galleries or gyms overlooking the hall, thereby enabling the general public to view the activity and making the hall unusable for these women. We were also told that male lifeguards were sometimes provided to supervise 'women only' swimming sessions.[94]

EQUAL ACCESS TO FACILITIES

67. Several witnesses suggested that women and girls did not experience equitable access to facilities and pitch time. Joanne Herbertson, a coach, stated that in Northumberland the problem was especially severe in winter due to a lack of indoor or floodlit facilities, but she argued that even at other times men and boys were given priority, especially in cricket, as the men's games often generated more income for the club.[95] Sport England acknowledged this was a problem.[96] Both the FA and the Rugby Football union admitted that women's games were traditionally relegated to Sundays, to be played after all the men's and boys' teams had completed their matches.[97] England Netball said that, even where appropriate indoor facilities existed, its sport was often "fighting a losing battle" against five-a-side football participants who were prepared, or were able, to pay higher court costs.[98]

68. The Scottish Ladies' Golfing Association pointed to an anomaly arising from the long-established nature of many golf clubs in Scotland. Traditionally, women had access to courses during the week while men, because of work commitments, played at weekends. This allocation of time endures, despite the fact that men and women now pay the same membership fee, which is a disincentive to working women to take up the sport.[99]

ALTERNATIVE WAYS OF PROVIDING FACILITIES

69. Satellite Clubs are extensions or outposts of community sports clubs which are established in a new community venue (usually a secondary school or college) and are staffed by coaches and volunteers from the community sports club. A key element of Sport England's Youth and Community Sport Strategy 2012-2017 is to create at least 5,000 satellite clubs. Sport England wants to offer every secondary school in England the opportunity to host a satellite community sports club by 2017. The programme reached its 2,000 club milestone in April 2014.[100]

70. Sport England has been working to establish a number of "girls only" satellite clubs where there is a clear demand. Of the 1,500 satellite clubs in operation when the Minister gave oral evidence to us in February, 150 were girls only, and it was expected that this number would increase. A range of sports were already represented among these clubs, including netball, football, cricket, rugby union, rugby league and volleyball.[101] The tennis authorities have joined with 'Premier League 4 Sport'[102] football clubs to provide tennis facilities in satellite clubs, and there is a plan to grow this through establishing 200 tennis satellite clubs on school sites over the next four years.[103] Additional sports hosted at 'Premier League 4 Sport' football clubs are badminton, judo, table tennis, basketball, handball, hockey, golf, boxing and athletics.[104] Meanwhile, British Cycling's 'Go Ride' programme with children in schools has been linked to local cycling clubs to provide as many opportunities as possible for young people to begin and continue cycling.[105]

71. Other witnesses suggested alternative approaches to 'bringing sport to women'. Chrissie Wellington advocated an expansion in projects to facilitate mobile provision of equipment in rural areas, such as schemes to transport sports equipment from village to village, or 'mobile gyms' that could visit schools and colleges regularly. She also suggested that employers could do more to encourage sporting activity by providing sport facilities for employees, or even changing facilities and showers, or setting up work sports leagues or training, or encouraging employees to engage in sport for charity as part of their commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility.[106] BT reported that a group of children working with local charity Community Links put together a 'pop-up' tennis court under a flyover in East London in the summer of 2013. The court, net, rackets and sponge balls were provided free of charge, and anyone was welcome to play: lack of expertise or ability was no barrier as it was intended just to provide fun. It was advertised through word of mouth, families and groups of friends went to see it and it was used very heavily.[107]

72. We understand that the economic situation has severely limited the financial resources that public bodies can apply to the maintenance and improvement of sports facilities, and we acknowledge the attention that at least some sports governing bodies are giving to updating and improving sports grounds and clubs. However, more emphasis should be given to the needs of women, and of different groups of women, in the design and staffing of facilities.

73. In bringing so many dilapidated and outdated facilities up to standard progress is likely to be slow. In the meantime, enterprising people are trying out alternatives to traditional facilities, and we commend all these efforts to bring cheap and accessible sport to people. Sport England is already working with a number of these people, but we recommend that Sport England draw up a strategy to assist them with advice, small grants and to spread best practice, as locally organized, locally promoted sport seems to us the most promising way of increasing participation not only by women but also by men.

19 DCMS (WAS0037), paras 14-15 Back

20 Sport England (WAS0039), para 20 Back

21 The US Girls project, which ran for two years (April 11-April 13) at a cost of £2.3 million, worked in 60 deprived neighbourhoods and reached over 34,000 participants (16-25-year-old females) using over 700 sports coaches. Examples of sports popular with the women involved, of which around 40% were not doing any sport before joining the programme, were dance and fitness, swimming, and badminton. The project was voted 'Best Sports Project 2013' in the National Lottery Awards. Back

22 StreetGames (WAS0010), paras 1.2, 1.5, and 1.21-1.22 See also Q6 Back

23 StreetGames (WAS0010), paras 1.20 and 1.23 See also Q47 Back

24 MWSF (WAS0023), section 3 Back

25 For example, going to the gym is the second highest activity that women take part in on a weekly basis with 8.2% of women participating in at least one 30 minute gym session per week (Active People Survey October 2011 to October 2012) Back

26 (WAS0031), paras 15-16 Back

27 WSFF research in its report Changing the Game for Girls cited in (WAS0031), para 28 See also Youth Sport Trust (WAS0027), para 12(ii) Back

28 StreetGames (WAS0010), paras 1.28-1.29 and Qq18 and 29-31 (WSFF) Back

29 Study undertaken by Diva Creative between Jan-April 2013 including an on-line survey with 360 young people and 6 focus groups with 14-16 year olds in areas of high deprivation. The survey was done for StreetGames: See (WAS0010), paras 1.25 and 1.27; also MSWF (WAS0023), para 4.1 Back

30 (WAS0005), paras 2-3 and Qq69-70 Back