Written evidence submitted by UK Sport

DCMS SELECT COMMITTEE INQUIRY:

SPORT IN OUR COMMUNITIES

WRITTEN EVIDENCE SUBMITTED BY UK SPORT 27 November 2020

Introduction

1. UK Sport is the nation’s high-performance sports agency. We inspire the nation through Olympic and Paralympic success, ensure that the UK plays host to some of the world’s biggest sporting events, act as an international leader in sports governance and seek throughout to use the power of sport to enrich lives across communities and country alike.

2. Thanks to continued National Lottery and Exchequer investment, British athletes made history at the last Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio, winning more medals than the London Games in 2012; bringing home 67 Olympic and 147 Paralympic medals and all the while bringing together and inspiring our nation once more. When, following the Rio Games, the public was asked what made them most proud to be British, ‘Team GB’ was ranked second behind only the NHS.

3. We are pleased to have the opportunity to provide evidence to the Committee’s inquiry into ‘Sport in our Communities’. While UK Sport focuses on high performance, it is our fundamental belief that international sporting success, hosted major events, and the influence & impact of our world-class athletes makes a significant contribution to the wellbeing of communities across the nation.

Q1. Are current sports governance models fit for purpose?

4. Over the last 20 years voluntary sector sport – in the UK and elsewhere – has been undergoing a process of ‘professionalisation’, which has been described as ‘sport’s transition from volunteer-delivered amateur sport to professionally managed and delivered sport supported by volunteers’ (Ferkins and Shilbury 2014 cited Tacon and Walters 2016i). To a large extent this process has been driven by changes to the business of sport, with the type of decisions needing to be taken increasingly being complex, commercial, multidisciplinary and high- profile in nature.

5. A raft of policy statements, programmes and governance guidelines issued by central government, the Sports Councils and others over this time culminated in the Government’s 2015 sports strategy, ‘Sporting Future’, which called on UK Sport and Sport England to agree a new Code for Sports Governance. The primary purpose was to help protect the value-for-money the public receives from investment into sport in England and at a UK level, and to maximise the effectiveness of those investments.

6. The new Code for Sports Governance was subsequently introduced effective from April 2017 and remains in place today. It sets out the levels of transparency, accountability and financial integrity that are required from those who seek and receive Government and National Lottery funding. It has three tiers and applies to any organisation seeking funding from Sport England or UK Sport, regardless of size and sector, including national governing bodies of sport, clubs, charities and local authorities. The Code is also proportionate, expecting the highest standards of good governance from organisations requesting the largest public investments, including:

• Increased skills and diversity in decision making, with a target of at least 30 per cent gender diversity on boards • Greater transparency, for example publishing more information on the structure, strategy and financial position of the organisation. • Constitutional arrangements that give boards the prime role in decision making.

7. Since its introduction, the Code has accelerated the professionalisation of many national sports bodies with a focus on areas such as:

• Establishing Boards as the ultimate decision-making authority within a sport rather than traditional councils • Reforms to Board memberships, including at least 25% independent members • Commitments to targeting greater diversity, including at least 30% of each gender on Boards

8. In terms of diversity, the Code has significantly accelerated gender equality on sports boards, with women now accounting for 40% of board members across funded bodies following the introduction of a 30% target as part of the Code. UK Sport and Sport England have also put in place a successful programme with Perrett Laver to recruit and upskill a diverse network of board candidates. So far, the partnership has seen 33 appointments made to sports boards, 62% of which have been people from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds and 71% of which have been women. Overall, there are now 172 potential Board candidates in the network of which 65% are from an ethnic minority background.

9. While much has been achieved and the Code has been instrumental in raising governance standards across the landscape, we acknowledge that more remains to be done. While there are new challenges facing sports governing bodies all the time – never better seen than over the course of this year – it is important not to underestimate the scale and pace of the cultural change that organisations have undergone during the professionalisation process, typically moving ‘from volunteer-driven entities to those experiencing the forces of commercialisation and the infusion of paid staff to fulfil roles historically performed by volunteers’ (Shilbury, Ferkins and Smythe 2013 cited Tacon and Walters 2016). Against this background, in July 2020 UK Sport and Sport England announced the first joint review of the Code for Sports Governance. The review, now underway, will involve wide consultation with organisations to which the Code applies and will particularly be examining those elements of the Code that support equality, diversity and inclusion – including those that focus on the composition of boards. It will also check against current governance best practice from other sectors, recognising that thinking may have moved on and further improvements found in sport and other sectors over the last three years.

10. Equality, diversity and inclusion are an integral part of our emerging strategy- due to come into play from April 2021 - to find new ways of harnessing the power of sport to enrich lives. In terms of work already underway, as well as the Code review already mentioned, we are coordinating a review of racial inequalities in sport, involving all five of the UK’s Sports Councils. This work will bring together existing data on race and ethnicity in sport - to identify gaps and make recommendations – and will be followed by a second strand of work hearing people’s ‘lived experiences’ of racial inequalities and racism in sport. These initiatives are important steps in taking forward our commitment to develop a fully inclusive sporting system.

11. In a Westminster Hall debate on Historical Discrimination in Boxing last month, the Sports Minister said that the Government’s aim in promoting and supporting equality, diversity and inclusion is ‘to increase diversity among sporting organisations and to help the sport sector to be more inclusive and welcoming to spectators, participants and the workforce.’ This statement very much mirrors the broad, system-wide outcomes we are beginning to frame for our own organisational strategy at UK Sport.

Q2. At what level of sport should the government consider spending public money?

12. UK Sport is the UK’s lead agency for high performance and invests both Exchequer and National Lottery funding into top-level sport, primarily among the Olympic and Paralympic sports. While we believe in supporting top athletes as talented individuals in their own right, we are also gathering an increasing quantity and quality of evidence about the social impact of our top sportsmen and women – whether as role models; through the success they achieve; or because of the active part they play in their communities. Latest research about the contribution that the Olympic and Paralympic sports make to the UK economy (some £24 billion in 2017) and about the public’s belief in the positive impact of sporting success on the UK’s general wellbeing (45% agree strongly with this proposition) in our view makes a compelling case for government investment at the highest level.

13. This being said, we should nevertheless take the opportunity to explain that individual sports have different opportunities to generate non-grant income - that some NGBs therefore have greater financial independence than others – and that this capability is taken into account when we are making investment decisions. As a result, we group NGBs into four co-funding tiers for the purpose of evaluating their performance strategy and budget submission. Tier 1 sports are defined as those which have access to sufficient grant income to fully fund their performance strategy: these sports cannot expect to receive any funding from UK Sport but will have access to technical support and services.

Q3. What are the biggest risks to the long-term viability of grassroots sport?

14. While this question lies more within the scope of Sport England than UK Sport, there is one aspect of grassroots sport where our two organisations currently share concerns, and this is in terms of the flow of young athletes emerging from their local sporting networks and into what we call the ‘talent pathway’.

15. Although elite sport is in the fortunate position of enjoying certain exemptions from the restrictions that recreational sport has had to undergo during lockdown, in order to maintain safe practices and ensure that training remains effective, NGBs through this period have understandably tended to give priority to their senior, higher-level athletes. While this approach has had implications for the progress of young athletes already in the talent pathway, the situation facing those who are not yet on the pathway is even worse. Without access to local facilities or competition opportunities, the ‘class of 2020’ is often missing out on the chance even to be ‘talent identified’. Youngsters from disadvantaged areas - where access to connected devices may be less, where space for informal training may be limited, where even parental support be less readily available – are likely to be the hardest hit in this respect.

16. With purpose diminished and future prospects uncertain, there is a real fear that young athletes will lose motivation and, in some cases, even be lost to sport completely. Moreover, the longer the current crisis and associated restrictions continue, it follows that the break in the talent pipeline will widen, and the consequent ‘lag’ in terms of athlete progression will increase. Sports with a younger age profile (eg. swimming) or which are not generally practised at school (which at least permits some semblance of ongoing training to take place) are at particular risk in this regard. The pandemic has provoked a lot of debate about the creation of a ‘lost generation’; nowhere is this unfortunate consequence more clearly seen than in sport.

17. The end of this latest ‘November’ phase of lockdown and the return to a tiered system of restrictions allowing for the re-opening of some grassroots sports facilities will hopefully ease the difficulties that young athletes on the verge of the performance pathway have been experiencing this year. Should further lockdown measures be required to deal with the pandemic in the future, then we would urge the Government to give careful consideration to the implications for talented young athletes and, by extension, the longer-term health of the competitive sport continuum. In the meantime, UK Sport, with its Home Country Sports Council partners, is considering ways in which it might be able to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on emerging talent over the next year or two.

Q5. To what extent should elite professional sports support the lower leagues and grassroots? How should the Government make this happen?

18. While this question is clearly focused on elite professional sport and, in the strict sense, therefore lies outside the scope of UK Sport, we are seeing a general recognition even amongst our partner NGBs of the need to support clubs at the grassroots in order for them to survive the pandemic; to be able to maintain basic operations; and to drive future membership as a critical income stream for their sport. Simultaneously, of course, these same organisations are facing unprecedented challenge and their capacity is being reduced. UK Sport’s Continuity Fund has been set up to help NGBs during the crisis, with awards to a total value of £1.8 million having been made from the first round; this funding, together with support made available by Sport England, has provided a critical lifeline to the sector during this time, without which the impact on NGBs – and on their clubs further down the chain - would arguably have been even more severe than it has been.

Further information

19. While there is likely to be a general consensus that the main focus of high- performance sport is on producing great athletes, achieving international success, and bringing major events to the country, we have produced an annex to our submission which we hope will also give the Committee a sense of the impact that our athletes and their teams are having beyond the track and the pool, and out in the communities that are the main subject of this inquiry. Over the next Olympic and Paralympic cycle and beyond, UK Sport will be looking to elevate the achievements and stories of our athletes so that they connect ever more meaningfully with people’s lives and make a unique contribution to the physical and mental wellbeing of the UK.

UK Sport is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this inquiry. Should the Committee have any questions about this submission or require any further information, please contact:

Dominic Foster Head of External Affairs

______Richard Tacon & Geoff Walters (2016) Modernisation and governance in UK national governing bodies of sport: how modernisation influences the way board members perceive and enact their roles, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 8:3, 363-381, DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2016.1194874

Annex: Extraordinary athletes, enriching lives: high-performance sport in our communities

1. This annex to our evidence provides some examples of the impact that the UK’s World Class athletes and teams are having beyond the track and the pool, and in communities across the nation.

Athlete appearances

2. The Committee may be aware that World Class Programme athletes each look to find five days a year within their busy training and competition schedules to meet or work with children and young people in their communities. Activities range from supporting sport development programmes; volunteering with charities; mentoring young people in deprived communities; or simply speaking to classes and telling their story. These volunteering appearances are part of a promise made by UK Sport when, shortly after London 2012, the Government pledged to continue its backing of high-performance sport beyond the lifetime of the then current Parliament.

3. Over 42,000 appearances have been made since the programme began. It is a testament to our athletes’ commitment that 800 appearances have been logged this year, despite the significant challenges due to COVID restrictions, with a good number more yet to be recorded. We have noticed that the opportunity of making digital appearances has been a popular option amongst some sports who have been able to broaden their impact and diversify the reach of their athletes into new communities and audiences.

4. Appearances have ranged from a Para-triathlete dressing up as spider-man to go on her run every day, in order to lift the spirits of up children who would stand outside their house and cheer her on, to members of the British Cycling squad leading Zwift races with members of the public, followed by a Q&A. A canoeist has volunteered his time to lead daily virtual yoga sessions and others have done virtual award presentations. The nature of engagement may have taken other new directions as well, with athletes who may have been helping their community with food shops, or calling vulnerable elderly people, not classifying these sorts of activities as volunteering ‘appearances’ in the conventional sense. We will be pushing NGBs to continue to organise, and capture, the broad range of appearances for the remainder of the year.

Playing Our Part

5. Just to expand a little on how our athletes have responded to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have many examples of individuals who have temporarily put aside their focus on performance sport and worked selflessly and tirelessly in their communities and on the front line with the NHS in its hour of greatest need.

 Three athletes with medical occupations - rower Polly Swann, para table tennis player Kim Daybell and curler Vicky Wright - put their Olympic or Paralympic ambitions on hold while they returned to frontline duties in hospital.

 Visually impaired judoka, Chris Skelley, and his partner, wheelchair tennis athlete Louise Huntin, volunteered in their Hull community with the charity Phoenix Enterprise. Their words summarise the views of many athletes who have been playing their part during the crisis: “Many of the people who use the charity live on their own, so we have been delivering food parcels once a week and having a chat to ensure they are ok. It is important we keep in touch, being in isolation by yourself must be difficult so even a five-minute chat can really change someone’s day. I’m glad we can help people in this difficult time. The biggest thing we can all do is check in with one another and stay strong as a community.”

 Even some of our global stars such as gymnast Max Whitlock, swimmer Adam Peaty and Paralympic cyclist Dame Sarah Storey became involved. Whitlock was amongst the first athletes to set up online home workouts, ensuring they were accessible to all. Peaty raffled his Rio Olympic swimming trunks and hosted a charity Zwift cycling challenge. Dame Sarah works tirelessly to get people on their bike and has been working with local councils, particularly in Sheffield, for better cycling lanes and infrastructure.

Leading the way in the fight for equality

6. Covid-19 was far from the only challenge faced by our sports in the last 12 months. The related issues of racial equality and diversity in sport were put under the spotlight by the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s death in the US. Once again, athletes in our high-performance community have added their voices or actions to enact change. Examples include:

 Heptathlon world champion, Katerina Johnson-Thompson, who has written about her experiences of racism at a mainly white school

 Open-water swimmer, Alice Dearing, who is on target to become the first black woman to represent Great Britain in swimming at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in July, and only the second black swimmer ever to swim competitively for Great Britain. Dearing is determined to use her own platform to change the perception of swimming for the black community and has co-founded the Black Swimming Association which aims to get black people swimming and safe in the water.  Dual-sport Paralympic gold medallist, Kadeena Cox, who has spoken about the need for the protest of the Black Lives Matter movement to be backed up by an education drive to eradicate ‘systemic racism’

 Kyra Edwards, the only black mixed-heritage athlete on the senior British Rowing team - and one of just two non-white athletes there – who has spoken of wanting to ‘make sure I leave this sport way more diverse than when I found it … It is so important to me the black children – or any ethnic minority – watching at home, that they can see that diversity is possible. That they can thrive even in spaces they don’t think were made for them.’

7. With reference to the campaigning work of Alice Dearing mentioned above, Swimming is far from being the only sport where attention has been drawn to the underrepresentation of black, Asian and other minority ethnic people. The Committee will be encouraged to hear that UK Sport and Sport England are currently working together to reimagine and redefine what talent identification and development programmes could look like, with a focus on increasing diversity and inclusion both in the pathway, and ultimately, within the World Class Programme itself. Underpinning this work is a belief that, if the UK is to achieve its full potential as a sporting nation then addressing diversity and inclusion represents a huge opportunity.

8. There are over two million 15-24-year-olds living in medium/major cities in the UK, more than one million in London alone. Earlier this year, we brought together a group of young Londoners and experts in this part of the sporting continuum to identify some of the barriers and challenges experienced by young London-based athletes and to consider how to design talent identification and development programmes with the needs of the users and their communities at their heart. The aim is to develop a pilot project that will not only identify a new and diverse cohort of talented athletes from London but will also provide a blueprint for innovation across the sporting system. This a tactical project with the ambition for it to be a catalyst for systemic change at scale.