The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has announced a triennial review of sports agencies Sport England and UK Sport as part of the standard requirement by the Cabinet Office for all Government departments to review their agencies and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) at least once every three years.
Announced through a Written Ministerial Statement laid in Parliament, the triennial review will ensure that the agencies are still needed and are complying with principles of good corporate governance.
Triennial reviews have two aims:
- To provide a robust challenge of the continuing need for individual NDPBs – both their functions and their form; and
- Where it is agreed that a body remain as an NDPB, to review:
- Its capacity for delivering more effectively and efficiently, including identifying potential for efficiency savings and its ability to contribute to economic growth; and
- The control and governance arrangements in place to ensure that the public body and the sponsoring department are complying with recognised principles of good corporate governance, including an assessment of the body’s performance.
The two organisations are being reviewed together following the decision to maintain them as separate bodies with a shared reform programme, working closely together to realise significant strategic economic and operational benefits. Read the terms of reference for the review and find out more about what UK Sport and Sport England do.
The review team is led by Graham Turnock, Chief Executive of the Better Regulation Executive in the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. We anticipate publishing the recommendations of the review in July 2015. A challenge group is being set up to rigorously test and challenge the assumptions and conclusions of the review.
As part of the review, the Government is seeking views and evidence about Sport England and UK Sport through an online survey. The closing date for responses has been extended to 4 January 2015 (the previous deadline was 21 December 2014).