Sport England Update

Andy Burnham appointed new Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

Jennie Price, Chief Executive of Sport England, said:

"We welcome the appointment of Andy Burnham MP as the new Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. We know he is a strong supporter of sport and we look forward to working with him to further enhance community sport in England."

His appointment comes after predecessor James Purnell MP moved to the Department of Work and Pensions. Prior to this Andy Burnham MP worked as Chief Secretary to the Treasury since Prime Minister Gordon Brown's first reshuffle in June 2007.

A former Whitehall policy adviser, Andy Burnham MP succeeded Lawrence Cunliffe in the safe seat of Leigh in June 2001, with no previous campaign or local government experience. Leigh is a substantial Labour stronghold returning a Labour member to the seat in every contest since 1922.

Andy Burnham MP was promoted to Minister of State for Health in the May 2006 reshuffle, replacing Jane Kennedy MP. In taking up this post, Andy Burnham moved from the Home Office, where he had been Parliamentary Under-Secretary since 2005. He is also currently a member of the Co-operative Party, TGWU and Unison. Prior to this he had served on the Health Select Committee for two years before becoming Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary David Blunkett MP in 2003. A year later he moved to be PPS to the new Education Secretary Ruth Kelly MP. He got his first ministerial post in May 2005, returning to the Home Office as Parliamentary Under-Secretary.

In addition to these positions he has also been the joint Vice-Chair of the PLP Departmental Committee for Trade and Industry from 2002 to 2004. He has also chaired Supporters Direct from 2002 to 2005.

Prior to being elected MP,Andy Burnham MP was special adviser to then Culture Secretary Chris Smith from 1998, having been parliamentary officer for the NHS Confederation for a year, and administrator for the Football Task Force. Before that he was researcher to Tessa Jowell MP for three years in Opposition. He was credited with having persuaded Chris Smith MP to target more lottery money towards former coalfield areas, including Leigh.

Andy Burnham MP read English at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge and he lists his main political interests as health, sport, media, education and crime. He is a keen pro-European and is a member of Lowton Labour Club and Leigh Catholic Club. He is married with three children and speaks Spanish and Dutch. He is a keen sports fan, supporting Everton Football Club and Leigh Rugby League Football Club. He is a good cricketer and plays football for the Commons team. His love of football has been at the centre of his publications to date: Football in the Digital Age (Mainstream Publishing) 1999 and Supporters Direct – the changing face of the football business (Frank Cass) 2000.

Sport Playing Its Part Newsletter – from Sport England

Click here to view the December edition on Sport England's website.

Contains some really good guidance on recent issues

DCFS – Children’s plan
Click here to read the key points from the plan.

Building Schools for the Future
Click here to read BSF's response to the Children’s Plan.

Prime Minister outlines health strategy

The Prime Minister unveiled his healthcare plans this week. The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown MP said that he wants the NHS to take a new direction, with increased prioritisation on managing long term illness and screening for diseases. The Prime Minister said that he wants to ensure deeper and wider reforms with a focus on prevention as well as cure. At the heart of the plans are increased for provisions for screening for heart disease, colon cancer, breast cancer, strokes and kidney disease.

Gordon Brown also made reference to the issue of tackling lifestyle diseases including obesity. He called for activity based prescriptions and for patients to be educated about diet and exercise. He said:

“As we look forward to London 2012, our ambition is to have all children offered at least 5 hours of sport each week. We will increase the availability of physical activity prescriptions on the NHS. We will improve the accessibility of gyms and other sporting facilities. And Alan Johnson will bring forward proposals to enhance the role of employers in helping their staff lead healthy lives - extending to many the kind of employment benefits currently only available to the few. We will also look again at the responsibility of food producers, caterers and retailers in helping tackle ill health, especially obesity.”

Mayor of London unveils 2012 legacy commitments

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, unveiled five legacy commitments for London 2012. The Mayor said that he is committed to ensuring that a by product of the Games is the transformation and regeneration of London. The first of the five commitments is that of providing increased opportunities for Londoners to become involved in sport. The Mayor of London commented that the success of the games would not only be judged on the medal tally, but the legacy which was created as a result of the competition.

The five key commitments are increased opportunities for Londoners to become involved in sport; to ensure Londoners benefit from new jobs, business and volunteering opportunities; the transformation of East London; the delivery of a sustainable Games and develop sustainable communities; and that London is showcased as a diverse, inclusive, creative and welcoming city.

The Mayor has also produced a progress report alongside the commitments; a document which will be updated annually ahead of the games and launched the London 2012 Get Set Roadshow. The Roadshow will travel around the capital in a bid to increase awareness about the ways in which the Games will increase jobs and skills opportunities and benefit culture, sport, business and regeneration across London. Launched by Ken Livingstone, Sebastian Coe, Manny Lewis and Tessa Jowell the Roadshow is designed to showcase the best ways of maximising the potential which the Olympics offer.

Further details about the roadshow are available here.

Ten Year Children’s Plan unveiled

The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, the Rt Hon Ed Balls MP, unveiled the Government’s Children’s Plan on 11 December. He outlined the long term vision to improve schools and support young people and announced £1 billion of funding to support the implementation of the plan over the next three years. At the core of the ten year plan is the aim of improving the standards of literacy and numeracy among young people, alongside bridging the education gap among families from less privileged backgrounds. The Children’s Plan includes a number of significant proposals of interest to the sports sector.

One of the key initiatives is to give children more opportunities to get involved in extra curricular activities, in order to keep children “happy, healthy and safe from harm”. Specifically, £225 million of the budget has been allocated to upgrade 3,500 playgrounds and to set up 30 new adventure playgrounds (designed for children aged 8-13) in some of the most deprived regions of the country. Speaking in reaction to the news, the Head of Play at Skills Active, Paul Bonel, welcomed the proposals. He said, “I am delighted to see much in the Children’s plan about children’s play and Play work.”

A further £160 million has been set aside to improve the quality and range of places for young people to go and things for them to do, to fund either the creation of 50 state of the art youth centres or the refurbishment of 2,000 older youth centres and mobile centres. The centres will provide a wide range of facilities designed to increase participation in sport, music, drama and art.

Ed Balls has said that the Government is committed to moving away from the “No ball games here” culture. As part of this he announced proposals for local areas to look into the idea of dropping the speed limit to 20mph in residential areas where young people might be active.

Further information is available here

Sport and the Olympics

Olympic Education Plan unveiled

London 2012 Chair Lord Coe launched the proposals for the 2012 Olympics Education Plan alongside Schools Minister Jim Knight MP. Ahead of the formal launch of the Education Plan in autumn 2008, the Minister announced the introduction of a revised Citizenship curriculum for secondary school pupils, with influence from both the upcoming Beijing and London Olympics.

Lord Coe announced that a wide range of Olympic and Paralympic-based learning resources, events and opportunities will be taken into schools and colleges as part of the Education Plan which will be organised into eight themes: culture and creativity; enterprise’ sustainability and regeneration; citizenship; internationalism; PE and sport; healthy and active lifestyles; and practical learning.

Further information is available here

Sport and Equality

Commission for Equality and Human Rights launches £10 million grants programme

The new Commission for Equality and Human Rights has launched a £10 million grants programme aimed at funding grass roots organisations across all areas of equality. The CEHR has given the examples of reducing the impact of hate crime, working with the media to promote greater awareness of equality or human rights issues and providing legal advice to victims of discrimination. Local sporting and community groups whose work is related to equality issues may be eligible for grants. The deadline for applications is 4 February 2008 and successful organisations will be announced on 31 March 2008. Organisations will be funded for a 12 month period commencing from 1 April 2008. Awards can be awarded up to £120,000 per application.

Further details are available here.

Walley - National Youth Volunteering Programme

Wed, 12 December 2007 | House of Commons - Oral QuestionContents

5. Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent, North) (Lab): If he will make a statement on the progress of the national youth volunteering programme. [173054]

The Minister for the Cabinet Office (Edward Miliband): The national youth volunteering programme is the main part of v's activities and involves funding 152 organisations to recruit volunteers up and down the country and in every local authority to form a team to promote volunteering to young people. Over the coming three years, that will help v progress towards its objective of 1 million new volunteers.

Joan Walley: May I welcome this truly record investment in the youth volunteering programme? Will the Minister tell me how many young people will benefit? Will he investigate how he can work with you, Mr. Speaker, to establish how we can lead on citizenship and volunteering? Will he visit my constituency to see how we can promote awareness of this wonderful programme?

Edward Miliband: I am certainly happy to visit my hon. Friend's constituency to see the work that is being done there. She makes an important point about the role of citizenship in our society. Recognising the voice and talents of young people is what the v scheme does. It is run by a dynamic group of young people called v20, who control much of the programme. It is a good example of the great things that young people can do in our country.

House of Lords
Ouseley - Sports Participation (Young People)

Wed, 12 December 2007 | House of Lords - Written Answer Summary

The following question was answered on 12 December 2007.Contents

Lord Ouseley asked Her Majesty's Government:

- What policies and programmes are being pursued to encourage more children to participate in sport; and [HL741]

- Whether resources will be made available to enable children from early years, through their school years, to participate in all forms of sport and recreational activities; and [HL742]

- How much expenditure will be incurred in 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09 on programmes to promote sport and encourage increased participation; and whether such expenditure will be adequate to achieve the targets set for increased participation in sport, particularly among children and young people. [HL743]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Lord Adonis): The Departments for Culture, Media and Sport, and Children, Schools and Families, are working together to deliver the national school sport strategy. The strategy's current aim is to increase the percentage of five-16 year-olds participating in at least two hours a week of high quality PE and sport at school and, from 2008-09, the percentage of five-19 year-olds participating in at least three further hours a week of sporting opportunities.

As part of the early years foundation stage (EYFS)-a single framework for learning, development and care for children from birth to age five, which will become statutory in all settings from September 2008)-the physical development of babies and young children is one of the six areas of learning and development which practitioners must encourage, through play, and by providing opportunities for physical and recreational activities. Implementation of the EYFS is funded through grants for training and delivery primarily through the free offer for three and four year-olds.

This department has allocated £135.5 million in 2006-07, £150.5 million in 2007-08 and £155.5 million in 2008-09 to deliver the national school sport strategy and its targets. DCMS has allocated £44.75 million annually in 2006-07 and 2007-08 to deliver the strategy. The allocation for 2008-09 is being finalised. This investment has helped us to increase the proportion of children aged five-16 participating in high quality PE and school sport from 62 per cent in 2003-04 to 86 per cent in 2006-07, achieving our target for 2008 of 85 per cent a year early.

Parliamentary questions

Foster - Planning Permission (Playing Fields)