Sport England Update

Sport revealed as a priority for local authorities

SE Press release SE, 1 July
Sport England today welcomed the news that promoting participation in sport is one of the top 20 priorities for local authorities in England.

The results of a comprehensive shake-up of council targets demonstrates that more than half the new Local Area Agreements (LAAs) now include adult participation in sport as a key priority.

These new LAAs have been negotiated to reflect the issues that really matter to local people.…
Read in full on the SE website

Also, see item below in the Government section – where the details in LAA priorities are referred to.

‘Taking Part Survey’ – latest results

New figures released from the ‘Taking Part Survey’ (DCMS) show that there has been an increase in adults doing three 30 minute sessions of sport a week.

Results from the first six months of the third year of the study show that 21.6% of the nation’s adults now participate in ‘moderate intensity sport’ three times a week compared to 20.2% in the period July to December 2005 - the first six months of the survey.
There is still a lot of work to be done though and one key disappointment was that there was a significant decrease in people with limiting disabilities participating in active sport when comparing the most recent 12 months of available data and the final baseline estimates from year one.

Please click here to view Year 3 first 6 months report.

Sports information packs and comparative sport data

Sport England has recently published detailed sport information packs, which bring together data from the Active People Survey, the Taking Part Survey, and Sport England's market segmentation.

These are now available on our website, under a new section called 'sports facts', and also referenced under the 'latest research' page. The links are:

http://www.sportengland.org/index/get_resources/research/sport_fact_sheets.htm

http://www.sportengland.org/index/get_resources/research/latest_research.htm

Sport and Coaching

New Centre for Coaching Excellence

A new centre designed to enhance coaching excellence has been opened at Leeds Metropolitan University. The coaching centre is the first of its kind in the UK and is designed to train professional coaches. The centre will be run by a world-class Coaching Faculty who will look to pass on their expertise to the future generation of coaches.

The centre will focus on developing four areas of coaching; these include high performance coaches (to work with elite athletes), performer development coaches (to identify talent), participation coaches (who will primarily work in the community) and children’s coaches.

For further information please see here

Sport and Dance

Additional funding to be made available for dance opportunities for young people

Culture Minister, Margaret Hodge MP, has today announced that more than £100,000 is to be made available for greater dance opportunities for young people, including classes in body popping, polka and pirouettes.

The additional funding will enable Youth Dance England to continue their work as part of the PE and Sport Strategy for Young People, as well as providing for greater links between schools and local dance schools to bring a variety of dance experiences to pupils.

For more information, click here

Sport and the Regions

DCMS Regional Infrastructure Review

The Minister for Culture, Margaret Hodge MP, has outlined a new framework for the four key agencies within the DCMS to work together to deliver a shared set of priorities. The four agencies earmarked are Sport England, the Arts Council England, English Heritage, and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The four bodies will be expected to work together to ensure a joined-up approach across a number of different areas, including local area agreements, regional strategies, local government commitment to culture and sport, place shaping, and liaising with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG)

In issuing this new approach, the Culture Minister announced that the work done by Regional Cultural Consortia would come to an end, with their responsibilities being absorbed by the four bodies within their new collaborative framework. The long term aim of the infrastructure changes is to ensure better savings and redistribution of funds.

For more information please see here

Sport and Communities

New funding provision for communities outlined

A new funding package for deprived communities has been outlined by the Communities Minister Baroness Andrews. The package includes over £250 million new funding, in addition to the £230 million announced previously, to help communities across a broad range of areas, including improving education standards and lowering crime rates. This announcement is the latest in a series of funding provisions for the 39 Communities within the New Deal programme, and forms part of a £2bn package aimed at improving deprived areas.

For further information please see here

MJ Achievement awards

Please view the LGA site to view the list of winners

Congratulations to the winners from our region:
Staffordshire County Council – Children’s services

Birmingham City Council – Legal
Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council – Reducing health inequalities

Also, our congratulations to all other councils short listed for the awards this year.

Respect Athlete Mentoring Programme (RAMP)

Please click on the links below to view the RAMP documents:

A brochure introducing RAMP

RAMP Evaluation Report

RAMP Case Study - Fiona Neale, Birmingham

House of Commons & House of Lords – sport questions

House of Commons Questions

Cunningham – Physical Activity: Elderly

Tue, 24 June 2008 | House of Commons – Written Answer
Contents

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) what steps the Government have taken to encourage pensioners to take more physical exercise; [212266] ……………………………………………..

Buck – Schools (Sports)