Sport England Update

Statement from the Chief Executive of Sport England

Sport England’s 2008-11 Strategy
14 March 2008

"Sport England submitted, earlier this week, its headline proposals for its 2008-11 strategy to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and the Minister for Sport. I am delighted that they have indicated that they agree with the direction of travel and have tasked us with working up, and consulting on, a detailed delivery plan. The Sport England Board and the External Challenge Group, who are helping us develop our proposals, have also endorsed the headline strategy.

Sport England will operate at a strategic level working with and through national governing bodies drawing in other partners including local authorities. Sport England will have a strong national team, regional teams with a tighter focus and would work with county sport partnerships who will deliver specific outcomes.

This statement has been agreed with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport."

Jennie Price

Big Lottery – People’s Million in 2008

Five People's Millions awards of up to £50,000 will be up for grabs across the West Midlands to carry out projects that improve and enrich local communities.

Organisations have until the 15 May 2008 to enter the contest. The finalists will be screened on ITV Central West evening news later in the year when the people of the West Midlands will be able to cast their vote for the projects they want to win the Lottery good cause cash.

The organisations that are eligible for People's Millions are:

Voluntary and community groups
Local Authorities
Schools
Health Bodies
Social Enterprises

If you or an organisation you know is up for the challenge of People's Millions 2008 log on to the website or call 08454 10 20 30.

For more information on People's Millions, including information on groups from the West Midlands who were successful last year, read the attached press release.

Remember - you've got to be in it to win it!

Press release

Sport and Playing Fields - playing fields safeguards secure a better deal for sport

Statistics released this week have shown that Sport England’s bid to protect England’s playing fields has resulted in success. 97% of planning applications affecting playing fields in 2005/06 resulted in improved or protected sports provisions. Only 3% had a detrimental impact on sport; however none resulted in a complete loss of a playing field.

On the back of the announcement the Minister for Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe MP, said:

“We have put strong measures in place to protect sport playing fields and sports provision for communities up and down the country. These measures are working and it destroys the myth that playing fields are being lost. As we look to increase sports participation I’d like to see more school sports pitches and facilities opened up to wider community use and local authorities putting sport higher up their agenda. Evidence shows that when you give people the sports facilities they want which they can use all year round participation goes up.”

Sport and Volunteering - young people volunteering in Sport England

Young people volunteering in a sporting setting are the focus of a new publication from the Youth Action Team at The National Youth Agency. Part of the Youth Action and Engagement case study set, the publication features the work of five projects including an inner-city equestrian project, a v funded programme run by a youth work project, and a sports leadership programme for young people with moderate learning difficulties.

Sport and Women - new scheme to Get Girls Active

The Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation has launched a new initiative to try to get more girls to take up physical activity. The ‘Energy Project’ aims to look at innovative ways of building physical activity into daily routines. The initiative comes on the back of successful pilots across a number of different schools and will be coordinated by both the Helen Storey Foundation and Creative Partnerships London East and South.

Launched as part of the Government’s wider scheme to tackle obesity, this new programme will look to try and improve the energy levels in young women. The main emphasis is to try and broaden the approach to dealing with the obesity crisis, taking the position that exercise is not simply enough to reverse the obesity trend. The examples given of possibly energy raising activities include breakfast clubs, yoga, power walking and gospel singing.

Sue Tibballs, Chief Executive of the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation said

“Childhood obesity is such a hot topic and PE alone is not going to solve the inactivity crisis. 16 year old girls are half as active as boys of the same age, so it is vital that we work with girls at an early age to prevent this drop out, Our energy initiative demonstrates how small changes within the classroom can sow the seeds for an active lifestyle, to stand girls in good stead for the rest of their lives.”

Sport and Skills

Athletics Apprenticeship Announced

Alongside the new skills push at the forefront of the Government’s current agenda is a call to see a vast increase in the amount of apprenticeships on offer. This week marks the launch of the inaugural Apprenticeship week, with businesses from around the country signing up to the deal, including Vodafone, Sainsbury’s and Superdrug. As part of this week, an event was held to mark the second anniversary of the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) and launch the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) in Athletics.

SkillsActive, the Sector Skills Council for Active Leisure and Learning, with a number of governing bodies of sport, industry experts and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), has developed the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence framework. The AASE is designed to enhance an athletes overall education and performance, to develop and prepare elite athletes to go on to the World Class pathway. It also provides skills that may be needed to pursue a career outside of sports.

The celebration and new AASE Athletics programme was attended by Olympic Medallist Steve Cram, AASE apprentices, David Lammy MP Minister for Skills, and Gerry Sutcliffe MP, Minister for Sport. The new athletics branch of the apprenticeship scheme hopes to deliver results in time for the London 2012 Olympics.

David Lammy MP, added

"It's great to see Apprenticeships which are helping our young people in realising their dreams in the field of sport. Our ability to compete globally both on and off the sports ground will be determined by the opportunities afforded to our young people through training. Apprenticeships have a real role to play in ensuring our nation's competitiveness, which is why the government is committing more than £1 billion to increase the number of apprentice places by 2011."

For further information please see here

For further information about the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence please see here

Towards a better future for youth sport – Sports Think Tank report 12 March 2008

View a short note on the report

View the speeches made at the launch on 12 March:

Government's PE and Sport Strategy for Young People - which goes beyond PESSCL.

The introduction from the leaflet::

The new PE & Sport Strategy for Young People forms part of a Public Service

Agreement: 'To deliver a successful Olympic Games and Paralympic Games

with a sustainable legacy and get more children and young people taking

part in high quality PE and sport'.

So we want the Games to energise everything that we do, and inspire every child

and young person in the country to participate in more sport on a regular basis.

We have already put in place several programmes that will capitalise on the context of 2012 ………

Read on - View the leaflet

A passion for excellence - An improvement strategy for culture and sport - DCMS

This strategy is about supporting local government as “leaders of place”, working with their local partners to deliver better outcomes, improve the quality of life locally and improve the delivery of cultural and sport services to local people. It sets a framework for improvement in the culture and sport sector and includes the mechanisms and tools to support self-improvement. It also clarifies the respective roles and responsibilities in delivering the strategy of all the major stakeholders in the culture and sport sector, in line with the National Performance Framework and the National Improvement and Efficiency Strategy.

Aiming High Implementation Plan

The Aiming High Implementation Plan is a ten year strategy for positive activities for young people.

This follows on from the Aiming High for Young People: a Ten Year Strategy for Positive Activities, published in July 2007, which set out the Government's plans to help all young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to take part in enjoyable and purposeful activities in their free-time.

House of Commons & House of Lords – sport questions etc, from 10 -11 March and other key statements from sports related organisation

Statements

Sutcliffe makes statement on Playing Field Statistics

Tue, 11 March 2008 | House of Commons - Written Ministerial Statements

Summary

The following written ministerial statement was made today by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Gerry Sutcliffe…………………

Non-governmental and International Organisation Press Releases

Central Council of Physical Recreation disappointed at Chancellor's failure to change status of Community Amateur Sports Clubs

Wed, 12 March 2008 | Campaign Organisation Press Release

Summary

CCPR are disappointed today by the Chancellor's failure today to build any concessions for the sector into his Budget………

Central Government and Agencies

DCMS - Playing field safeguards secure a better deal for sport

Tue, 11 March 2008 | Departmental Press Release

Summary

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced that 97 percent of the 1,216 concluded planning applications that related to playing fields in 2005-06 resulted in protected or improved sports provision……………………

House of Commons Questions

Foster - Overseas Spectators