Sport England Update

The Pre Budget Report And The Comprehensive Spending Review

The 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), essentially the government's main tool for deciding how much money will go into schools, hospitals and other public services for the next three years: 2008 -11 was announced last week on the 9^th October  in the House of Commons.

Overall, total Departmental spending will increase from £349 billion this year to £397 billion by 2010. Total public spending over the CSR07 period will rise by an average of 2.1 per cent a year in real terms with current spending increasing by an average of 1.9 per cent per year in real terms.

The key headlines include: further investment of £19 billion by 2010-11 in the NHS; investing £3.6 billion in the construction costs of the Olympics over the CSR07 period, while the Government is attempting to drive better value for money by delivering efficiency savings of £30 billion a year, and releasing £30 billion from fixed asset disposals.

The Chancellor stated: “The budget for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will increase to £2.2 billion in three years time. This guarantees an inflation increase for the arts, free access to museums and galleries, extra for sport so that every child and young person can take part in five hours of sport a week.  And it will deliver the Cultural Olympiad in the run up to London 2012.”

As well as announcing the outcomes of the Comprehensive Spending Review, the Chancellor has also published details of the new Public Service Agreement (PSAs).  There are no stand alone sport participation PSAs.  However sport is featured in a number of other PSAs and their associated indicators. The School Sport and PE target has been combined with the Olympic Games PSA (PSA Number 22).  The PSA title reads “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”. 

Below the PSA title there are five priority indicators, three of which impact on Sport England.

Priority 1 – Construction of the Olympic Park and other Olympic venues.  Sport England is investing in the Aquatic Centre and the Velodrome.  

Priority 4 – Public participation in cultural and community activities across the UK and Participation in sporting activities both in the UK and in other countries, particularly those in development.  This seeks to promote sports participation by children, young people and adults, but with a focus on young people. 

Priority 5 – Creation of a world-class system for physical education and sport.  This covers what was the stand alone PE and School Sport target.  Again Sport England will help deliver this priority.

In addition to PSA 22 sport features in four other Agreements and priority indicators:

 
Sport is highlighted in PSA 12 “Improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people”.  Sport and physical activity clearly have an important role to play in delivering this target.  The target absorbs what was the stand alone obesity target which becomes priority 3 within the PSA. The delivery agreement states – within the section on priority 3 (obesity) that, “Sport England and the Youth Sport Trust will develop opportunities to increase participation of children in physical education and school sport”.

Sport is also mentioned in PSA 14:"Increase the number of children and young people on the path to success" particularly under indicator 2: More Participation in Positive Activities.

Although sport is not explicitly mentioned in the justification, this Indicator is one which Sport England has been working closely with DCSF in the context of the Every Child Matters, Youth Matters and Statutory Guidance to Local Authorities agenda to provide positive activities for all young people, which include sport and other active recreational activities. The Statutory Duty, covers 13- 19 year olds (and up to 25 year olds with additional learning needs).

The measurement of this Indicator will use the Client Caseload Information System used by Connexions Services and the proposed new question for inclusion in 2008/9 makes specific reference to taking part "in an organised sporting activity e.g. sports club or class" as one of the positive activities (see page 27 of the Delivery Agreement for further details on this).

This will be an important PSA for the sport sector to use to promote the position of sport within the overall "positive activities" agenda at Local Authority Children’s Services level. We will shortly be publishing a Non-statutory Guidance Note on this to promote further the inclusion of sport in positive activities for young people.

Sport’s contribution is also recognised within PSA 21 “Build more cohesive, empowered and active communities”.  This target has six indicators which will be used to measure success.  The sixth indicator measures “The percentage of people who participate in culture or sport”.  The delivery agreement states that, “DCMS will continue to invest in and work through its NDPBs (including Sport England, Arts Council England, English Heritage, the Museums Libraries and Archives Council) to help create more cohesive and active communities by increasing cultural and sporting opportunities for people of all backgrounds to mix in a safe environment.”  The delivery agreement also states that DCMS will, “invest in the essential infrastructure and people, including volunteers, to deliver excellent cultural and sporting opportunities” and “maintain a focus for the department and its partners on narrowing gaps in participation between different groups, working throughout the country to raise the level of activity of these with lower rates of participation”.

New design guidance from Sport England

Sunday Times Sports Women of the Year 2007

Lifting the Burdens Task Force: Review of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport - Published

The Lifting the Burdens Task Force was announced in July 2006 by the Rt Hon Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The Task Force is an independent practitioner body that has been set up to review the bureaucratic and performance management burdens that exist as a consequence of the current relationship between Central and Local Government. 

The Lifting the Burdens Task Force is pleased to announce the publication of its latest report, a review of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The review was led by Shropshire County Council Chief Executive Carolyn Downs together with South Tyneside Chief Executive Irene Lucas and particularly highlights a need for DCMS to better co-ordinate the work of its Non Departmental Public Bodies.

The investigation examines whether demands from the government department put an additional burden on councils and reveals that while DCMS has not developed "an excessively burdensome regime" over the years, more co-ordination at a national and regional level would help local authorities and prevent the system from becoming a big burden in the future. The report provides a series of recommendations on streamlining performance measurement and improvement, the new licensing regime and asks government departments to work together to reduce the barriers to volunteering.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the review by providing evidence of burdens and taking part in the dialogue with DCMS. This is the third departmental review that the Task Force has produced, all of which can be viewed at the above web address. We also welcome your input to our current work which includes reviews of the Home Office, Department of Health, Children and Young People's Services and HM Treasury.

Booking is easy - just visit
www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/marketingnov07
or call Claire on 020 7520 2447.