"Getting more people involved in sport is no easy task.
In setting the one million by 2013 target, the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport has given Sport England a clear objective.
The new strategy, funding process for individual sports, and
performance management arrangements between the Department and
Sport England and between Sport England and its funded bodies are a
marked improvement on what went before.
"However, there remain risks to Sport England's
achieving the one million target. The Department and Sport England
also need to do more to demonstrate the value for money of its
distribution of funds between different sports."
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, 27 May
2010
The NAO has reported that, while adult participation in sport
over the three-year period to March 2008 increased by 520,000, the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport did not meet its targets to
increase participation by priority groups. However, the NAO judges
that the new strategy to increase participation in sport adopted
since 2008 and the associated funding assessment process for
individual sports are positive developments that offer the prospect
of improved value for money.
For the three-year period to March 2008, Sport England, the
Department's delivery body for sports participation, spent £660
million to promote sport and physical activity. However, the
Department lacked adequate oversight of progress towards its
targets and Sport England lacked a focus on increasing
participation amongst priority groups by the targeted amount. In
consequence, a positive conclusion by the NAO on value for money up
to 2008 was not possible.
As part of a new approach, the Department has set Sport England
a new target, to be achieved by March 2013, of increasing by one
million the number of people aged 16 and above doing three 30
minute sessions of moderate intensity sport a week. One year into
the five-year delivery period an additional 115,000 people were
participating in sport, against the initial delivery plan forecast
of 160,000 additional participants.
Sport England's new approach has a number of known risks to
delivery. It is heavily dependent on a small number of sporting
national governing bodies delivering 60 per cent of the increase in
participation expected through governing bodies, and on key
assumptions about how the activities it funds will lead to more
frequent participation. Moreover, it expects the bulk of the
additional participants to be delivered towards the end of the
four-year target period.
As agreed with the Department, Sport England's strategy is to
invest in a range of sports, rather than focusing on just those
that can increase participation at the lowest cost. Funding
allocations to individual sports may represent value for money but
this is less clear when comparing sports. Sport England does not
have criteria against which it can assess the trade-offs involved
in funding participation in different sports.
Publication details:
HC: 22, 2010-2011
ISBN: 9780102965216