Sport in the Culture block

Background
Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) is the performance management framework used by the Audit Commission and central Government, to measure local authority performance and drive improvement in the sector.  Local government spends approximately £1 billion per year on sport and leisure, more than 50% of the total resources available to sport.

Sport England has worked successfully with key partners to secure a culture block, which includes sport, in the new CPA framework for 2005-08 for Upper Tier Authorities.  The culture block has an equal weighting alongside the housing and environment service blocks. This reflects a significant improvement on its previous position. Ensuring this strengthened culture block is embedded within the CPA framework for upper tier authorities will help to focus resources on sport and leisure and strengthen our ability to achieve the national participation targets for sport set out in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets and also reflected in the Framework for Sport in England and the nine Regional Plans for Sport.

For more information about the CPA go to the CPA website
Download the Framework for Sport in England (PDF 2.9Mb)
Find out more about the nine regional sport plans

How will performance be measured?
Over the next three years there will be a shift in emphasis away from inspection results and towards Performance Indicators (PIs).  Sport England has been working on a basket of robust PIs for sport and physical activity, which will be introduced during 2006 and 2007.

There is also an increasing emphasis on self-assessment and self-improvement.   To assist with this, Sport England has worked with the sector to develop an appropriate model - Towards an Excellent Service (TAES) - and a system of external validation.  This is suitable for assessment of a cultural service as a whole, or solely for sport and recreation.

Peformance indicators for sport
The sport performance indicators (PIs) have been developed in line with the DCMS national participation public service agreement (PSA) targets that are also reflected in the Framework for Sport and Regional Plans.  

These are:

• Participation
  The percentage of adults participating in at least 30 minutes moderate intensity sport and active recreation (including recreational walking) on 3 or more days a week
  More info
  

• Volunteering
  The percentage of the population volunteering in sport and active recreation for at least one hour a week
  More info
  
• Equity
  Representative facility use by people from the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups
  Representative facility use by young people aged 11-19yrs
  Representative facility use by people from black and minority ethnic groups
  Representative facility use by people aged over 60 yrs
  Proportion of facility use by disabled people aged under 60yrs
  More info
  
• Value for money
  Subsidy per visit
  Visits per square metre
  More info
  
• Choice and opportunity
  Percentage of the population that are within 20 minutes travel time (Urban areas – by walk; Rural areas – by car) of a range of three different sports facility types of which one has achieved a quality assured standard
  More info
  

We have committed significant resources to collecting data for the above-proposed indicators on behalf of the local authorities through the National Benchmarking Service, Active Places and the Active People Survey.

Other sport related indicators in the culture block:

• Percentage of total length of footpaths and other rights of way easy to use by members of the public
  More info
  
• Resident satisfaction with sport/leisure facilities
  More info
  
• Resident satisfaction with parks/open spaces
  More info
  

• Percentage of 5-16 year olds engaged in 2 hours a week minimum on high-quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum
  More info