The eyes of the world are focused on this nation as the Olympic Games get under way. Organisers of London 2012 have promised that the spectacle of the planet’s finest athletes in action will inspire a generation of young people to get more involved in sport.
But while the Olympics could provide a boost to young people’s interest in a range of sports, the arrival of the games coincides with fundamental changes to the way local sports provision is run.
The surge in numbers of academies, the public health reforms and ongoing budget pressures are together conspiring to herald a major rethink of how councils deliver sports provision to local young people.
Decline in sports
Meanwhile, the results of Freedom of Information requests publicised by the Labour Party this month reveal that there has been a 60 per cent decline in the amount of time dedicated to organising school sport at a local authority level, as well as a 37 per cent drop in the number of School Sport Partnerships.
While the coalition government eventually backed down on plans to eradicate funding for School Sport Partnerships in 2010, cash for the network of local bodies was cut by around two thirds and remains uncertain beyond 2013.
Councils are having to adapt in order to protect sports opportunities for young people in this changing environment.
Mike Macneill, youth sports development manager at Islington Council in north London, says that working with the voluntary sector and supporting the establishment of clubs run by members of the community is being seen as a sustainable way to extend provision by cash-strapped local authorities.
“It is about how we can use our money better and continue to provide the offer,” he says. “We try to help clubs set up, and work with national bodies to provide coaching opportunities and train up local coaches. If the people running the club are properly trained, there is more chance of retaining young people who want to play a sport.”
Macneill says that working with local partners to co-ordinate sporting opportunities for young people is essential to create clubs that are sustainable. This involves making sure there are progression routes for young people after “taster sessions” have been taken up, and that facilities are available for use if the concept of a club takes off.
In Islington, the council works to share facilities with schools, both council-run and academies. But some local authorities are struggling to maintain venues and are therefore being forced to investigate different options for provision of facilities.
Charging for facilities
Simon Henig, leader of Durham Council, says the increasing number of academies is creating problems in delivering sports provision. He points to an “alarming tendency” for academies to charge for use of their facilities for community sport.
“There is no sign that academies are throwing their doors open – if anything it is the reverse,” he says. “To some extent, it needs pressure from local authorities.”
Henig argues that it is “not reasonable” to expect local authorities to be able to single-handedly protect sports provision, given reductions to their budgets.
“With the cuts local authorities are having to make, it becomes increasingly important that you share the resources you have,” he says.
Chris Hespe, Kent County Council’s head of sport, leisure and Olympics, believes that local authorities are moving into an era in which they will be “enablers” of sports provision, rather than the direct deliverers.
“Sport and physical activity can have a huge impact on public health, community safety, social cohesion and education,” he says.
“As budgets become squeezed, local authorities have to find imaginative ways in which they can address these major social issues. I think sport will be used more and more as a tool to ensure success within those agendas.”
For this to be the case, Hespe argues that the youth sport sector must bolster efforts to persuade commissioners of the broader benefits of sport. But he fears the “financial squeeze” could mean few people are left in post that are sufficiently qualified and experienced to do this.
He is also worried about maintenance of sports grounds. “Local authorities will find it a struggle to keep their facilities up to date, which could result in a number of closures,” he says.
Hespe says professionals must focus on building an evidence base to prove the public health benefits of sport, and to attract funding for such services including through emerging mechanisms such as payment-by-results. “It is a problem for services at local level as much as national level as they try to convince decision makers,” he says. “We need a sound evidence base.”
Nationally, much of the impetus for improving sports provision for young people comes from Sport England, which is set to invest £1bn over the next five years.
This includes ploughing £450m into work with national governing bodies to help young people aged between 14 and 25 make the transition from school sport into club sport. It will also invest £250m in sports facilities – modernising and extending clubs, opening up existing facilities for community sport and protecting playing fields – and is funding the School Games programme until 2015 to the tune of £35.5m.
In addition, it is working to improve wider access to school, college and academy sports facilities.
Financial support
Sport England also provides funding support to each of England’s 49 county sports partnerships, amounting to £240,000 each this year.
Each county sports partnership comprises of a small team of staff working to develop community sports opportunities for young people and supporting clubs. They also have a strategic planning role to make sure that existing resources are used effectively, as well as co-ordinating delivery of sporting activities to avoid duplication.
Chris Perks, director of local relationships at Sport England, says local authorities remain “fundamental” to community sport and are continuing to support services despite the significant funding challenges they face. “Sport and leisure is a non-statutory service, it is almost discretionary,” he says. “But in terms of what goes on in the community, and sharing facilities, we see local authorities still trying to do a lot more than the minimum.”
Perks adds that large local sports clubs and professional clubs are increasingly being commissioned by councils to provide sports services to young people.
This includes Pompey Sports and Education Foundation, a charitable trust initially set up by Portsmouth Football Club.
The foundation’s Respect Programme encourages social and personal development, community involvement, healthy lifestyles, participation in physical activity and the enjoyment of education and learning to local young people.
Another example is Charlton Athletic Community Trust, which works in schools, and with disadvantaged or socially excluded groups of young people through crime reduction initiatives and community-based football sessions.
“I think we are on the cusp of really expanding this kind of approach,” Perks says.
“In the next couple of years, in terms of being more effective and efficient, councils will have to look at commissioning more services to external providers.”
CASE STUDY: POMPEY SPORTS FOUNDATION
Pompey Sports and Education Foundation was set up in 2007 by Portsmouth Football Club and became a charitable trust in 2009. The foundation’s Respect Programme works with young people to increase participation in physical activity, increase school attendance, improve health, reduce crime and involve the community in the development of services.
Programme manager Julian Wadsworth says that despite having only five
members of staff, the team engages 800 10- to 19-year-olds a week, ranging from those at risk of offending to young people with disabilities.
Activities include fencing, cheerleading, yoga, trampolining, high-board diving,
football, basketball, and boxing, as well as coaching and leadership courses. Wadsworth says the range of work they offer has expanded as commissioners increasingly recognise the positive outcomes being achieved.
“The children’s services budget is going to be reduced year after year, but there is an opportunity to allow the voluntary sector to tender for services and bring added value,” he says. “It is crucial we don’t miss this opportunity.”
The foundation has a close relationship with the city council, but is also able to lever in additional funding from sources including the Home Office, National Lottery and national governing bodies such as the Lawn Tennis Association.
It is also involved with the National Citizen Service and will be providing places for two groups of 30 young people this summer. Results of the foundation’s work are proving positive.
In two of the wards where it operates, Milton and Eastney, youth crime dropped by 20 per cent in a year and antisocial behaviour dropped by 16 per cent. Central to the success of their work, Wadsworth says, is the way projects are developed in conjunction with young people. Through forums and taster sessions, young people give project leaders an idea of what kind of activities they want.
“You have to consult with young people to make sure you are delivering what they want at the times that suit them,” he says. “We also make sure there are developmental pathways in terms of support and training opportunities.”
This means that once young people are engaged in sport, they have the opportunity to progress. “We work with young women who haven’t been interested in sport and have got them involved with fencing, boxing, archery and sports leaders’ courses,” he says. “We’ve had young people from pupil referral units who had school attendance rates of 40 per cent, but have gone on to college after being involved with the programme.
“There’s a bit of a lack of appreciation of what sport, delivered correctly, can achieve. It can improve school attendance, school attainment, health outcomes and can cut numbers of first-time entrants to the youth justice system.
"There’s an increasing understanding that if more services can be commissioned out in the future, there can be greater partnership work and the kind of outcomes authorities are looking for can be achieved.”
