TUESDAY 13 NOVEMBER WEMBLEY STADIUM

- Check Against Delivery –

Introduction

1. It’s a great honour, and with it a great responsibility, to be Chairman of Sport England.  The last 12 months has been highly challenging, inspiring and often, but not always fun.  Like all organisations and especially in the public sector there is an insatiable demand for your time as many representatives of stakeholders seek their views to be heard.

2. There have, of course, been days – in fact quite a few recently – when I have questioned why on earth I took on this role.  But actually my motivation is simple.  I believe passionately in community sport’s power to transform the lives of people in England.  

3. I believe community sport is one of the best tools to effect positive social change for all gender, ethnicity and ability and with that I relish a challenge.  I felt my entrepreneurial background equipped me for the task of continually moving community sport to be more centre stage in determining policy.

4. This has been a year of change. The job is currently unfinished but Sport England needed to change, to demonstrate that it was capable of making a difference.  It has to become a world class delivery agency much more than just a sports council.   It has to be respected by those it serves to engage and lead.  And that’s what I believe we have started to achieve in the last 12 months.

Openness

5. Sport England has not always been as open as it should have been.  Our last annual open meeting was I understand back in 2004.  My promise to you, is that while I am Chairman, all at Sport England will strive to be as open and transparent as possible.  We are a public body, spending public money, and you the public have the right to hold us to account.  We have the responsibility of being open and honest in our work.  We will hold a meeting like today’s once a year because “annual” means just that.

The Board

Let me introduce you to my Board.  They are all up there on the screen behind me. Mich Stevenson is here today and perhaps he would just stand.

The Year In Review

7. So let’s get on with tonight’s business.  What has Sport England achieved in the year ending March 2007?  These are my highlights.

a - Leadership has been significantly strengthened.  The Board has been overhauled through monthly meetings, the addition of five new members and a stronger regional voice.  We are also in the process of adding two sport representatives.

In addition critical decisions relating to spending proposals are undertaken monthly as opposed to less frequently to further aid response to applicants.

I was delighted that Jennie Price joined the team as our new Chief Executive.  She brings with her a wealth of experience working in a tough industry delivering from scratch Government programmes.

I have great admiration as to the work of the 9 regions of Sport England and their absolute ability through the delivery system of County Sports Partnerships and Community Sports Networks to ensure the most local delivery of sport is achieved. I remain committed to ensure funding decisions reflect local delivery and knowledge of that locality.

Having sufficient funding to achieve our extensive objectives will always be a challenge and together when appropriate we have taken a stand, for example over the diversion of lottery funds to the Olympics. Unfortunately this is often perceived as an implied criticism or lack of enthusiasm for the Olympics themselves which could not be further from the truth. The 2012 Olympics remains our greatest opportunity to ensure the legacy of a great sporting nation is secured.


b - Next we have defined our focus.  A year ago people had differing ideas what Sport England was about. There were 101 different answers to that question.  That had to change and has changed!

Sport England primarily exists to sustain and increase adult participation in sport.  We also help deliver the national school sport strategy and 5 hour sports offer for children and young people.  We support talent development and fund non-Olympic elite performance sport.  The challenge going forward will be to make sure we maintain this level of clarity and a balanced focus.           


c - We have also worked hard to ensure greater clarity, than ever before, across the sporting landscape. Relationships between us and the other two key delivery agencies – YST and UK Sport – are good and we are working together in a relay to deliver seamless sporting pathways.  The Youth Sport Trust leads on children and young people, then hands the baton onto Sport England who leads on adult participation and we in turn pass the baton safely on to UK Sport who lead elite world class performance.


d - In December 2006 we published the results of our Active People survey.  The largest survey of its kind in Europe.  The most comprehensive investigation into sporting habits in England based on interviews with over 360,000 people – at least 1000 people in every local authority.  It told us that over half the population isn’t engaged in sport.  But it also told us 8.5 million people do sport regularly – at least 3 times a week.  

Active People’s greatest strength is that it gives us firm planning data building down from the national level, to our regions and down into every community in England.  We have now moved Active People to an annual collection and this will allow us to measure year on year progress.


e - Our budget in 2006-07 totalled £259 million.  Including £132 million from the National Lottery Good Causes.  38 Sports Governing Bodies and 49 County Sports Partnerships have benefited.  We have supported over 3200 clubs, funded over 3600 new coaches and brought in partnership funding worth £273m.  In 2006-07 we got on average 3 pounds of partnership funding for every pound we invested.  232 local projects have been funded by our regions through the community investment fund.   

You will hear later from a number of projects we have funded about the difference that has been made in each of their communities.  


f - As I said a moment ago, we have played a significant role in delivering the National School Sport Strategy.  By next March we will have invested £27m into this area of our work, though our investment into Children and Young People is far greater.  Our role is to enhance and increase club and community provision.  The percentage of children and young people participating in club sport has increased from 19% to 27% by the summer of 2006.  Likewise the percentage of older pupils actively engaged in sports leadership and volunteering has risen from 9% to 13%.  The latest stats, published a few weeks ago, are even more impressive.  We stand ready to play an enhanced role in the strategy and the new 5 hour sports offer for children and young people announced by the Prime Minister.        

8. There is so much more I could say.  For example our planning role has protected playing fields and generated an extra £21.3m through planning gain.  What is key is that our planning function adds value and does not impede investment into sporting facilities by commercial investors. In addition our facilities expertise is highly respected and is helping develop the Olympic Park.  We will invest £50m into the 2012 Aquatics Centre and Velodrome.  In return we are demanding that a community legacy is built into designs from the outset.  

9. Then there are the results of our funding directed through Whole Sport Plans to Governing Bodies.  Most have beaten their performance indicators.  For example by March 2007 there were 9700 NGB clubs kite-marked for their quality – beating the target by more than 1800.  

10. The National Sport Foundation, which we manage for Government, has been a great success.  It pulled in matched funding worth £14.5m from the likes of Sainsbury’s, Tesco, EDF and Norwich Union and Sportsmatch was successfully transferred into our direct management.      

Participation

11. Finally, I want to end by saying something about our key performance indicator set by the Government. Our current PSA – or Public Service Agreement – target requires us to increase by 3%, by 2008, the number of adults (16 plus) in priority groups doing sport 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes each time.  

12. The DCMS Taking Part survey, which measures progress, set the baseline as 20.2% in 2005-06.  The early findings from the 2006-07 survey show this has increased by almost 1 percentage point, to 21.1%.  That’s a good indication that we are making progress and not just sustaining, but also increasing, participation in community sport.

13. Our ambition, which we are in the process of agreeing with Ministers and the Department, is to get 2 million people doing more sport by 2012.  Each of our regions has taken a share of the ambition and action is being driven forward by the nine Chairs of the Regional Sports Boards and the Regional Directors.  I would like to put on record my thanks to them.  I believe this must remain a key part of our objective with such pressures on overcoming obesity and factors, ranging from crime and leadership, such major social issues.

Conclusion

14. So in conclusion, it has been a roller coaster of a year.  But Sport England has moved forward.  Twelve months on it is a far stronger and more focused organisation.

15. I want to thank my team, everyone at Sport England, and all of our partners – including National Governing Bodies, Local Authorities, Voluntary Groups and National Agencies – for their drive and effort throughout the year.  I have asked a lot of them, and will continue to do so, but they have risen to the challenge.  

16. There remains much more to do.  There will again be hurdles and barriers to overcome.  But I hold fast to what motivated me to become Chairman of Sport England – a passionate belief in the power of community sport.  Sport transforms lives.  It brings regeneration to local communities and self respect to individuals.  What a fantastic reason to come to work.