Press Release - Increasing participation in sport
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.
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said
today:
"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."
Notes for Editors
- The Department had a target to raise participation in cultural
and sporting activities by three per cent by people in priority
groups - women; people from black and minority ethnic
communities; people with a limiting disability; and those in lower
socio-economic groups between 2005-06 to 2007-08.
- Sport England has provisionally committed £480 million to 46
National Governing Bodies of sport between April 2009 and March
2013 and expects around three quarters to be used to sustain and
increase participation, with the balance funding the pathways
through which talented participants are identified to progress to
elite level. Sport England expects National Governing Bodies to
deliver up to 700,000 people doing more sport by March 2013. It
plans to deliver the remainder of its one million target through a
combination of grant funding, partnership working and attracting
external investment into sport.
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website, which is at www.nao.org.uk. Hard copies can be
obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, is the head
of the National Audit Office which employs some 900 staff. He and
the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 26/10
All enquiries to Phil Groves, NAO Press Office: Tel: 020
7798 5339
Mobile: 07770 678477