Sport England Update

DCMS - New Chair announced for Sport England – Friday, 20 February

Richard Lewis to Chair Sport England

Richard Lewis has been appointed the new Chair of Sport England, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Andy Burnham announced today.
Mr Lewis has been involved in top level sport for over thirty years and will bring extensive sports management and development experience to the role.

As Chair he will lead Sport England's drive to create more sporting opportunities for people of all ages and get one million people playing more sport, one of the Government's key legacy commitments for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games………………………………………………

View the press release from the DCMS on their site

Staff structure for the West Midlands office

To view version 2 that updates you on the recent appointments to posts in the regional office click here.

SE announced the first ‘themed’ funding round – rural communities

Investing in sporting opportunities for rural communities 27 February 2009

Sport England today unveiled a £10 million investment fund that will create sporting opportunities for people in rural areas.

The first in a series of themed funding rounds, it will open for business on 1 April 2009.

Themed rounds will enable us to tackle specific challenges and opportunities that we know exist in grassroots sport as well as helping to ensure that our investment is effectively distributed across the country and across different communities………………………

Read the full release on the SE website

Active People 2 – Sports Facts sheets

Many of you will have received information on these factsheets in the SE newsletter ‘The latest from the pitch’.

You will see from the list on the Sport England website that there are only 35 sports covered. The reason for this is that for some sports with lower participation rates there is insufficient data from the survey i.e. the once per week participation target for the NGBs.

Where possible there is regional data included in the factsheets.

The sports are (with live links):

Angling, Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball/softball. Basketball, Bowls, Boxing, Canoeing/kayaking, Cricket,

Cycling, Fencing, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Hockey, Horseriding, Judo, Mountaineering/climbing, Movement and Dance, Netball, Rounders, Rowing, Rugby league, Rugby union, Sailing, Shooting, Skiing/snowboarding, Squash, Swimming, Table tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Volleyball and Weightlifting .

Active People Survey – measurement categories extended

As a result of discussions with the Department of Health about the measurement and reporting of the ‘two million target ‘* Sport England has agreed (with DH investment) to extend the coverage of the Active People Survey to include dance and active conservation/gardening in addition to an active travel measure included in the original survey. This started in January 2009. The Active People Survey will therefore provide the single measurement tool for the ‘two million target.’.

* Two million people to become more active by 2013, with Sport England getting one million people doing more sport. The other million being the physical activity target.

Podium – The Further and Higher Education Unit for the 2012 Games – new website

Podium has launched a bright and dynamic new website for the Further and Higher Education sectors. The user friendly site offers a plethora of original tools to help colleges and universities get the most out of the London 2012 Games. Announcing the launch Podium Chair, Professor Simon Lee said; “Working alongside Podium every college and university in the country can make their own unique contribution to the Games.”
The website promotes collaboration and offers the opportunity for FECs and HEIs to showcase their activity through the new regions section which has populated maps, showing where colleges and universities are actively engaged with the 2012 Games. ………………………

Read the full news item

Cultural demand in the West Midlands

This is a research report produced by the Bostock Marketing Group (BMG) for Culture West Midlands, in conjunction with other regional partners, was commissioned to inform the review of the West Midlands Regional Spatial Strategy (RES).

The report was published January 2009 – please view here.

Softball makes progress towards Olympic reinstatement

(Source: Gamesbids.com) 05/02/2009

Softball is one of seven sports vying for a spot on the Olympic program starting in 2016. The IOC will meet in October in Copenhagen to vote on at least two new sports to add to the Summer Games, but for the International Softball Federation (ISF) this is a reinstatement campaign since Softball was already an Olympic event over four Olympiads starting in 1996……

Read the full article here.

National Lottery Awards 2009

All Lottery-funded projects - large or small – can be nominated by the public or can enter themselves. Nominations can be made by calling 0845 070 0112 or by clicking here. Entries must be received by 5pm on Friday 13 March 2009.

The Awards have seven categories, each reflecting an area of Lottery funding: Sport; Heritage; Arts; Environment; Voluntary/Charity, Health and Education.

For the full details of the National Lottery announcement re the 2009 Awards – visit the NL website

CCPR European Update

View the January 2009 edition here.

RegenWM

To read the February e bulletin click here.

Kate Hoey, MP, interviews Jennie Price, CE SE - article

View the article from the ‘House Magazine’ 2 February 2009 here.

Minister announces funding to improve facilities at sport colleges

11 February 2009

Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls today announced that 75 sports colleges will share over £21 million to improve their facilities. This funding will ensure sports pitches can be used in the evening and through the winter with flood lights, artificial turf and new tented style sports halls…………………………………………
View the full press release on the DCSF site

List of schools receiving funding with amounts) can be found on the DCSF site - view

EU Sport Future

Press release: ‘Start of project EU:SPORT:FUTURE

Brussels, 10 February 2009

On February 4th and 5th the kick-off meeting of the new project EU:SPORT:FUTURE took place in Brussels in the EOC EU office. This initiative is designed as a broad discussion project, collecting the opinions of both experts and citizens to provide recommendations how the future EU competence in sport should be shaped. The project receives financial support from the European Commission’s ‘Citizens for Europe Programme’…………..’

View the full release here.

DoH – Physical Activity Plan

Be Active, Be Healthy:

Launched on Wednesday, 11 February – download a copy

(Note: the executive summary is on pages 5-7).

From the Department of Health website:
‘Be active, be healthy establishes a new framework for the delivery of physical activity alongside sport for the period leading up to the London 2012 Olympic Games, Paralympic Games and beyond. Programmes outlined in the plan will contribute to Government’s ambition of getting 2 million more people active by 2012 and have been designed to leave a lasting legacy from the Games………………

For the first time ever the plan publishes the NHS costs of physical inactivity for every PCT in England, averaging £5 million per PCT every year – almost 1000 hip replacements per PCT. This information is located in Annex 1 of Be active, be healthy.’

PANMWM - Strategy Seminar

Friday 20^thMarch 2009 at Austin Court, Birmingham.

The recent publication of the Be Active, Be Healthy Plan is the last in the series of national strategies to influence activity levels across the nation in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. The Legacy Action Plan “Before, during and after: making the most of the London 2012 Games” , Sport England Strategy and Be Active, Be Healthy all relate to how we deliver 2 million more adults active by 2012.

This seminar aims:

To raise delegates awareness of the 3 strategies
To enable delegates to understand the synergies between the strategies, plans and targets
To share the approaches been taken by a range of organisations to meet the delivery of these strategies.
To explore the opportunities and challenges for delivery at national, regional, sub regional and local level.
This seminar is free of charge for PAN-WM members.

To register an interest or if you have any queries please e-mail Erica.rogers@pan-wm.org.uk or call 07825915068

DoH - Healthy lives, brighter futures: The strategy for children and young people’s health

This joint DH/DCSF strategy presents the Government’s vision for children and young people’s health and wellbeing. It sets out how they will build on progress through: world-class outcomes; high quality services; excellent experience in using those services; and minimising health inequalities.

Download Healthy lives, brighter futures - The strategy for children and young people’s health (PDF, 3334K)

Download Healthy lives, brighter futures - The strategy for children and young people’s health, Executive Summary (PDF, 203K)

SE presence and presentation at the strategy launch event

Mihir Wirty, Director, Policy and Performance, Sport England presented at the launch of the strategy. Sharing his presentation with you (although, some slides now carry overlays as they were very animated in the original ‘Powerpoint’ version –the Olympic 5 rings is one such slide). View the presentation in pdf format here.

ASA swimming coordinators

Linked to the announcement of the Physical Activity strategy – there will be 49 ASA swimming coordinators funded, based within CSPs, to support the delivery of the swimming activity strand of the strategy – linked to the aspirations of the ‘Free swimming prgramme’ and ‘Learn to Swim’ for adults. The funding for the posts is jointly from a number of Govt Depts and the ASA.

More information on this as soon as we receive updates.

Building Schools for the Future –National Audit Office report, Feb 2009

The Building Schools for the Future Programme: Renewing the secondary school estate. NAO, February 2009.
Executive summary (PDF - 228KB)

Full report (PDF - 1487KB)

2012 Annual Report

London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Annual Report January 2009. Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

View the report

Additional information re Sport England’s announcement on the NGB survey ‘Satisfaction with the quality of sporting experience (SQSE)

Following up on the information sent out in the ‘The Latest from the Pitch’ on the new survey, I asked 2 questions:
1. Confirmation on the number of sports to be included

Answer:

There are 46 funded sports, and we intended to do the survey amongst all these 46 sports. However, some are not able to provide us with the information on talent pool/club members and are too small to just survey general participants. Therefore, we will probably end up including 44 sports this year.

2. Would the survey include disabled participants?
Answer:

We will be surveying participants with a disability, but we are not anticipating that we will be able to analyse the results by individual sport, by those with a disability due to insufficient sample (although we probably can do this overall across all 44 sports). There are the disability sports which are going to be included in the survey also - wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby and boccia.

View the information page

There is a useful FAQ sheet – take a look

Audit Commission - Comprehensive Area Assessments (CAA)

View some useful extracts on CAA from Audit Commission Update edition 11 – 30 January 2009

Municipal Journal article re LA opposition to CAA

West Midlands' web pages will change in March

The regional section of the Sport England website will cease to exist from mid-March; this is in readiness for the development of a new website that will project the organisation’s new strategic direction. There will however, be a page on the main site where you can find key information on the regional office, including all contact details.

We hope that over the years you have found our pages of value and they have informed you on developments and news in the West Midlands. We would also like to thank all our partners who have provided information to support the content of our web pages.

SE tracker

The ‘Policy Trackers’ can now be viewed via a dedicated Sport England web page – please take a look.

LA procurement efficiency - Roots review – published 19 February

During the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR07) period (2008-09 to 2010-11), English councils are collectively required to achieve £4.9bn cash-releasing efficiency gains. Delivering Value for Money in Local Government set an expectation that nearly 60 per cent of this total (£2.8bn) would arise through smarter procurement.

This independent Report highlights that substantial actions are underway by the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships (RIEPs) and others to enhance procurement efficiency. But more can be done. It sets out practical recommendations that can be acted on by relevant organisations, such as the RIEPs.

View the review

Read the LGA article on this review here.

Non-governmental and other Organisations’ Press Releases

Olympic Delivery Authority - BA launches £500,000 fund to help talented young people achieve their dreams

Tue, 17 February 2009 | Government Body Press Release

Summary

The Olympic Delivery Authority has reported that London 2012 partner British Airways has launched a £500,000 fund to help talented young people achieve their dreams. The BA Great Britons programme will provide up to 180 free flights each year to help anyone over 16 years old who needs support to develop their talent in any field - including sport, music, film and more.

London 2012 Organising Committee Chair Sebastian Coe said: 'We have always said the London 2012 Games would deliver for young people and the BA Great Britons launch is another great example of our partners supporting British talent and creating a lasting legacy.'

The move to unitary status in Shropshire will see more than 180 jobs lost at a cost of £11.9M.

At least 182 workers will take voluntary redundancy or early retirement across the existing councils on 1 April ………….
To view the MJ article from 18 February click here.

WM 2012 Volunteer Coordinator in post – news release

Press release issued by AWM 12 February:

‘Advantage West Midlands has teamed up with Sport England and Regional Action West Midlands to put a new high-profile job on the starting blocks with responsibility for developing sports volunteering in the West Midlands in the lead up to the 2012 Games.

Matthew Kendall, aged 29 from Moseley in Birmingham has taken up the pole position of sports volunteer coordinator………………….’

Read the full release on AWM’s website.

Squash Eyes 2016 Olympic Dream

18/02/2009 (Source - ?)

The sport of Squash moved a step closer to its goal of becoming one of the sports included in the Summer Olympic Games, as the World Squash Federation (WSF) submitted its response to the 80–question Olympic Programme Review questionnaire.

To read more click here.

2016 Olympics: All four candidate cities submit their files to the IOC

13/02/2009 (Source: IOC)

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced yesterday that it has received the Candidature Files of the four Candidate Cities bidding to host the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in 2016. Chicago (USA), Tokyo (Japan), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Madrid (Spain) [1] all delivered their files before the deadline of midnight last night.

View the article here.

2012 ‘Open weekend’ – 24-26 July

Last September, all over the UK, more than 750,000 people took part in the first ‘Open Weekend’ to launch the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. More than 80% of the events were created specifically for Open Weekend and half resulted in new participants. Due to popular demand, the event will return in 2009 - it will be bigger and better, incorporating cultural, sporting and environmental initiatives. This year’s Open Weekend will take place between 24-26 July 2009 and will be part of the celebrations to mark the three year countdown to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on 27th July 2012. Now is the time to save the date and start thinking of events that could help us celebrate. More details will be announced very soon and will be available via the London 2012 website – www.london2012.com/culture Join in and be part of this year's Open Weekend.

Team GB accepts invitation to 2010 Winter Olympics

Team GB press release 13 February:
‘Vancouver 2010 - One Year To Go

Exactly one year before the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, British Olympic Association (BOA) Chairman Colin Moynihan was in Vancouver to accept the official invitation to attend the Games on behalf of Team GB………………….’

Read the full press release here.

2012 Activity Calendar

To view the most recent 2012 Activity Calendar click here.

Click here to return to the newsletter