January 2021

Final Consultation on Sport England’s strategy: Phase 1

Summary report prepared for consultation participants

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BritainThinks | Private and Confidential Introduction

In January 2021, Sport England will be publishing its new strategy, outlining its vision for the future of sport and physical activity in England.

Over the past 18 months, Sport England has been holding conversations with a wide range of partners and other stakeholders to co-produce a framework for the new strategy.

BritainThinks, an independent insight and strategy consultancy, was commissioned to run a final consultation on the emerging strategy. This final consultation is split over two phases:

• Phase 1 (November – December 2020): testing the emerging strategy • Phase 2 (January – March 2021): shaping implementation plans

Phase 1 of the consultation included the following elements:

• A series of structured activities on an online platform, used to capture individual views of the strategy over a 4-week period. Following this, open forums were launched to continue conversations on the strategy between participants. • A series of 5 ‘live’ online workshops with a range of stakeholders, each focused on one of the priority themes in the strategy. • Weekly webinars which shared some emerging findings from Phase 1 of the consultation with participating stakeholders. • Research with the general public, through focus groups, depth interviews and a nationally-representative online survey, to explore attitudes to sport and physical activity and obtain feedback on the priority areas in the strategy.

In addition, Sport England continued to have ongoing conversations with partners during this time.

This note provides a short summary of the high-level findings from Phase 1 of the consultation.

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Overview of participation in Phase 1

Stakeholders: online platform

In total, 884 stakeholders registered on the online platform, of which 404 completed at least one of the activities. These ‘active’ participants represented a wide range of stakeholders:

• Familiarity with Sport England: whilst the majority of active participants had been in relatively regular contact with Sport England in the past 12 months, 54 stakeholders had not been in contact with them and 120 only had ad-hoc contact (i.e. 1-5 times a year). • Policy background: a slim majority of stakeholders (259) selected sport and physical activity as one of their main policy areas of focus, though around half (212) selected another area, notably children and young people, inclusivity / equality of opportunity, and physical health. • Organisation type: a very wide range of organisation types were represented in Phase 1, including voluntary organisations, local authorities, national governing bodies of sport, wellbeing/fitness organisations, representative organisations and many more.

A list of organisations represented can be found in the appendix.

Stakeholders: workshops

The combined attendance across all 5 workshops was 104 stakeholders, with around 20 attending each. Initially, these sessions were intended to be more intimate workshops but, due to significant interest, capacity was expanded and parallel ‘breakout’ sessions were held for each workshop to accommodate as many stakeholders as possible, within the scope of this consultation.

General public research

The research with the general public was split across three elements:

• 4 online focus groups with 5-6 participants in each, drawn from 4 different regions in England and ensuring a mix of gender, socio-economic groups, ethnicity and life- stage. We conducted 2 focus groups with individuals involved in local sports and physical activity clubs/organisations and 2 focus groups with individuals not involved. • 10 depth interviews focusing on members of the public aged over 65 and those with disabilities or long-term health conditions, in order to ensure we hear from a wide range of voices, including those who might be traditionally less represented or able to participate in focus group settings.

• A nationally representative online survey of 1,712 adults across England.

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Overall stakeholder feedback on the strategy

As well as very helpful specific and detailed input provided on the different parts of the strategy, a number of overarching themes emerged across the contributions made by stakeholders on the online platform and workshops.

1. This is seen as a critical moment for sport and physical activity – and the strategy is therefore considered to be timely and incredibly important. This is reflected in high levels of engagement and interest in the consultation process.

“We believe this is an exciting opportunity for Sport England to lead a long- term generational change agenda in relation to SPA and recognise its power and potential to engage individuals and communities and positively influence life goals in a way very few other sectors can.”

2. Stakeholders generally recognise the current moment to be one of crisis, uncertainty and opportunity. This means that there is demand for an ambitious and visionary strategy – but this needs to be balanced with a commitment to short-term support of the sector and ongoing flexibility and adaptability.

“It's going to take some bravery to execute this strategy, though there has never been a better time than with Covid.”

3. The strategy is generally believed to offer an ambitious, optimistic and long-term vision for the future of sport and physical activity. The breadth and scale of ambition in the strategy is welcomed by stakeholders – as is the emphasis on collaboration to achieve its objectives.

“I like the purpose and vision and it looks at making a real difference in a time where sport and physical activity can play a massive role in improving the lives of people of all ages.”

4. Additionally, the strategy is praised for acknowledging the significant challenges faced by the sector as a result of Covid-19 – and striking the right balance between recovery in the shorter-term and reinvention in the longer-term.

“Having time to adapt the strategy in light of COVID-19 to take account of the longer-term impact on the sports and physical activity sector will be important.”

5. There is widespread support for the five priority themes contained in the strategy, as well as the overarching focus on tackling inequalities. These are generally aligned with stakeholders’ own priorities and are seen to demonstrate a considered approach to achieving the overarching goal of increasing activity levels.

“The strategy is ambitious if all of this is to be achieved over the next decade. The "what" of the strategy is clear, challenging and in the right direction.”

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Whilst stakeholders are broadly very supportive of the strategy’s direction, there are several expectations of the full draft and its implementation. These include:

• Ensuring that the priority areas are defined broadly and reflect the subtleties and nuances of each.

• Referencing the areas of overlap and crossover between the different priority areas.

• Representing a realistic approach that requires flexibility and adaptability in the face of uncertain and changing circumstances.

• Demonstrating a commitment to partnership and collaboration that will be crucial to the delivery of the strategy.

• Striking a balance between driving change that is perceived as necessary and continuing the good work already being conducted by Sport England and the wider sector.

• Prioritising interventions that are local, place-based and bottom-up and reflect the preferences and experiences of target audiences.

• Demonstrating a commitment to insight and learning – both in terms of Sport England’s decisions being led by evidence and in terms of continuing to build the evidence base of ‘what works’.

• Implementing an approach to partnership that is flexible, proportionate and pragmatic.

• Using language that is accessible beyond the sector and to the wider public.

• Including more detail and specific examples to bring the strategy to life for a wider audience.

“Active environments could be about building a bridge, as well as a sports hall.”

“Ensure relevant partners and stakeholders are engaged from beyond the sport and physical activity sector. Ensure those currently under- represented are involved in shaping the future approach.”

“When we’re engaging with the non-sport world, we’ve got to be careful we’re speaking their language to make it more accessible (for public, planners etc.). It’s such a complex world and the language becomes quite technical often.”

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Stakeholder input on the key themes of the strategy

The strategy contains 5 specific themes, in addition to the overarching focus on tackling inequality. Through the online platform activities and the workshops, we explored stakeholders’ views on the themes, including important considerations for each theme and possible roles for Sport England in delivering against each.

Support levels for each of the key strategy themes were very high, as they felt aligned with stakeholders’ own challenges and priorities and were seen as part of a holistic approach to change.

Active Life for a Healthy Life

Common considerations included: • Sport and physical activity need to be encouraged as both a preventative tool and as a solution to health issues (e.g. via social prescribing). • A healthy life means positive mental wellbeing in addition to physical health. • The strategy should recognise the wider public health context of which sport and physical activity are part of the solution (e.g. diet / nutrition and pollution). • Much closer integration between the sport and physical activity sector and the health system is needed. • Tackling health challenges and health inequalities often means addressing deeper causes of inequality. • This issue has special relevance for older people and those with long-term health conditions.

“I would like us to have a more grown-up relationship with health professionals. I would like to have more recognition about what we can deliver in terms of health benefits and better connections and opportunities to develop social prescribing activities. Hopefully this strategy can help with that.”

Possible role(s) for Sport England included: • Building relationships with public health sector, deepening connections with DHSC, PHE and the NHS to unlock funding and influence government. • Playing a convening role and build strategic alliances between a wide range of organisations, including private sector, local authorities and many more. • Continuing to develop and share insight and evidence around the link between health and physical activity (including at a local level and based on specific interventions). • Training and upskilling healthcare professionals to share physical activity guidance.

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• Delivering behaviour change campaigns targeted at those most affected by health inequalities (though not necessarily using health messaging). • Influencing the design of active environments that encourage ‘everyday’ activity most likely to lead to greatest health benefits.

“I have experience where healthcare professionals have real nervousness about the negative impact of physical activity… Sport England should continue to grow and promote these programmes [like Moving Medicine] and make sure they come to fruition.”

Positive Experiences for Children and Young People

Common considerations included: • Children and young people of all backgrounds deserve positive experiences of sport and physical activity – not just the most talented or those from less deprived areas. • There are particular and historic barriers for girls and young women that need to be tackled (e.g. addressing stigma, creating safe and inclusive environments). • Providing informal and less structured opportunities for activity will be crucial to encouraging participation more widely. • But traditional sport should continue to play an important role as part of a mixed and balanced sports and physical activity offer. • Improving experiences of sport and physical activity will require reform of the education system – but success also hinges on families, carers, community groups and local environments. • Children and young people’s own preferences, motivations and barriers must be considered – and not assumed.

“Young people are in a strange and new place, physically and emotionally. We have to reach them through existing communities with authentic offers, rather than confected short-lived gimmickry.”

Possible role(s) for Sport England included: • Working closely with the education sector (from schools to DfE) and influence policymakers to drive change. • Offering training to the wider workforce in educational and community settings. • Delivering targeted campaigns to remove stigma around participation among certain groups and to encourage parents to reflect on how much activity their children do. • Providing robust evidence to fill gaps in insight, e.g. around preferences and attitudes of children and young people themselves.

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• Supporting the use of low-cost or free digital tools and engaging younger audiences in different settings and via new trends. • Targeting disadvantaged children in particular and eliminating barriers to access.

“Training of staff / volunteers so that physical activity is appropriate and relatable to children & young people will be crucial.”

Active Environments

Common considerations included: • It is important to consider less obvious ways that activity might be facilitated (e.g. creating places to shelter in poor weather or public toilets to enable people to stay outdoors for longer). • Active environments doesn’t necessarily mean building new things but includes maintenance of existing infrastructure and ensuring places are accessible and safe. • It should include the provision of facilities for sport and ‘deliberate’ activity as well as enabling active travel and ‘incidental’ activity.1 • Partnership with a broad range of groups – for example, housing associations, local authorities, private developers – will be crucial. • Active environments should be designed around local people’s actual – not presumed – needs and preferences. • Considerable inequalities exist between and within different localities that need to be addressed.

“Encouraging use of existing facilities makes most sense before adding new. Where new facilities are needed, supporting communities to realise them allows the same amount of funding to achieve far more local communication and contact as well as ownership of the end result.”

Possible role(s) for Sport England included: • Providing training for planners and developers, as well as sharing guidance on best practice for designing active environments. • Ensuring funding and investment in infrastructure and facilities (either directly or indirectly, working to influence local authorities). • Using research and evidence (e.g. from local pilots) to show ‘what works’ when it comes to the design of local places and spaces.

1 An example of activity that could be ‘deliberate’ or ‘incidental’ is walking – with a deliberate form being a planned hike, and an incidental form being walking that takes place as part of a commute.

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• Shaping policy and influencing planning regulations – as well as informing planning and development processes at a local level. • Enabling partnerships and acting as a catalyst for organisations outside traditional SPA networks.

“Engaging with planners and therefore improving the dialogue between planners and developers. There are so many schemes going in without thought about parking spaces and lights and it not being the right spaces. Somehow it’s not quite joining up.”

Strengthening Communities

Common considerations included: • Strengthening communities means improving social cohesion, unity and inclusivity. • It is also about building community resilience and capacity, as well as developing community assets. • The term ‘community’ should be defined broadly – and possibly include communities of interest that are not defined geographically. • Deprived areas and overlooked groups should be a particular priority in the context of tackling inequalities.

“It's about bringing different groups together and having a common purpose - sports clubs deliver the backbone of a community. The Saturday morning football or judo club offers so much more than just the sport. It's being part of the fabric of community life that sports offer.”

Possible role(s) for Sport England included: • Educating and training local clubs and organisations, encouraging them to be inclusive and expand their reach into communities. • Working directly with grassroots clubs and organisations rather than solely working through national governing bodies. • Working with community institutions that are not part of the sport and physical activity sector (e.g. mosques or care homes). • Enabling virtual communities to thrive and connecting those who may struggle to be physically present in their local community. • Using research and insight to identify and share best practice (e.g. through local delivery pilots).

“Adding exercise to existing communities e.g. bridge clubs or mosques or Women’s Institute meetings, creating teams in care homes for example, and encouraging communities to compete with one another.”

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Recover and Reinvent

Common considerations included: • Recovery is about addressing the damage of the Covid-19 crisis to the SPA sector on both finances and participation. • Reinventing means new, modern and innovative ways of operating for organisations in the sector (e.g. funding models and cross-sector collaboration). • Reinventing is also an opportunity to address a range of loner-term issues and challenges within the sector (e.g. tackling inequalities and inclusion issues).

“The crisis has given us all an opportunity to confront some brutal realities regarding the inequalities (in health and physical activity) in our communities. The recover and reinvent priority needs to respond to that and use this as an opportunity to not only ‘recover’ but absolutely ‘reinvent’.”

Possible role(s) for Sport England included: • Influence government to ensure sport and physical activity remains a priority in the post- pandemic recovery. • Relaying and sharing learnings from the pandemic across the sector (e.g. adapting business models or digital transformation). • Convening organisations to identify duplication and gaps in provision. • Providing a vision and roadmap for the future for a sector focused on dealing with short- term pressures. • Building relationships with and influencing other sectors (e.g. health, education) and ensuring a broad funding base to deliver the physical activity agenda. • Encouraging organisations in the sector to check and challenge current approaches and pushing the sector to work differently.

“Sport England should also be the sector - they should be the ones that join up the sector. They should also try and influence the culture of the sector where new entrants to the sector feel more comfortable and welcomed, particularly when it comes to CYP and inequalities.”

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Findings from research with the public

Research with the wider public focused on broader attitudes toward sport and physical activity, as well as high-level feedback on the priority themes within the Sport England strategy. It was intended to build on and complement the behavioural data captured as part of the Active Lives programme of research.

There were five overarching findings from the research conducted with the public:

1. Sport and physical activity is widely considered to be important for the public – and its importance has become more apparent since the start of the pandemic. • 90% of the public believe the provision of opportunities for sport and physical activity to be either fairly (41%) or very important (49%) for the country as a whole. • 70% of the public believe such opportunities to be either fairly (34%) or very important (35%) to themselves personally. • 65% of the public believe that encouraging sport and physical activity should be a priority for the country in recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic (compared with only 19% that believe it should not be a priority). • Focus group participants noted that the allotted daily outdoors activity during lockdown made them more likely to get out and be active every day and appreciate green spaces around them – and this was seen as key to maintaining their mental wellbeing in a difficult time. Others found the sudden disappearance of their regular, organised sport and physical activity difficult to replace, leading to a detrimental impact on their physical and mental health.

2. Most people have experienced benefits of sport and physical activity personally and say they want to do more activity themselves. • 58% of the public say they personally have experienced significant benefits from sport or physical activity (compared to 27% who say they have not done so). • 53% of the public say that they wish they could do more sport or physical activity (compared to 38% who say they are satisfied with how much they do). • The most motivating reasons include improving physical health, improving mental health and mood, and improving fitness, strength, balance or flexibility. While physical and mental health benefits were both front-of-mind, many focus group participants were more engaged when talking about the mental health benefits – and very open about the positive impact that activity can have on low mood, stress and anxiety.

3. While most are satisfied with the opportunities for sport and physical activity available to them, there is a significant minority of the public that feel as though they are excluded from participating or do not have access to a good range of opportunities.

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• 54% of the public say they have access to a good range of opportunities to do sport or physical activity in their local area – but 28% say they do not. • 54% of the public say there isn’t much stopping them from being as physically active as they would like to be – but 35% say there are many barriers stopping them. • 50% of the public say they rarely or never feel excluded from participating in sport or physical activity – but 22% say they often feel excluded. • The population groups most likely to feel excluded or prevented from participating are younger adults (18-24s), parents of young children under 18, less affluent groups (e.g. socio-economic groups DE), and people with long-term health conditions.

4. There are a wide range of barriers that people face – with many experiencing complex, overlapping and varied combinations of barriers. • The most commonly-cited barriers are lack of energy/tiredness, weather conditions, lack of time or incompatible routine, lack of fitness, having a health condition or disability, and the expense of participation. • However, the research identified a very wide range of barriers with no single barrier standing out as universal. The qualitative research also suggested a number of links and overlaps between the different barriers – while many participants also expressed facing multiple barriers to activity, with these combinations of barriers varying from participant to participant.

5. There is widespread public support for all of the priority areas in the Sport England strategy – with Tackling Inequalities, Children and Young People, and Active Life for Healthy Life feeling particularly intuitive and resonant. • 91% of the public say that ‘improving the opportunities and experiences of children and young people to set the foundations for an active life’ is an important priority. • 90% of the public say that ‘helping people to prevent and treat physical and mental health issues through physical activity’ is an important priority. • 88% of the public say that ‘adapting public spaces, infrastructure and environments, such as parks and local sporting facilities, to make it easier for people to be active in their local areas’ is an important priority. • 87% of the public say ‘tackling inequality so that every person, regardless of their age, gender, location or background, has access to the benefits of living an active life’ is an important priority. • 86% of the public say that ‘supporting the many clubs, groups and organisations across the country that provide the opportunities for sport and physical activity’ is an important priority. • 82% of the public say ‘using sport and physical activities as a way of strengthening communities and bringing people from different walks of life together’ is an important priority.

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Appendix: Organisations represented in Phase 1 of the consultation

4Global Abacus British Active Cornwall British Judo Active Cumbria Active Essex British Mountaineering Council Active Families Together British Shooting Active Gloucestershire British Triathlon Active Lancashire British Wheelchair Basketball Active Life for a Healthier You British Wrestling Active Lincolnshire Bucks & MK Sport and Activity Partnership Active Norfolk BUCS Active Northumberland City Council Active Partners Trust Canal & River Trust Active Partnerships Cardiff University Active Suffolk Carrington House Active Surrey Cerebral Palsy Sport Active Cumbria Chance to Shine Activity Alliance City of Westminster Age UK Blackburn with Darwen Coach Core Foundation Age UK North Tyneside Colchester Borough Council Ambassadors Football CPSU AoC Sport CSSC Sports & Leisure Archery GB Dacorum Borough Council Atos Dales Canoe Club Barnet and Southgate College De Montfort University Baseball Softball UK Derby College Deva Canoe Club Bennett Leisure & Planning Ltd District Technologies Bicester RUFC DIVA Community BID Services DN Colleges Group Blackburn College Double Bounce Inclusive Tennis SW CIC Boccia England DS Insight Bowls Development Alliance DSCP Braintree Canoeing Club Dysgu Ltd Brighton and Hove City Council Ealing Council Brighton Table Tennis Club East Herts British Athletics East Riding of Yorkshire Council ECB Energise Me British Equestrian Energize Shropshire Telford & Wrekin British Fencing Energize STW

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England & Wales Cricket Board King's College London England Athletics Kingston Archery Club England Cricket Association for the Deaf Kirklees Council (ECAD) KO Child Protection Services Limited Leap Essex County Council Leeds Beckett University Essex Slalom Squad Legacy WM Eton Fives Association Leicestershire & Rutland Sport EventID LGBT Sport Cymru F Wood Solutions Ltd Limb Power Family Action Lime Culture CIC Federation of Sports and Play Associations Link4life Fields in Trust Liverpool John Moore’s University Fitronics Ltd LSSP/ St Margaret’s C of E Academy FMG Consultancy Middlesbrough College Frenchay Flacons CC Midlands Psychology CIC GB Wheelchair Rugby Motitech Get Berkshire Active MS Society GLL MSP GM Moving National Literacy Trust Goalball UK New College Leicester Greater Sport Newark Sports Association Greenwich Leisure Ltd NewVIc Grounds Management Association (GMA) Northamptonshire Sport Hackney Council Norwich City Council Hallam Barbell Nottingham City Council Hatfield Town Council Nottinghamshire YMCA Healthy Stadia ODI Hertford Regional College Parkwood Leisure Hertfordshire Sports Village Pentaqua SC Herts Sports Partnership Peterborough City Council Hopscotch Consulting Pick Everard Hull Culture and Leisure Ltd Pioneering Care Partnership IMAS Play Polo Ltd IMIN LTD Playfinder Inclusive Skating Playing Out CIC Insight Angels Power to Change Intelligent Health Premiership Rugby Interflora Public Health England International Mixed Ability Sports Robinson Low Francis Jonas Software Royal Borough of Greenwich Kent Badminton Ltd

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Rugby League Cares The Priory School Safe and Sound Group The Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts The Sporting Memories Foundation Sanctuary Housing Association The Urban Fitness Collective Saracens Foundation The Wellbeing Project Europe SASP Think Active School Games Three Rivers District Council Scouts Together Active Shotokan Karate England Torus Foundation Sigma Sixth Sports Academy Torus foundation (FireFit hub) Skateboard England Tynemet College (FE College) SMILE Through Sport U3A (The Third Age Trust) SOAR UK Active Spelthorne Borough Council UK Sport Sport Birmingham University College London Sport Sessions University of Brighton Academies Trust Sport Structures University of Manchester Sport-Tec in the Community University of Northampton Sported Urban Transport Group Sport Inspired Volair Ltd Sports Leaders Waddington Street Centre Sports Think Tank Warminster Adventure Sports club Sports Able Warwickshire Council St Helens Borough Council Wasps Ladies St Helens School Games Watford FC Community Sports & Education Trust Stockport Council Wave Leisure Trust Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council WEA Street Games West End AFC Sunderland City Council West of England Sport Trust (WeSport) Swimming Teachers’ Association Wharfedale RUFC TEWV NHS Wiltshire Council Thames Valley Police Women’s Sport Trust The Children’s Society Wright Sport Services Limited & Chance Camp The Daily Mile Foundation/INEOS Limited The Great Run Company Yorkshire Sport Foundation The Manvers Lake and Dearne Valley Trust Ltd. Young Brent Foundation The Optimal Ageing Programme Youth Adventure Trust

Please note that this list does not include all workshop participants, and that not all participating stakeholders provided an organisation name on registration on the online platform, and are therefore not included in the above list.

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