To consider and report on health policy, the NHS in Scotland, anti poverty measures, equalities, sport and other matters falling within the responsibility of the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy apart from those covered by the remit of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee.

Membership:

George Adam (until 19 September)
Bob Doris (Deputy Convener)
Jim Eadie (until 19 September)
Richard Lyle (until 19 September)
Mark McDonald (from 19 September)
Aileen McLeod (from 19 September)
Duncan McNeil (Convener)
Nanette Milne
Gil Paterson
Dr Richard Simpson
Drew Smith
David Torrance (from 19 September)

Committee Clerking Team:

Clerk to the Committee
Eugene Windsor

Senior Assistant Clerk
Rodger Evans

Assistant Clerk
Rebecca Lamb

Committee Assistant
Bryan McConachie

Report on Inquiry into Support for Community Sport

FOREWORD

This is the time of our lives, the Committee has heard from this inquiry; a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pursue a genuine sporting legacy for Scotland.

We would do well to grasp it.

The summer spectacle of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, countdown to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, hosting the Ryder Cup also in 2014, and our bid for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games – many a country would envy such a sporting bonanza.

Did you know that over 40% of adults in the UK were said to have posted comments about the Olympics on websites, blogs or social networking? Or that among those aged 16-24 it is suggested the figure rose to 61%? Beyond social media, the estimate is that the Glasgow 2014 will attract a worldwide television audience of a billion plus.

We have an exceptional chance here to raise the profile, not only of Scotland on the world stage, but of the world of sport for all – and on our own doorstop. “This is for everyone” and “Inspire a generation” were slogans from London 2012 – an ethos we want Glasgow 2014 to emulate.

The focus of the Health and Sport Committee’s inquiry is on community sport rather than the elite or professional level. Yet those at the top come from the grassroots and those from the grassroots produce, and are in turn inspired by, those at the top – a mutual dependency that informs the sporting health of the nation.

Much has been said about the legacy of major sporting festivals. In its 2009 report, Pathways into Sport and Physical Activity, the previous Health and Sport Committee stated that the success of Glasgow 2014 required more than two weeks of world-class sport and a celebratory atmosphere.

Those are a given.

A real and lasting legacy would be more people – of all abilities, ages and backgrounds – participating and volunteering in community sport and physical activity. The health benefits of pursuing a more active lifestyle are well documented, but there is potential too for wider societal benefits.

Being the Health and Sport Committee, making the connection between the two strands has an obvious logic to us as parliamentarians, but not so to the still-too-many people who remain physically inactive. Sport can be healthy, fun, therapeutic, a great leveller, and even a social adhesive. Of course, it can never be a panacea for all our problems, but the benefits for young and old and those of us in between are manifest.

If our report has an overriding message, it is that there are fantastic examples out there from which we should learn and replicate – initiatives, pilot projects and clubs, often inspired and led by the efforts of individuals; those dubbed by Judy Murray the “pied pipers”¹ of sport for their inspiring children to take part.

These people, usually volunteers, can and do make a positive, sometimes a crucial, difference to their sport, to their communities, and to those people whose lives are enriched by sport.

“Without volunteers, sport will die,”² as one witness put it. They deserve greater support, and community sport needs a more integrated approach to be taken by the leaders of clubs, governing bodies, local authorities, national agencies and policy makers.

The Committee wishes to express its gratitude to all those who contributed to the inquiry. We were impressed and, dare I say, enthused not just by the levels of knowledge but with the energy, imagination, passion even, that witnesses brought to proceedings – fine qualities indeed, and not always to the fore in a formal parliamentary setting.

We hope to convey some sense at least of that degree of commitment and verve; to encourage discourse, and to usefully inform policy pertaining to grassroots sport, legacy planning, and preventative spend.

Don’t just watch the Games, the organisers of Glasgow 2014 proclaim; don’t just experience the games; be the games. That will sound glib to some. We believe it delivers a powerful message.

Duncan McNeil MSP, Convener of the Health and Sport Committee

The Committee reports to the Parliament as follows—

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The Committee was surprised at the lack of detailed information on the scale and skillset of the volunteer “workforce”. Given the emphasis placed on the legacy of Glasgow 2014 and its potential for bolstering participation, a stronger sense of “where we are” might be expected. The Committee therefore recommends that sportscotland, in conjunction with the relevant sporting associations, co-ordinate an examination of capacity as a matter of urgency.

2. The Committee was concerned that very few governing bodies have developed volunteer strategies. Strategies are not a panacea, but given a recurring plea for volunteers to be better supported, the Committee recommends renewed encouragement from the national sporting agencies for development of robust strategies by all governing bodies – to fully address and provide a lead on crucial matters such as recruitment and retention.

3. The Committee encourages the Scottish Government and all those in the sporting sector and beyond to show leadership by supporting volunteers in sport more actively and by promoting a culture of volunteerism.

4. To this end, the Committee requests that the Minister for Sport and Commonwealth Games provide an update, with input from sportscotland and other key players, on all aspects of volunteering in sport before the Parliament moves into summer recess in 2013. The Committee is particularly interested in qualified coaches and the state of readiness for the increase in demand for club sport that it is hoped will materialise on the back of Glasgow 2014.

5. The Committee asks to be kept informed of sportscotland’s initiative with local authorities to develop a national framework to assist with the monitoring and evaluation of local sports clubs.

6. The Committee issues a plea on behalf of those clubs outwith the Community Sports Hub system that they are not forgotten or lose out on funding or other support.

7. The Committee reiterates a recommendation in its predecessor’s 2009 Pathways into Sport and Physical Activity report that local authorities produce local sports strategies, including implementation plans, and that those with existing strategies ensure that they are up to date and implemented.

8. The Committee took evidence on the Cashback for Communities programme but wished to learn more about the correlation between where money is recovered from and where resources are deployed. The Committee therefore awaits the report of Inspiring Scotland’s evaluation of the programme with interest.

9. Evidence that the Committee heard highlighted a range of barriers to greater use of school-based facilities – from contractual difficulties to cost issues. The Committee will await the findings of sportscotland’s audit of current access, expected next spring, and consider then what bearing this may have on plans for opening up the school estate.

10. The Committee notes that local authorities play a crucial role in the provision and running of facilities. It is hoped that, as part of their sporting strategy, they maintain an awareness of what assets are at their disposal and that this would cover the standard and condition of facilities.

11. The Committee commends the practice of “sweating assets” and encourages local authorities and others to make it a cornerstone of their approach to sporting facilities.

12. It would also be of benefit to the public, and help to encourage participation, if local authorities could provide clear and consistent information on charging and opening hours for all facilities in their area. Sportscotland might wish to consider this further in light of its audit of the school estate.

13. Further to the Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance in the Out for Sport report, the Committee seeks further information from the Scottish Government and sport’s national agencies and its governing bodies on what steps are being taken to challenge and eradicate homophobia and transphobia in sport.

14. The Committee also seeks further information from the Scottish Government regarding how Community Sports Hubs are sharing best practice in the area of equal opportunities.

15. Swimming is a key component of “physical literacy” but the Committee was concerned to learn that 25% of children leave primary school unable to swim. The figure is likely to be even higher in deprived areas. The Committee welcomes the views of Save the Children Scotland and Scottish Swimming (who relayed the statistic), the Active Schools Network and the Scottish Government on what can be done to remedy the situation.

INTRODUCTION

16. In 2009 our predecessor Health and Sport Committee undertook an inquiry into Pathways into Sport and Physical Activity, its emphasis being on physical education in schools.

17. This time around, the Committee wished to consider the support available for community sport and related issues. The focus is on volunteers, coaching, clubs, preventative health and community impact, facilities, Community Sports Hubs (“CSHs”), and the legacy of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games (“Glasgow 2014”).

18. A call for written evidence was issued on 2 July 2012 and 62 submissions were received.

19. Four evidence sessions were held with eight panels and 48 witnesses. There were also visits to CSHs in Glasgow (Chris Hoy Velodrome), Cumbernauld (St Maurice’s High School), and Aberdeen (Aberdeen Sports Village).

20. A debate in the Chamber on the inquiry’s emerging themes took place on 20 October 2012.

Remit of Inquiry

21. The inquiry sought to address the following themes—

The contribution of people – focusing on the role of volunteers, and looking at how to ensure that they have the opportunities and support necessary to best contribute to sport at a local level.
The contribution of local sports clubs both to (i) the preventative health agenda and (ii) their communities.
The importance of places for sport, in terms of availability, accessibility, affordability, and the quality of facilities.

22. The questions asked in the call for written evidence were—

What is being done to support volunteers in community sport?
What are the barriers facing volunteers?
What examples are there of good practice to encourage and maintain volunteers in community sport?
How can the contribution of local sports clubs be quantified for: (i) the preventative health agenda and (ii) communities?
What role do, or should, community sports hubs play in encouraging sport in local communities?
Given reducing public expenditures, what examples of innovative joint working between clubs and public bodies exist to make the most out of funding?
What are the three most important issues regarding sporting facilities at a local level?

Structure

23. The main part of the report is broadly structured as per the headings below, following the themes of the seven questions above but with the addition of sections on equalities and PE, two areas where the Committee heard evidence but that were not directly included in the original questions.

Volunteers: support, barriers, good practice;
Contribution of local sports clubs;
Role of Community Sports Hubs;
Joint working, funding, other models;
Sporting facilities;
Equalities and participation;
Physical Education.

BACKGROUND

24. The inquiry was motivated by a desire to ascertain the state of community sport in Scotland – how sport at the grassroots is faring – at a point in time between the London Olympics and Glasgow 2014.

25. Much has been said about the legacy of both these major sporting festivals and the Committee wants to explore how it can benefit sport for all.

26. One estimate of the cost to Scotland of inactivity puts the figure at £94.1 million per annum³. The linkages between sport/physical activity and health very much feature in the Committee’s thinking: for, despite a good public understanding that a more active lifestyle brings health benefits, serious concerns remain about how physically active we are as a nation.

27. Like its predecessor Committee, which reported on Pathways into Sport and Physical Activity in 2009, the Health and Sport Committee recognises that the staging of several of the world’s most prestigious sporting celebrations is an excellent opportunity to boost the profile of sport in Scotland.

28. The Committee wishes to encourage policies directed at greater participation, but recognises that attaining such an outcome depends on the contribution of volunteers, vitality of local clubs, quality of facilities, and related matters.

VOLUNTEERS: SUPPORT, BARRIERS, GOOD PRACTICE

29. The Committee heard repeatedly that volunteers are the lifeblood of community sport and without their considerable input, the health of the sporting nation would be in peril.

30. This section touches on: the energy of the individual, size of the “workforce”, what motivates people, barriers to recruitment, thinking around retention, award schemes, coaching capacity, strategies to promote a better volunteer experience, making the most of legacy, the need for leadership, how information can be improved, mentoring and other forms of support, and means of engaging young people.

Much more about software than hardware

31. Lee Cousins of the Scottish Sports Association said—

“All our experience in developing sport tells us that it comes down to the individual – to the committed individual who has a bee in his bonnet about wanting to achieve something and to individuals who get together for an interaction that creates communal energy….when such individuals get to work and interact with each other, the energy and the growth in participation come.”^{^[4]}

32. Winning Scotland Foundation’s Alistair Gray told the Committee—

“…we have to get across the message that it all comes down to people’s behaviour and culture; it is much more about software than it is about hardware.”⁵

33. A view shared by John Lee of Volunteer Development Scotland (“VDS”)—

“Volunteering is absolutely crucial to our endeavours and to energising community sport in Scotland…We think that about 84,000 of the 90,000 sports coaches in Scotland are volunteers.”⁶

34. In terms of overall numbers, the Committee learnt that about 30% of the population is involved in volunteering, equating to 1.2 million people. Of that total, 15-16% is involved in sport. ⁷

35. Others suggested the figures may be greater. Kim Atkinson of the Scottish Sports Association told the Committee—

“My guess is that the figure [150,000] is a fairly conservative estimate of the number of people who volunteer. I believe that a third of the adults and half of the young people who volunteer each year do so in sport.”⁸

36. Sportscotland’s Mary Allison suggested that sampling and estimating from the Scottish Household Survey indicated that 4.5% of the population or 195,000 adults volunteer in sport. ⁹

37. Kim Atkinson sought to place the figure in the wider context of club membership—

“…a fifth of our population is a member of one of the 13,000 voluntary sports clubs…and the fact that the community is not just volunteering in sport but that sport itself is actually in our communities also emphasises the scale of this.”¹⁰

38. Against a European backdrop, the Committee heard that Scotland is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of volunteering rates in sport, with Holland and Finland sitting at the top end, with figures of 10% and 11% respectively.¹¹

39. Despite the broad estimates of number of volunteers in community sport, there appeared to be a lack of more workforce-type data or audit of the skills available to clubs. How many coaches were out there? How many volunteers were administrators? And, aside from what was available via the Scottish Household Survey, who was gathering this detailed information?

The time of our lives

40. Scottish Winning Foundation told the Committee—

“I cannot think of many sports that would be able to say how many people are in their coaching workforce or their technical official workforce and especially how many volunteers they have…It is vital that your question about capacity be answered, because that tells you how much you have to do – it tells you the scale of the challenge involved in grasping the opportunity of the time of our lives.”¹²

41. VDS said—

“…there is a lack of information. Studies tend to consider overall levels of participation in sport; they tend not to drill down into the levels of volunteering. There is an urgent need to benchmark where we are.”¹³

Building capacity locally

42. The Scottish Sports Association suggested that volunteers should not be seen as “an amorphous blob”¹⁴ – those who volunteered for events such as the Commonwealth Games likely being distinct from the people who gave a long-term commitment to a local club—

“A commitment to volunteer every Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday is required, which needs a different type of person. Dealing with that is a bottom-up process; it is not done from the top. It is about building capacity locally.”¹⁵

43. Furthermore, many “volunteers”, it was said, do not necessarily describe themselves as such, whether perhaps out of modesty or taking their own contribution for granted.¹⁶ ¹⁷

44. However, Scottish Rugby’s Colin Thomson encapsulated the view that the grassroots could not exist without the energy and input of volunteers—

“We will never have sport without volunteers, and we need to state that clearly, and never forget that the work that volunteers carry out in rugby, canoeing, cricket, golf and so on produces social capital in Scotland.”¹⁸

45. Whether they see themselves as “helping out” or as volunteers or as “games makers” (in the parlance of the London Olympics), the value of what they give should not be underestimated.

46. Tennis coach Judy Murray told the Committee—

“…they range from the lady who makes the tea at the cricket club to someone who sits on the board of a governing body. There is a huge range of skills, but everyone is valuable, and we must ensure that all the volunteers who want to be involved in a sport for whatever reason are educated and supported to do whatever that job is to the best of their ability.”¹⁹

47. A number of witnesses stated that finding kit washers and coaches was not an issue but it was more difficult persuading people to fulfil the administrative side of running a club. The Scottish Sports Association said—

“Finding volunteers who have more to do with governance issues, such as treasurers, chairmen, membership secretaries and child protection officers, is more difficult.”²⁰

48. Alan Cunningham of Broxburn United Sports Club told the Committee—

“…people do not jump up to volunteer to be the secretary or treasurer for a facility…so we go out looking for people such as retired professionals to give us support. We are involved in the West Lothian voluntary sector gateway to try to get support from businessmen and entrepreneurs.”²¹

49. On the question of motivation, Stuart Younie of VOCAL (the Association for Culture and Leisure Managers in Scotland) said—

“There are many different reasons why someone would want to get involved in sport. They might have been involved in sport themselves, their children might be involved in sport or they might have a sports connection through a family member or a friend, or through a club environment.”²²

50. Andy Salmon of the Scottish Golf Union referred to long-term volunteers—

“…we have a number of volunteers at regional or national level and we found in a recent survey that 36% of them have been in post for at least six years – many have been in post for 20 or 30 years…Those people volunteer because they want to give something back.”²³

51. The major barrier to volunteering was time, or at least a perception of time, and the lack of it. The Scottish Sports Association told the Committee—

“The usual barrier is time – people need to have the available time at the right time – but our culture is part of the issue. When we seek volunteers, we need to ensure that the activity will be fun and enjoyable.”²⁴

52. Stuart Younie speculated that there were as many barriers as there were motivations for would-be volunteers—

“We all live in a frenzied word that moves at 100mph. I think that people are afraid to commit their time because they are worried about how much that will eat into their family time, in particular, or the time that they have to spend with friends, which they have to balance against work commitments. I take my hat off to all the volunteers across Scotland…There is a massive investment of time in community sport.”²⁵

53. Asked about bureaucracy as a barrier to volunteering, the Scottish Sports Association suggested that was more of an issue for the volunteer manager or organiser at a club, rather than the individual with an interest in volunteering.²⁶

54. East Renfrewshire Council’s Steven Percy raised the issue of how long it can take for applications to the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (“PVGs”) scheme to be processed. He emphasised, however, the importance of people being properly checked.²⁷

55. John Lee of VDS said on the matter—

“…there is an on-going myth that disclosure checks and records checks put people off volunteering. Sportscotland and Volunteer Development Scotland have done some research on that – I think Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People has too – which clearly shows that people are not put off by the need to have disclosure checks if it is explained to them in the right way.”²⁸

56. Scottish Rugby’s Colin Thomson told the Committee—

“…volunteers are motivated people…who understand the need to comply with rules and regulations. However, it is a case of whether they have the time to do those things. For example, will they be able to take time off work, and will employers in business or local authorities support employees who are known volunteers involved in sports by giving them time off work?”²⁹

It has to be about people

57. Focusing on the coaching side and the importance of volunteers in making the most of the public mood of positivity for sport, Judy Murray said—

“It has to be about people. We must create a workforce that can enthuse and inspire so that we can get kids and adults into sport, but we must retain them too. It is one thing to get people excited on the back of the Olympics and with the Commonwealth Games coming, but retaining them in sport comes down to people – the pied pipers who get children and adults into clubs, schools or parks and enjoying what they are doing.”³⁰

58. As for what is being done to support these “pied pipers”, the Committee was told that sportscotland and Volunteer Development Scotland (VDS) have jointly drawn up a framework for engagement, support and recognition of the efforts of volunteers.³¹ ³²

59. John Lee of VDS said—

“The framework tries to help clubs to plan more effectively for volunteers and to put a bit more thought into how they seek to engage volunteers. We do not want to over-formalise or over-bureaucratise things, but we want to encourage people to do a bit more planning to make volunteering fun, enjoyable and easy to access.”³³

60. The Scottish Sport Association suggested that “nearly all” governing bodies have a volunteer development programme but ultimately this is a matter for the 13,000 individual clubs. ³⁴

61. VDS underlined the importance of the governing bodies in leading on this. John Lee told the Committee—

“I think that only two governing bodies in Scotland have volunteer development strategies and dedicated volunteer development managers. I know that some of them are run on a shoestring budget, but that is a way forward.”³⁵

62. Sarah Pryde of Scottish Swimming said—

“A few years ago, we devised a volunteer strategy that looked at recruitment and retention – how to get people into the sport, as well as the key issue of keeping them in the sport. It is interesting to note that…we had 2,500 volunteers and now have more than 5,000.”³⁶

63. Winning Scotland Foundation drew the Committee’s attention to the Scotland United strategy, a recent development by which the SFA seeks to highlight the importance of the coaching community, ranging from volunteers at the grassroots to top level managers.³⁷

64. Giving recognition to volunteers through awards schemes was mentioned by a number of organisations, including Scottish Swimming, Cricket Scotland, the Scottish Canoe Association, Scottish Rugby, the SFA and Scottish Golf Union.

65. A number of the governing bodies engage with commercial partners in their awards schemes. Cricket Scotland works with Asda for its volunteer-of-the-month awards. ³⁸ RBS endorses awards for Scottish Rugby and the Scottish Golf Union.³⁹ The SFA’s award programme is sponsored by McDonalds and the Sunday Mail. ⁴⁰

The fun element is crucial

66. VDS suggested that what really mattered to volunteers was something more fundamental. John Lee told the Committee—

“Generally volunteers are not looking for an award or a reward; what they want is a good volunteering experience.”⁴¹

67. Specifically on the coaching side, the importance of mentoring as a means of support was emphasised by Judy Murray—

“The easiest way to learn how to deliver coaching well in any sport is to work alongside somebody who knows what they are doing and is an effective communicator…The most successful coaches tend to have big passion, good knowledge and big hearts. When we are working with young kids, the fun element is crucial because we can get kids to work hard while they are having fun if we organise and deliver in the right way.”⁴²

68. Winning Scotland Foundation’s Alistair Gray suggested mentoring could also be a factor in retaining volunteers—

“The chance for volunteer coaches to work alongside an experienced coach who mentors them so that they can learn from the best and then be recognised in whatever way possible by their sport or their community will sustain people in coaching for much longer. Very good professional opportunities are now available for coaches through some of the larger governing bodies.”⁴³

69. He stressed also the need for more top class coaches—

“There needs to be more recruitment of leader coaches and level 1 coaches….If we can get lots of coaches who at least know the basics of how to deal with youngsters and keep them in sport, that can sustain a lot of clubs”.⁴⁴

70. He was not alone. Liz McColgan told the Committee—

“The Tuesday after the Olympics, I went up to my local club and found 120 kids waiting for me; we had three coaches and no volunteers…It is a fantastic sight at Caird Park Stadium – I have never seen it in my life – and no one gets turned away. However, how are we supposed to cope with those numbers and keep up their interest?”⁴⁵

71. Judy Murray was similarly vexed about the issue—

“…the key is the coach, who understands skills development and the child’s stage of development. The coach gives the child the skills that they can get the maximum out of once they get to 15 or 16….If we miss out on skills development, we get mediocrity and we are just investing in mediocrity, which does not get us anywhere.”⁴⁶

Here’s what you’ll get out of it

72. How to retain people was a matter addressed by the Scottish Sports Association. Partnership programmes to better support volunteers were being undertaken by sports councils alongside local authorities. Kim Atkinson said—

“There are good examples such as orienteering clubs, which, through the support that the governing body provides, have volunteer managers who are responsible for trying to identify new people and retain current members…There is a key opportunity to ensure that people enjoy what they are doing and are having fun, because that is the most important element.”⁴⁷

73. Recruitment and retention go hand in hand and Ms Atkinson highlighted one area where she felt that the former was being been done particularly well—

“Many people say they do not volunteer because they have never been asked…the Active Schools programme has been so successful in recruiting volunteers partly because there is somebody out there asking: “Would you like to volunteer? This is what it’ll look like. You’ll have a great time. Here’s what you’ll get out of it.” Building that capacity is part of the challenge, and those people need support.”⁴⁸

74. Her colleague echoed the point. stating that—

“When we seek volunteers, we need to ensure that the activity will be fun and enjoyable…We cannot say: “Unless you become treasurer, your club will collapse”…Saying “Come and join me in my stress” is not a way to invite someone to become a volunteer.”⁴⁹

75. The untapped potential of parents was raised by Leisure and Culture Dundee. Daryl McKenzie said—

“I see parents sitting in their cars reading newspapers when their kids are 30 yards away training. That is because they have zero interest or expertise or knowledge about how to take a session or how to engage with kids. Sometimes those parents who are sitting in their cars are businessmen, architects, lawyers, solicitors or financial advisers and the qualities and expertise that they could bring to the business….could be irreplaceable.”⁵⁰

There needs to be leadership

76. Sportscotland underlined the importance of leadership in the approach taken to attracting and retaining volunteers. Stewart Harris drew on his own experience of helping coaches in his basketball club—

“…to mentor and give people confidence. That is a really important thing about volunteering nowadays. It is about having confidence and being given guidance and support down the way.”⁵¹

77. Such leadership might derive from a sense of ownership. Mark McGeachie of the Robertson Trust told the Committee—

“Someone who became a jog leader in Active Communities had never been physically active in her life until she had a baby and took part in the Mums on the Run programme; she then trained as a JogScotland jog leader and delivered her own group, which freed up time for the paid staff in Active Communities to focus on…growing other leaders to deliver activity in the community.”⁵²

78. Young people were especially keen to volunteer in sport and recreation with 46% of 11-to-16 year olds expressing such an interest, according to the Young in Scotland survey.⁵³

79. According to Sportscotland’s Mary Allison—

“It is a popular activity for young people, particularly young people who want to build skills, expand their curriculum vitae and gain some credible work experience.”⁵⁴

80. The interest is mutually beneficial, as she told the Committee—

“Sport has a huge amount to gain from those young people’s skills. They are far more successful in terms of their social networking skills and reaching into their own community than many traditional volunteers are. Critically, however…there needs to be leadership, focus and an element of mentoring.”⁵⁵

81. Scottish Swimming was piloting a leadership programme, Swim for Change, part-funded by Comic Relief and aimed at 15-to-19 year olds not in education or employment and living in deprived areas.⁵⁶

Volunteers are not just going to appear

82. Professor Ian Diamond of the University of Aberdeen drew attention to an initiative in his city—

“I am very impressed with some work that is being undertaken in Aberdeen through which older young people in schools are getting coaching certificates early on. That raises social esteem and raises the whole element of volunteering. Volunteers are not just going to appear; there has to be outreach with the aim of increasing the number of volunteers and making it easy for them, and we need to train them.”⁵⁷

83. Asked about volunteering initiatives in more deprived communities, Kim Atkinson said—

“Volunteering is at its lowest level in such communities, certainly in sport and, I am sure, through the wider voluntary sector…Those people are able to volunteer and they have the same capacity and skills as everyone else, but they need time, perhaps more so than any other group.”⁵⁸

84. The case for cultural change to improve support for volunteers was one made by Colin Thomson of Scottish Rugby—

“One of the barriers that we need to tackle lies in the typical Scottish trait of talking everything down. Institutions, whether it be a school recognising the efforts that a teacher has made in volunteering or the senior officials in a club recognising the efforts of volunteers, need to celebrate volunteers and their impact on communities.”⁵⁹

85. He continued—

“We must celebrate, push and support the people who are involved in sport, whether giving them time out of school, extra benefits or simple recognition within the community. Without the volunteers, sport will die.”⁶⁰

86. The employer dimension was explored by a number of witnesses. More flexible working, credited working hours and corporate social responsibility were mentioned. Kim Atkinson said—

“One of the opportunities around involves – for want of a better phrase – employer-supported volunteering…We need to think about how we engage employers and get them to consider issues such as flexible working hours.”⁶¹

87. The idea of more direct input from the corporate world was raised by sports consultant, Charlie Raeburn—

“I agree with and want to strengthen the point about supporting volunteers…From a twinning arrangement with Germany I learned how the corporate or business world in Germany helps with the generic development of clubs.”⁶²

88. David Drummond of the SFA referred to the Scandinavian experience—

“I am aware that in other countries, volunteers get better recognition within the working environment than they get in Scotland. For example, in Sweden, staff who are going to be taking a training session on a Monday at half past four are given the opportunity to finish early, at four o’clock. They will work until six o’clock on a Tuesday. There is give and take within organisations and society, but we find ourselves with a very different beast.”⁶³

A more joined-up way of thinking

89. The importance of information about volunteering opportunities and what was best suited to the skillset and circumstances of the individual was underscored by Mary Allison—

“We will also share a portal with Volunteer Development Scotland, which we have already started working on, to ensure that people who want to volunteer are well aware of the opportunities to do that and can easily contact people in sport.”⁶⁴

90. NHS Health Scotland talked about “marketing existing clubs and organisations”. John Howie said—

“The Active Scotland website, which Health Scotland manages, links to 2,700 organisations. People can tap in their postcode on that free resource in order to identify their local clubs. That also supports clubs and volunteers in generating business.”⁶⁵

91. The idea of benefiting from interest in the Glasgow Games was raised by Kim Atkinson—

“Glasgow 2014 is now looking for around 15,000 volunteers… There is a huge opportunity for everyone else – and I know that Glasgow 2014 is already working on this – to say: ‘Maybe there is not space for you here, but are you aware of all these other opportunities in your community?’”.⁶⁶

92. Could the information available to clubs and existing volunteers be improved? Diane Cameron of Senscot thought so—

“Collectively, we all need to take responsibility for making information more available. For example, sportscotland is redeveloping its website, and perhaps my organisation needs more robust support. The third sector interfaces need to get better at connecting on the range of services that they offer. We all need to look at a more joined-up way of thinking and communicating.”⁶⁷

93. Lochaber Sports Association’s Jane Blanchard told the Committee—

“On communication, we are kind of trying to be a virtual community sport hub, so that we can get all the information and help out to clubs. We are volunteers, but we have chosen our role. Volunteers in clubs are people who are passionate about their club and their sport. They spend all their limited time on trying to find facilities where they can do their training or play their matches, and on trying to find funding. All that takes up much time and saps a lot of the energy from a club”⁶⁸

Other worlds are out there

94. John Heraghty of sported extolled the benefits of adopting a wider perspective—

“One skill that we can develop in local sports groups and sports clubs is networking. We almost need to take them out of the sports world to show them the other worlds out there, which they can benefit – whether that involves the wider voluntary sector or other development bodies…We need to match up mentors and volunteers in rural communities. We are doing work to provide mentors for local sports groups, much of which is based in cities.”⁶⁹

95. He spoke also of the value of succession planning—

“The group of volunteers we recruit to work with sported and to support clubs have business skills, among which is the ability to look at succession planning and where their next group of volunteers is going to come from… we make it clear that we see them as part of the team and provide training in the role of a volunteer and in mentoring skills. We see them as having a career with us that might last two or three years.”⁷⁰

96. The link between supporting and retaining volunteers was made—

“…the key thing is to see the volunteer not just as giving something to the club but as getting something out of the relationship that allows them as a person and their skills to develop. With such an approach, you can build a really sustainable group of mentors or volunteers”.⁷¹

97. Succession planning was further emphasised by Willie Young of Argyll and Bute Council—

“Clubs exist only if there are people to take part. Parents become involved in a club while their kids are involved in it and fall off at the other end when their kids move on, so it is important that succession planning takes place every year.”⁷²

98. Colin Thomson of Scottish Rugby spoke in similar terms—

“…we must have a culture that drives over the years to pull people into the sport, give them good experiences and sustain them in the sport… We have a strong club culture across Scotland in which great work is done by people whose children have long gone from the club and by former players who want to give something back.”⁷³

99. Cricket Scotland’s Steve Paige referred to a life cycle for volunteers and how we must celebrate them while they are giving their time but plan ahead to ensure the club’s survival when they reach the end of that cycle.⁷⁴

100. It was a theme picked up by the Scottish Canoe Association. Roles across different sports were being formalised and clubs were beginning to advertise for volunteers for specific roles. Stuart Smith told the Committee—

“It is a bit like advertising an employed post. The advantage…is that it can attract people from outside a specific club or sport. That might help with the situation of the life cycle of parents’ and other people’s involvement in clubs because it would provide another thread of volunteers going through the club.”⁷⁵

Our concept was to take the pain out of volunteering

101. The Committee took evidence from a number of organisations that had a track record in taking a progressive approach in their support of volunteers. Neil Matheson of Atlantis Leisure talked about meetings at which 75% of the time was used up discussing matters such as the state of the drains and who was working on the bar on Saturday evening, with just 25% left to talk about sport. He said—

“Our concept was to take the pain out of volunteering… Now when the tennis and squash club meets, 100% of the conversation is about tennis and squash.”⁷⁶

102. He went on to say that experience had taught them that small things could make a big difference—

“We went to each group and said: ‘What’s your biggest hassle that really stops you developing?’ If that was administration, we said: ‘Right, we’ll do your admin. We’ll do that support for you.’ If the netball girls said: ‘We’d love to get new tunics, but we can’t afford them,’ we would get them tunics. We were able to spend a bit of money in areas that really made a difference.”⁷⁷

103. Active Stirling’s Gordon Crawford told the Committee of the importance of the club development officer in freeing up the volunteer to get on and fulfil the role for which they had joined in the first place—

“We want our staff to take away the unnecessary chores that a volunteer would perhaps have to do. We want to utilise a volunteer in their area of expertise; we do not want them to be bogged down in laborious administration. The club development officer is that animator.”⁷⁸

104. Reach for the Sky’s Graham Hunter talked about the simple but effective approach of asking volunteers where they wanted to get to and helping them on their way—

“We have retained volunteers through setting up a coach and volunteer pathway…We have also provided funding for their basketball qualifications, refereeing badges, child protection training and first aid training, for example.”⁷⁹

105. During the Committee’s inquiry-related debate on emerging themes, Mark Griffin was one of the non-Committee members who outlined his views on a range of means of improving the support for volunteers. He told the Chamber—

“…we must incentivise volunteering, whether through the partnership between sportscotland and Young Scot that gives young volunteers points on their Young Scot card for undertaking volunteer hours, through encouraging employee-supported volunteering programmes that, as Nanette Milne pointed out, benefit the employer, the employee and the wider community, or through the community sports leadership award, which can lead to a national governing body qualification.”⁸⁰

Young people who might not be first in the queue

106. Also speaking during that Chamber debate, the Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport (“the Minister”) said—

“Sportscotland is working in partnership with Volunteer Development Scotland and other key stakeholders to ensure that the volunteer workforce is recruited, trained, supported and rewarded for its valuable contribution to Scottish sport and wider civic society. We cannot take volunteers for granter and we must ensure that we support them as best we can.”⁸¹

107. Addressing the key role that volunteers play in sport, she told the Committee—

“Success on the sporting field is inspirational, but each medal comes out of years of dedicated hard work and we recognise the enormous contribution that has been made by the army of committed volunteers, coaches, trainers and, of course, families.”⁸²

108. The Minister said of young people and volunteering—

“Some of the work that is being done around Young Scot provides opportunities for young people to become coaches and volunteers through school programmes. Part of that is about confidence building…to reach out to young people who might not be first in the queue but who have the skills to become young leaders in their schools, and to become youth volunteers and young coaches.”⁸³

109. She added—

“Those who are furthest from the labour market might not have the opportunity to do that sort of thing in normal circumstances….we must recognise their potential and reach out to them.”⁸⁴

110. Reference was also made by her officials to the Young People’s Sport Panel, which “offers young people the opportunity to have a direct say and to help shape the future of how sport is delivered in Scotland”⁸⁵ and the Youth Sport Strategy.

111. In terms of the role of volunteers in capacity building of clubs, the number of qualified coaches, with the legacy and increased participation in mind, the Minister told the Committee—

“Without doubt, the volunteer workforce is the key to that, so we need to ensure that we support volunteers to help us deliver that expansion and capacity building in local clubs. People will volunteer at different levels, not all of them will want to become coaches…it is horses for courses.”⁸⁶

112. She said—

“…the question is whether there is enough capacity. The answer partly concerns the change in the funding relationship between sportscotland and the governing bodies… Part of that is about governing bodies growing capacity so that they have more coaches. Part of it is about targets for more coaches, targets for volunteers and targets for expanding club numbers by opening up clubs to more children and young people in particular.”⁸⁷

113. The Minister also told the Committee—

“Capacity building needs to be geared up a bit towards the Commonwealth Games. We will be looking at that with sportscotland.”⁸⁸

114. She spoke of the potential of harnessing the energies of those who wanted to volunteer for Glasgow 2014—

“We are looking for 15,000 volunteers. People who have not volunteered in sport before will come into volunteering… With the database that we are building up for the 15,000 volunteers, huge efforts will be put into trying to link people back into their locality to continue volunteering there.”⁸⁹

115. On the question of retaining volunteers, the Minister said—

“Sportscotland gives that issue a lot of prominence in the framework, its discussions with governing bodies, and the advice that the governing bodies should give their clubs on good practice, on how to make volunteers feel welcome, on how to ensure that they are offered training and their interest is kept – perhaps by encouraging them to take up training opportunities – and on how to ensure that their experience is as good as it can be.”⁹⁰

116. Furthermore—

“I am keen to ensure that we give retention a lot of prominence in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games, which will involve the influx of a new volunteer workforce. That workforce will not necessarily stay around unless we harness it”.⁹¹

117. Returning to the issue of making volunteering attractive to young people, she told the Committee—

“We need to open up opportunities for younger people to volunteer, whether that involves folk working with employers, who are prepared to support them…or folk volunteering through universities and colleges. A lot of work is going on through sports organisations at universities and colleges to link into local communities and provide volunteering opportunities.”⁹²

118. The Minister spoke about young people who might not believe in themselves or think they had something to offer and how Young Scot was working to engage them—

“Part of that is about confidence building…to reach out to young people who might not be the first in the queue but who have the skills to become young leaders in their schools, and to become youth leaders and young coaches.”⁹³

119. Parents were another resource which, she agreed, were often underutilised—

“…a lot of people are willing, but they need to be asked. They also need to be thanked for what they give. There are some very simple things that we need to get better at.”⁹⁴

Committee conclusions

120. The Committee commends those sports, clubs and schemes that award and in some cases reward volunteers. It endorses the view, though, that what really counts is a positive volunteering experience. The Committee also salutes those organisations and initiatives, including many of those it took evidence from, that have shown new ways of attracting, supporting and up-skilling volunteers – those that work hard, in the words of Atlantis Leisure’s Neil Matheson: “to take the pain out of volunteering”.

121. It is evident that the time, effort and goodwill of individuals prove invaluable to grassroots sport in Scotland, “from the lady who makes the tea at the cricket club to someone who sits on the board of a governing body” as one witness put it.

122. That volunteers are crucial to the vitality of community sport was the recurring message of the inquiry and the Committee recognises that community sport is nothing without them.

123. The Committee was surprised, however, to learn of the dearth of detailed information available about the actual scale and skillset of the volunteer “workforce” in sport. Given the emphasis that has been placed on the legacy of the Glasgow Games and its potential for boosting participation – and the need to ensure volunteer capacity meets participant demand, especially for qualified coaches – a stronger sense of “where we are” might be expected at this stage. The Committee recommends that sportscotland co-ordinate an examination of this in conjunction with the relevant sporting associations as a matter of urgency.

124. The Committee was concerned to hear that only a handful of governing bodies to date had drawn up volunteer strategies. The growth in volunteers from which Scottish Swimming has benefitted, spurred on (it would appear) by a volunteer strategy, was noted. Strategies are not a panacea of course. The Committee heard plenty of evidence about the actions, energy and drive of individuals and the innovative approaches being taken by a number of excellent clubs and pilot projects. However, given the recurring plea for volunteers to be better supported, the Committee recommends there be renewed encouragement from the national sporting agencies for the development of robust strategies by all sports governing bodies – strategies that fully address and provide a lead on crucial issues such as recruitment and retention.

125. The Committee welcomes assurances from the Minister that the Volunteering in Sport framework is directed at ensuring the volunteer experience “is as good as it can be” and that, for potential volunteers, “barriers that can be removed should be removed”.⁹⁵

126. The Committee highlights the importance of mentoring and confidence building for volunteers, particularly on the coaching side, and for those looking to work with and inspire children and young people with a lifelong love of sport and being physically active.

127. The Committee was encouraged to learn of the enthusiasm of young people for getting involved in volunteering in community sport. It recognises the potential and the benefits for volunteers and for clubs and communities alike.

128. The Committee applauds the good work being undertaken in recruiting and developing young volunteers by organisations such as Scottish Swimming, Young Scot, Reach for the Sky Basketball, and the higher education sector.

129. The Committee welcomes ministerial announcements on the establishment of a Young People’s Sport Panel and of developing a Youth Sport Strategy and wishes to be kept updated on the progress of both initiatives.

130. A number of witnesses drew the Committee’s attention to the potential and two-way benefits of recruiting young people, parents and people from deprived communities as volunteers – if, that is, they can be welcomed into a supportive environment.

131. The Committee welcomes the intention of the Minister for Sport and Commonwealth Games to reach out to young people who might not be “at the front of the queue” in their levels of confidence to volunteer to take on a leadership role.

132. Volunteers must, the Committee believes, be readily able to access information about what opportunities are available to them in their communities and that meet their skills and interests. The portal being developed by sportscotland and VDS is a positive initiative, one which the Committee will monitor.

133. The Committee encourages the Scottish Government, national agencies, policy makers, governing bodies, those with a regional and local focus and others in the sporting sector, clubs, whatever their size or status, and employers in all sectors to show leadership by supporting volunteers in sport more actively and by promoting a culture of volunteerism.

134. To this end, the Committee requests that the Minister provide an update, with input from sportscotland and other key players, on all aspects of volunteering in sport before the Parliament enters summer recess in 2013. The Committee is especially interested, given questions about coaching capacity that arose during evidence, in the detail of the readiness for the increase in demand for club sport that it is hoped will materialise on the back of Glasgow 2014.

CONTRIBUTION OF LOCAL SPORTS CLUBS

135. If volunteers represent the basic unit of sport, clubs are where such individuals can find a shared interest and create something greater than the sum of their parts. They are, as one witness described, the driver for community sport.

136. Explored below is the capacity and potential of clubs, the need for support, the pyramid or church metaphor for a successful model of sport, the significance of legacy, the need for a social base or home, the impact they can have in their own communities and on the preventative health agenda, and evaluation of their impact.

The energy, the concept and the idea

137. The strength of grassroots sport was put in a European context by sportscotland—

“…we have a wee bit of catching up to do. Much of Europe has had an emphasis on sustainable communities and communities supporting their own sports clubs…If we are to increase participation and opportunities in voluntarism and sport, we must continue down that path.”⁹⁶

138. The Scottish Sports Association explained that in Scotland the average size of a club was a membership of 60, elsewhere in Europe that figure could be 600 or 6,000. The result was that, unlike large clubs that might have money to hire professionals, clubs here were “much more reliant on volunteers”.⁹⁷

139. There are estimated to be some 13,000 sports clubs in Scotland⁹⁸ and they tend to be single-sport clubs, where as some of their equivalents on the continent will offer four or five different activities.⁹⁹

140. Kim Atkinson reported that those who participate in a sport club participate more frequently and for longer than those not a member of a club.¹⁰⁰

141. Her colleague talked about local clubs in terms of a community of interests, people working together with a shared goal, as it were. Lee Cousins said—

“…when people get the energy, the concept and the idea, ensuring that they have the ability to find information, assistance and channels of working is as important as is getting hold of resources. The driver for community sport is from the bottom up and not necessarily from the top down.”¹⁰¹

142. Mr Cousins linked the stability of a club with its having a home—

“A lot of our more secure clubs in bowling, tennis and golf are some of our larger clubs because they have a home and a long-term occupation of that home…One of the reasons for the weakness of our clubs and volunteers is that they tend to be weak at continuity and succession planning. It is very difficult for a club to get into the long-term thinking mode if it does not have the stability of knowing where it is going to be next year and whether it has access to the school next term.”¹⁰²

143. Winning Scotland Foundation emphasised both the fragility and ingenuity of clubs—

“Do not get the notion that there are loads of blazers out there. There are more likely to be almost lifelong volunteers running sports clubs on very low resources…A lot of volunteer-driven clubs are getting by on tight budgets and are being very entrepreneurial in what they do in their communities.”¹⁰³

144. Sport consultant Charlie Raeburn agreed with the first part of that analysis—

“There has been little support for community sport…and we have a fragile scenario as a result. Most other countries have intervened and tried to support community sport, and we need to do that. If there are good structures and clubs to go to, people will go…if good structures are not in place, there is nowhere to go and we end up with what we used to call football telephone teams – you just phone up 11 guys and shout at them when they are on the pitch. To me, that is not a club, and we need a lot more than that.”¹⁰⁴

145. Colin Thomson of Scottish Rugby discerned a loss of “sporting culture”, partly due, he felt, to the decline of sport in schools—

“Culture in a club is built up over years and years and sustains itself when there is a complete model, which covers introduction to sport, taking part, associating with schools and so on. The culture can then be passed down from person to person. In many local authority areas and communities in Scotland, we have lost that culture.”¹⁰⁵

146. Diane Cameron of Senscot described two elements: community sport (run by the clubs) and sports development (led by club development officers and bodies like Active Stirling that support the clubs). She told the Committee—

“In this country, we are completely reliant on the clubs to deliver community sport, and almost all of them are volunteer driven…we could help them with all the non-coaching stuff. For example, we could give them some money to do a feasibility study or let them have a look at taking on their pitch, and creating their own pavilion so that they have a home. We should let them become rooted in the community.”¹⁰⁶

147. Gordon Crawford described Active Stirling’s role as one of “animators in the local community” and trying to connect sport, physical activity and physical education—

“We respond on what is required to support clubs, whether that is about increasing volunteers, recruiting officials or developing training pathways for officials.”¹⁰⁷

148. There is plenty of support there, suggested Ms Cameron, but it should be easier to find—

“There is lots of help, but the issue is how we connect the clubs, which have the need, to the support, whether that is mentoring from the Winning Scotland Foundation, sported or the Just Enterprise consortium. Clubs need to find out more easily where to get help.”¹⁰⁸

149. Winning Scotland Foundation flagged up a programme it had run with Deloitte through which employees of the company, “Business Volunteers”, provided input on issues like governance and management to clubs. Alistair Gray believed the programme had “great potential” and was being considered for expansion across Scotland.¹⁰⁹

150. Mr Gray also stated that one outcome of the programme had been the production of a Gift Aid tool kit that had enabled Broxburn United Sports Club to claim back thousands of pounds from HMRC—

“It has the potential to do the same in any sports club established as a charity in Scotland. In these difficult financial times it would take a relatively small amount of further resource to allow this to be rolled out across Scotland. Making clubs stronger and more sustainable – a vision I believe we share.”¹¹⁰

151. The Scottish Sports Association suggested the situation for volunteering was probably most advanced within the university sector where there was support on hand to train up club treasurers, chairmen and secretaries. Lee Cousins told the Committee—

“If that is not a natural part of a community or activity, it needs to be found and supported. There is probably a role for local authorities to get among clubs and to build capacity at the lower level, particularly in governance.”¹¹¹

Not about producing the next Andy Murray

152. As Neil Matheson of Atlantis Leisure put it—

“A big problem with a lot of sports is the assumption that someone who is good at it, for example kicking a ball, should run that sport. That is a big mistake, which we constantly make.”¹¹²

153. The potential of clubs, if properly supported in their efforts, was considerable. Colin Thomson of Scottish Rugby said we should never forget the contribution of volunteers and the passion and experience that they give to sport. He told the Committee—

“This is not about producing the next Andy Murrays but about producing children who are competent and confident and can participate in the community…The social capital of all that activity goes beyond simply winning the next gold medal.”¹¹³

154. Judy Murray echoed that view—

“Not everyone will get to the top of the tree, but everyone is important to making sport tick in this country...volunteering is important and we must promote that.”¹¹⁴

155. That relationship between community and elite sport was addressed by several witnesses, a pyramid being one metaphor, with local clubs and participants forming the foundations that enable the top athletes to operate at the apex. Charlie Raeburn coined another—

“I have a model here…It is a study of sports participation in Europe from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. The study calls it the church model. In the nave of the church is recreational sport – active recreation – but also community sport. Then there is the spire of the church, which is high-level competition and elite sport.”¹¹⁵

156. Andrew Bain of Active Stirling and Sporta Scotland avoided metaphor but introduced the concept of a “double-strand pathway”—

“In sport we focus a lot on the performance pathway and on getting the next Chris Hoy or gold-medal winner. Of course, that is vital, but we must focus on ensuring that, say, my eight-year old daughter will, when she is 18, still think it important from a health point of view to go to the pool or the gym or to use her bike instead of getting in a car or jumping on a bus.”¹¹⁶

The fundamental fact that sport is fun

157. The legacy of the London Olympics and Glasgow Games was never far away from people’s thinking in the inquiry. The Scottish Sports Association highlighted three areas: addressing physical literacy, better support for coaches and volunteers, and better use of facilities. Participation is wrapped up in all of those but, Kim Atkinson encouraged use of the “f” word—

“We must not lose sight of the fundamental fact that sport is fun. Whether people are participating or volunteering, fun is at the heart of it all.”¹¹⁷

158. She suggested that the inquiry was an opportunity to—

“recognise, promote and – I hope – ensure that more people understand the value of sport to communities and the additional value that clubs create in communities. Whether that relates to enjoyment, participation or preventative spend, sport and sports clubs provide additional value in communities”.¹¹⁸

159. Ms Atkinson referred to case studies for Atlantis Leisure and Tryst Community Sports Club showing the success that can be found from identifying the needs of the community and seeking to reflect them: “not only to increase participation, but to bring the associated benefits that sport provides.”¹¹⁹

160. That sport can be a powerful force for good in a community was a point made by Alex Richardson of the Gladiator Programme—

“Sport saves lives in Easterhouse. We run physical activity play programmes, which thousands of kids took part in last year. There is a myth that a kid has to be involved in sport to keep fit. I would say that not every young kid wants to be involved in sport, but they all want to play. If you get them involved in physical activity through play, you can create the base from which they can progress to getting involved in sport.”¹²⁰

161. For Liz McColgan, athletics was the starting point to maintain the surge of interest inspired by the London Olympics—

“We need to get into schools, keep up the buzz that the Olympics created and get inactive kids involved – and the only way we can do that is through co-ordinating things and sending coaches into schools to deliver what sport actually is…We need a programme that is run by professional people and which, in turn, leads to clubs providing for school kids.”¹²¹

A sense of belonging

162. On the theme of preventative health and other benefits that might be accrued from community sport, Stuart Younie of VOCAL said—

“It is important to recognise that, although we want to get people physically active and although participation is an extremely important part of the preventative agenda on health, there is also value in recording the membership of clubs, whether social members, volunteers or coaches. The health and strength of our organisations gives an indication of the wellbeing in our communities.”¹²²

163. Mr Younie added—

“…although participation is obviously incredibly important, there is more to local sports clubs – there is the value that can be had from people being part of an extended family, a social network or a network of volunteering colleagues and from the employment opportunities and socialisation, particularly for older people.”¹²³

164. In a letter to the Committee, having been following the inquiry, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland expressed the view that community sport could impact positively on young people who were excluded from school and who might have a sense of themselves as excluded also from mainstream society.¹²⁴

165. Brigadier Hugh Monro suggested that there should be “stronger partnership working” between sports clubs and youth groups, both in and of school. On the impetus from the Olympics and the Glasgow Games and what this might mean for participation of children growing up in deprived areas, he offered: “this is an important bandwagon that just needs a good shove”.¹²⁵

166. He ended by saying—

“Extra-curricular activities bring responsible mentors and role models, encouragement and support, socialisation and other skills. They reduce boredom at weekends and after school and can improve health, fitness and wellbeing. I saw this in spades at the Spartans Community Football Academy in North Edinburgh which is clearly having a positive effect.”¹²⁶

167. Charlie Raeburn spoke also of the social dimension. Health was of course the rationale from which policy was being directed but he suggested that the benefits of enhanced wellbeing, enjoyment and being part of something akin to an extended family were crucial to any understanding of community sport Mr Raeburn said—

“The biggest increase in Europe is among people my age. It is not just about physical activity. The evidence is that men especially still want to play something…people need that sense of belonging.”¹²⁷

168. Linked to that, was the need for clubs to have a social area. Kim Atkinson described this as a priority on the basis that such places could “provide a kind of heart in a local community. People can go along there, and the club provides additional social connectedness, intergenerational links… However, many sports clubs do not have a social area”.¹²⁸

169. Alan Cunningham of Broxburn United Sports Club echoed the point—

“When people come in and do their activity then disappear again, there is no club ethos; it is necessary to have a facility to pull them all together… Until our facility was built in 2010, it was hard to get everybody together and create a club feeling and identity.”¹²⁹

170. He also spoke of initial concerns about how the new facility would fare with use but that these had proven unfounded—

“…I was really worried about vandalism, but nothing like that has happened – outside or inside – in the two years since it opened. It has been great, and the kids treat it as their place now and not just the club members: we have 650 club members but the doors are open to everybody.”¹³⁰

Support the clubs to achieve what they want to achieve

171. Measuring the “success” of local sports clubs was not easy. Some participation rates were available and membership roles might provide some measure of the health of a club itself, but beyond this, information appeared scarce.

172. Health-related benefits of sport in the community were outlined by John Howie of NHS Health Scotland (albeit covering targeted projects)—

“Small grants to community groups have generated significant benefits – 62% of participants were more active and one third of those were from the most deprived areas… We are keen to have that success repeated throughout the country.”¹³¹

173. Oliver Barsby of the Scottish Association of Local Sports Councils sought to explain why evaluation and monitoring were difficult—

“The problem with community sport as opposed to performance sport is that it is much more difficult to measure and it has much longer-term benefits or outcomes. We can look at participation figures, but if we are looking for data on the health benefits of sport, we are not going to get a strong response within just a couple of years… It is much more difficult to measure such things than it is to measure, say, the progress of athletes through talent programmes or the number of medals that are won at games.”¹³²

174. VOCAL’s Stuart Younie suggested that monitoring and evaluation should not just be about participation but about the growth of people and the clubs—

“The monitoring that we are trying to do is much more bespoke, in that we are trying to capture data that is with those clubs that we are actively working with…and makes the process manageable, which allows us to focus on specific areas, such as women and girls, driving up youth membership and disability sport.”¹³³

175. He also turned the tables somewhat and offered the view that perhaps VOCAL and others should be more attentive to the needs and interests of the clubs (citing the example of a Perth-based club that wished to be more involved with disability sport)—

“We need to support the clubs to achieve what they want to achieve.”¹³⁴

176. The Committee was told that sportscotland was working with local authorities to establish a national framework that would assist with monitoring though he pointed out this was in its early stages.¹³⁵

Kids who would otherwise be out on the streets

177. In terms of targets, monitoring and evaluation, the Minister told the Committee—

“In the past couple of years, the funding relationship between sportscotland and the governing bodies – which are pivotal and key to delivering access to clubs – has been transformed. The governing bodies must now set targets on participation – on the number of young people and people of all ages who will come and join clubs – for the public money that they get through”.¹³⁶

178. On the subject of hard-to-reach groups, Cashback and sponsorship of the Communities League Cup she said—

“That issue comes back to how we ensure that the money that we spend has the biggest reach. The Scottish Football League clubs are actually quite often located in our more deprived areas and they have a good reach. The investment in the Communities League Cup is directly linked to participation of young people in programmes in the clubs. In particular, we have asked the clubs to include young people who might require diversionary activities….I could mention a number of SFL clubs, but will use Stenhousemuir as an example. It has been a good model and has done really well in bringing in many kids who, frankly, would otherwise be out on the streets.”¹³⁷

179. Addressing the question of coaching capacity and the readiness of clubs to meet the wave of enthusiasm from the Olympics and the Glasgow Games, the Minister said—

“We are not quite there yet – clearly there are pinch points and sometimes clubs struggle with what is a great story of enthusiasm from kids who want to try out a new sport. I am keen that we focus on that more as we head towards the Commonwealth Games, and that we look more closely at capacity building with sportscotland, so that we are confident that clubs will, come the Commonwealth Games and the interest and activity around that, be in a better place, be able to welcome new members and – more important – be able to keep them.”¹³⁸

Committee conclusions

180. The Committee acknowledges the pivotal role of local sports clubs in delivering sport in their communities. The clubs represent – to use a fashionable phrase – “social capital” and their potential to enhance the wellbeing of their members and others in the community should be recognised.

181. Mostly volunteer-driven, clubs might not always enjoy the level of support they would like. It may be that they don’t even know where to find support. The governing bodies have a key role in providing support of course but the work of organisations such as Senscot and Active Stirling can also make a difference.

182. The Committee heard evidence that clubs may in particular require support on matters of governance and it recognises that the development of Community Sports Hubs could bring economies of scale to bear via shared knowledge, expertise and training.

183. The Committee notes the views of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons on the benefits for young people of taking part in sport and sport clubs, particularly for those growing up in deprived areas and who may be excluded from school but also feel excluded from the mainstream of society. Brigadier Hugh Monro referred to the momentum behind sport coming from the London Olympics and Glasgow Games as “an important bandwagon that just needs a good shove”.

184. The Committee welcomes the participation targets that sportscotland now ties in with its funding arrangements for governing bodies.

185. Sportscotland is working with local authorities to develop a national framework to assist with the monitoring and evaluation of clubs. The Committee asks to be kept informed of this initiative.

ROLE OF COMMUNITY SPORTS HUBS

186. CSHs can be seen to represent a major initiative to maximise the potential of community sport for the sake of community engagement, joined-up working between partner organisations from different sectors (sport, health, education etc.), boosting participation levels, promotion of sporting culture, making the most of scarce resources, pooling knowledge and expertise, sharing facilities, benefitting from shared corporate functions, and other economies of scale.

A new model for this new era

187. As Winning Scotland Foundation’s Alistair Gray said—

“…we are in danger of joining things up. We must not throw away the opportunity. We need a new model for this new era; at the moment, it is almost as if we are using my first Walkman in the iPhone era.”¹³⁹

188. He added—

“There is a need for a new model with vibrant community hubs where the big banner is about fun, not about elite sport…we want vibrant community hubs where there is less activity and more good practice.”¹⁴⁰

189. Kim Atkinson of the Scottish Sports Association told the Committee—

“The Community Hub idea provides a real opportunity for better use of existing resources and for bringing people together in a very different way.”¹⁴¹

190. Sportscotland’s Stewart Harris talked in terms of increasing participation, encouraging co-operation and “critically, making the facility accessible to the community.”¹⁴²

191. This was something taken up by Daryl McKenzie of Leisure and Culture Dundee—

“They key is…to go out and engage with the community. We need to ensure that we get the community leaders on the board so that the facilities are open to all.”¹⁴³

192. He emphasised also the need for partnership working with the NHS, schools, local authority, sport development professionals, the clubs etc.¹⁴⁴

193. Mr McKenzie spoke of working with 13 or 14 clubs to nurture them in support of coming up with and pursuing their “ambitions, dreams, visions and aims for where they wanted to go”.¹⁴⁵

194. Steven Percy of East Renfrewshire Council emphasised too the potential that CSHs held for collaborative working and flexibility—

“…hubs want to link with other organisations – for example, the housing or health sectors – to create programmes that can tackle potential outcomes on health boards or housing associations. Universities, if they are available, can be used as a source of volunteers or to get people with expertise into an organisation. Another example is the police….clubs can create other activities and link with community safety partnerships to try to reduce crime in an area. When that is done by the community for the community instead of being delivered by another agency or an arm’s length agency, there is more buy-in by the community because of that shared value.”¹⁴⁶

About people, not buildings

195. Confidence and empowerment were the themes of Argyll and Bute Council’s Willie Young—

“…hubs are not about buildings...They are about people….Many of these people are volunteers and they are doing their own thing…It is all about people and about instilling confidence in the people who are running these things [local clubs], to show them that they are not alone and that if they share their ambitions and the work, they can achieve so much more.”¹⁴⁷

196. He told the Committee—

“…from top to bottom in sport, we are all guilty of allowing those people to flounder and do their own thing without co-ordination.”¹⁴⁸

197. Mr Young also suggested CSHs had come about because of the realisation that there was “a massive gap in the middle” between performance sport at one end and active schools at the other—

“Where is the support for community clubs or for those who are not actively engaged in competition?”¹⁴⁹

198. John Heraghty of sported said—

“Sports hubs are a cracking idea, but they do not need to be in schools or even in buildings. There can be a virtual hub, made up of a group of people who are interested in developing a sport….We do not want hubs to become structures that present barriers to hard-to-reach young people. There are different models for sports hubs and it is important to keep the options open and find out what communities and young people want their hubs to be. Some hubs might be in schools and some might not. Some might be on the street”.¹⁵⁰

199. Monitoring for evaluation purposes faced the same issues with clubs within CSHs as outlined in the previous section of the report. However, there were plans afoot, such as building the collection of data into an accreditation scheme and making it clear to clubs (and volunteers) what the benefits of having that information are to them.¹⁵¹

200. Mr Young said CSHs were in “an embryonic state” but that those involved were alive to the issue of accountability linked to public funding—

“There must be scope to standardise. We cannot measure the success of anything unless we have a consistent way of measuring.”¹⁵²

201. Mr McKenzie spoke about the potential of CSHs in encouraging people to be active from childhood into older age—

“…a child could enter the sport hub at the age of three by taking part in a play scheme and they could continue into their 30s and 40s and playing in an adult environment. If we structure the hubs even better, when they drop out of participation they could become members of a walking group, a jogging club, a yoga club, a keep-fit club, a zumba club, or whatever….and still be there when they are 60 or 70, and it does not matter that their participation is competitive or recreational.”¹⁵³

202. Oliver Barsby sounded a note of caution on behalf of those local sports clubs that were outside of the CSH model—

“We need to ensure that clubs can access any support that we provide even if they are not part of a community sport hub. We are still looking at that. I mean no disrespect to the community sport hubs as I think that they are a positive step forward, but a lot of clubs are not part of a hub yet and we need to ensure that we continue to support them.”¹⁵⁴

Reaching out to folk who are not active

203. On the issue of monitoring and ensuring best value for public funding and that is was making an impact, the Minister told the Committee—

“We are getting better at that, but we have had to work at it… comprehensive monitoring will be done of what community sport hubs deliver. We will ask how many people who previously were not active have come through the doors and are now more active in sport.”¹⁵⁵

204. She continued—

“There is still a way to go…However, we are putting in place measures that will allow us to have a proper view of what has been achieved.”¹⁵⁶

205. On the number of CSHs and where progress was at, the Committee was told that 25 hubs are up and running, with a further 41 in development (those 41 likely to be going live by October 2013). ¹⁵⁷

206. The top-line target was for 150 to be ready by 2016.¹⁵⁸

207. Asked about geographical spread of the CSHs, the Minister said—

“I want hubs in all 32 local authority areas – and within that, it is about ensuring that there is a good spread in the areas that are hardest to reach… If members feel that there is a lack of activity in an area where there is potential for a hub but not much sign of anything happening, I am certainly keen to hear about it.”¹⁵⁹

208. On the benefits of CSHs, she told the Committee—

“One of the benefits of the hub model is that, instead of clubs being left to do their own thing, they can come together and share expertise, in some cases, they might be able to share people. That means that a small club that is struggling with child protection policies or whatever can access the expertise that is available to be shared.”¹⁶⁰

209. The Minister made it clear that CSHs were not the exclusive domain of existing club members—

“It is not just about all the clubs coming to one place with the members that they already have, but about the hubs reaching out to folk who are not active at present.”¹⁶¹

Committee conclusions

210. The Committee welcomes the philosophy of collectivism, joint working and flexibility behind the community sport hubs and is hopeful that – with hard work and the shared aspirations of clubs and other parties – such a solid ethos can be turned into positive outcomes for sport and the community. The Committee will be monitoring progress.

211. The Committee refers to the consideration of the plans for CSHs in the Pathways into Sport and Physical Activity report by its predecessor and the view that “hubs need be more than just physical facilities. They should be about making the most of physical and human resources”.¹⁶² The Committee endorses that view.

212. Not everybody will want or even be able to join a CSH and the Committee issues a plea on behalf of those clubs outside the hub system that they not be forgotten or lose out on funding or other support.

JOINT WORKING, FUNDING, AND OTHER MODELS

213. The need for more partnership working between local authorities, governing bodies and individual sports clubs, to be led by COSLA and VOCAL, was a recommendation of the previous Health and Sport’s Committee’s in the Pathways into Sport and Physical Activity report. The report also acknowledged the excellent sports development work taking place in local areas but considered that this gave a fragmented picture overall rather than reinforcing an integrated sports strategy.

214. Funding is inevitably a perennial issue for the sporting world, at all levels, and this section covers the funding of CSHs, discussion where the money from Cashback (the scheme by which cash recovered from the proceeds of crime is used to invest in community programmes) was being directed, and the balance between grassroots and performance sport.

215. Other models being deployed at the community level included initiatives that took sport and physical activity direct to the hard-to-reach groups and, in particular, the youth work-centred approach to sport and physical activity, collaborative work with the health sector, including GP referrals, and utilising the draw of football to encourage healthier behaviour in men.

For the greater good

216. Stewart Harris of sportscotland said—

“We have heard lots of examples of good practice, but in order to sustain and grow participation, we need integrated provision. That was one recommendation of the previous Health and Sport Committee’s inquiry…and we have certainly taken that on board. Good practice tells us that sportscotland, the local authority and its agencies and the National Health Service have to work together strategically…we work together nationally, but that is also critical locally, because participation growth is supported there.”¹⁶³

217. His colleague Mary Allison underlined the importance of networking and information sharing and said this had played a significant part in the approach with the Active Schools network. She told the Committee—

“We are now replicating some of that with the community sport hubs. We are gathering data in a similar way to share with those community hub leaders. Of course, that work is community led. We cannot dictate from the centre what activities should be provided in a community; we respond to communities’ desire to provide for themselves. However, we use the data to reflect back to communities what they are achieving and the range of activities and groups that are involved year on year, so that people can see the trends. We bring hubs together so they can learn from one another.”¹⁶⁴

218. Mr Harris said—

“This is an absolutely vital issue. There is no choice but for all local agencies and sportscotland to work together with an integrated plan for growing participation and improving standards of coaching, facilities and performance.”¹⁶⁵

219. The value that the agency placed on its partnerships with local government was also stressed—

“Many years ago, it had a relationship with only a few local authorities. We now have a very strong strategic relationship with all 32, which offers a chance for us to get into hard-nosed examinations of our assets and how we can use them collectively for the greater good.”¹⁶⁶

220. Andy Kerr of NHS Health Scotland drew attention to the partnerships developing between local authorities and health boards—

“Those are different across the country: they might involve a healthy weight strategy, a council’s sports strategy or a health board’s physical activity strategy. NHS Tayside offers a good example of collaboration across sectors on a physical activity strategy, which brings together partners to improve dialogue and help to address the issues around equity and local variability in access.”¹⁶⁷

221. Active Stirling’s Andrew Bain cited the importance of shared objective and membership of the community planning partnership.¹⁶⁸

222. Stuart Younie of VOCAL mentioned that a review of community planning partnerships was underway and that sport should “not fall through the cracks” of that review—

“We must have leadership in senior management in local authorities and leisure trusts and among local elected members. The breadth of portfolios presents a challenge for having local champions who can lead and advocate on behalf of sport, active recreation and community sport.”¹⁶⁹

223. The matter of developing volunteers to be able to input to that kind of process was talked about by Daryl McKenzie of Leisure and Culture Dundee—

“When we sit down with a roomful of volunteers to explain a potential early intervention programme – for example, a physical literacy programme that the NHS is trying to introduce for three-to-five year olds – if we were to pass that on to a community club, it would not have a clue how to deal with that. Those guys are volunteers and we have to up-skill them gradually, over time.”¹⁷⁰

An ethos of co-operation

224. As for the governing bodies, Sarah Pryde of Scottish Swimming told the Committee—

“We produce co-ordinated programmes within our area. We try to work with other sports such as gymnastics and other aquatic disciplines, where the child protection issues are similar… We always work with other sports in our area in an effort to support them as best we can. For example, we recently ran a course for child protection officers called In Safe Hands, which was attended by members of other governing bodies.”¹⁷¹

225. She said—

“We have a pool programming guide, which is a tool to help local authorities and trusts to programme their pools better, so that they can provide access for learn-to-swim programmes, adult-and-child clubs and performance programmes, and make the best use of their pool time.

A culture is developed through our community partnerships, where clubs come together around a shared vision and try to develop an ethos of co-operation and cohesion”.¹⁷²

226. Other sports gave examples of collaborative working and Colin Thomson of Scottish Rugby brought the discussion back to what mattered—

“If we are serious about making this approach work, there must be an integrated approach to PE, physical activity and sport, and there must be local co-ordination and local decision making that is right for the level. We have heard that a generation was inspired throughout the summer, but if those people have no opportunity to participate in what they have been watching, what is the point in inspiring them?”¹⁷³

227. Sports consultant Charlie Raeburn also voiced a note of caution—

“A lot more thinking needs to be done. I retired from West Lothian Council just when the financial crisis hit the system. Coming from that background, I worry that within local authorities there are so few people left who have that strategic overview. And who will be monitoring the 20 leisure trusts that now exist to see what happens. Where is that strategy going to be?”¹⁷⁴

We cannot be passive

228. Mr Raeburn suggested CSHs were a good idea but not the answer to everything—

“…hubs will be a good start, but they are not the whole thing – the issue is not just about bureaucracy. Some hubs will just be about the use of a school facility. I think half the hubs will be more about sharing facilities. We heard that in Argyll and Bute the hub is an area where things are working in a slightly more oblique way – it is not necessarily just about the facility. The idea is critically good, but I have lots of worries around how we monitor it all and set it up strategically.”¹⁷⁵

229. Professor Mutrie of the University of Edinburgh gave two examples of joined-up working: one was in Fife, where the local authority had pioneered a survey called Fife Active through which the physical activity needs of children could be matched with the resources at the disposal of the Active School co-ordinators.

230. She told the Committee—

“The other model comes from Glasgow, where there is a physical activity forum at which all agencies with an interest, from transport to education – as well as the city’s sport and recreation strategic officers – sit round a table. An attempt is being made to make a logic model of how all the elements in Glasgow will contribute to a more active Glasgow and capitalise on the hosting of the Commonwealth Games… It involves a strategic plan that includes all the players.”¹⁷⁶

231. Professor Diamond of the University of Aberdeen recommended a proactive model—

“…we cannot be passive and just say: ‘Let’s try and make things available.’ We need a supply-and-demand approach that involves looking for interventions that will impact on some of the major areas of participation drop-off and, at the same time, talking to people about what they want. It is everyone’s responsibility to bring those two aspects together.”¹⁷⁷

232. Asked who took responsibility for remedial action if there were gaps in provision in a local area, whether it was football or another sport, witnesses pointed to those governing bodies who employed regional development officers.¹⁷⁸

233. The role of local authorities was also mentioned. VDS said—

“A lot of local authorities have developed leisure trusts, which are arm’s-length bodies that have taken on a lot of sports development functions. Perhaps that gap has created uncertainty about who should take forward sports development work. The picture is complicated, but there is certainly a role for the governing bodies.”¹⁷⁹

A real ambition to spread the resources

234. Funding is a topic never too far away in any discussion of sport, either for the people seeking it or those giving it. Stewart Harris gave the central funder’s perspective—

“We have tried to put an allocation into each authority, based on a formula, which is based on a minimum amount. Even a small authority such as Clackmannanshire would get a minimum amount. The rest is based on population. We have tried to leave the decision making to each authority – the selection of the community sports hubs is a local decision; it is the local authority’s choice.”¹⁸⁰

235. He explained that the aim was for CSHs to become self-sustainable. It was estimated that £50,000 per annum would be required to keep the Tryst Community Sports Club going, for example. ¹⁸¹

236. Mr Harris said—

“…one initiative in particular has been quite big for us; we are now beginning to offer up to 100% grants to small community facilities…we have a real ambition to spread the resources into smaller communities and deprived communities to enhance small community facilities.”¹⁸²

237. The Scottish Sports Association was on the same page. Kim Atkinson told the Committee—

“The question is, as you say, how we make use of a limited resource that has already shown that it can provide benefits in local communities, particularly in relation to the preventative spend agenda. The key is to ensure that there is a fit with existing clubs, that we get people involved in the club structure and that the resource helps with infrastructure and sustainability.”¹⁸³

Too hard for them to say no

238. Public funding was not the only means of financing available to community sport. Neil Matheson of Atlantis Leisure recounted how his organisation found the money to build a sports centre after being turned down by a number of funders—

“…one thing that was clear was that we would have to get our own pocket of money… We therefore went to our local town and basically had a 12-month hit on the town in which we attacked everything in it. Our wee community helped us raise £350,000, which was phenomenal… That totally changed the focus. There was a groundswell of opinion that nobody could stand in the way of. It did not matter who the funders were; when we had the evidence, that wee pile of money and a clear need for more money, it was just too hard for them to say no.”¹⁸⁴

239. Several non-public funders were referenced during the inquiry, including Bank of Scotland, the National Lottery and RBS, but one cropped up more frequently than others. Mr Matheson told the Committee—

“Frankly, if it were not for the Rank Foundation and the Robertson Trust, both of which have been mentioned a lot this morning, none of us would be sitting in this room. Their work has been significant in allowing us to be creative and to produce the outcomes our way, and not the way some piece of paper says they should be produced.”¹⁸⁵

240. The Robertson Trust gave evidence and talked about helping the people and communities behind the social enterprises that the Trust supported in order to better understand outcomes—

“As funding for sports organisations is so tight, there is an issue about funding being outcomes led. The sports organisations that we support find it difficult to evidence their outcomes and show robustly that what they do makes the difference that they think it does.”¹⁸⁶

241. Mark McGeachie said—

“To support capacity in the sector, the Trust has a pilot programme that involves eight social enterprises undergoing a two-year period of evaluation training through Evaluation Support Scotland. Organisations really want to contribute to local and national outcomes, but it is critical that they learn about what the outcomes are and how to evidence them. That is important for organisations in managing and making best use of their cash; but it also enables them, when they say to public funders that they can deliver a programme, to say that they know what it will achieve and they have evidence for that.”¹⁸⁷

242. Ceris Anderson of StreetGames suggested that it was sometimes important to look beyond public funding—

“There is a place for public funding for sports projects, but there are lots of other sources of funding out there. Although I know that it is difficult for small clubs to evidence what they are doing, if they can put forward a good picture of their work and the impact that they have, there are opportunities to obtain funding.”¹⁸⁸

243. On the question of funding and sustainability, Senscot’s Diane Cameron said—

“There is a huge appetite among sports clubs to become sustainable in the long term. There is also a huge appetite among communities to help to avoid closure of sports facilities…but it is challenging for organisations to find financial support to do that.”¹⁸⁹

244. She felt that organisations did not have a source of funding to go to become sustainable and be able to have even more of an impact in their area—

“The Robertson Trust runs a fantastic community sport funding stream and sportscotland has Government and lottery money, but that is all based on facility. We could do with a way to support community sport organisations, or just communities, to do some of the good work that they are desperately keen to do.”¹⁹⁰

245. Funding from the Cashback scheme was a subject of much discussion and some consternation from those sports that were not recipients. Kim Atkinson of the Scottish Sports Association told the Committee—

“Football, rugby and basketball were the first three sports to be involved, followed by the five multisport model, and boxing is now involved too…the basketball partnerships happens to be the example we know best, and they have shown some really strong results.”¹⁹¹

246. Alex Richardson of the Gladiator Programme said—

“That money is being recovered from communities like mine, but groups such as mine do not see any Cashback for Communities funds.”¹⁹²

247. Mr Richardson told the Committee—

“I am a great believer that x amount of funding for sports development should go to well established amateur sports groups. Maybe the community sports hubs will be a structure for that.”¹⁹³

248. Furthermore—

“It should not be taken for granted that every piece of funding should go through the local authority for the delivery of sports development. Find the well-run and well-structured amateur sports clubs and allow them to employ a development officer or a coach. Let them go into schools and bounce it through the pathway…instead of letting the funding follow a theory.”¹⁹⁴

Not a cliff edge at 2014

249. On the question of funding for elite sport against that for community sport, Stewart Harris of sportscotland said—

“The balance between performance and community is beginning to swing the way of community. We have a system that supports high performance – about £15 million between ourselves and the governing bodies. Our ambition with new monies and existing lottery moneys is to enhance, with local government, the community offer in the next half a dozen years. We hope that in the next few months we will be able to announce some of these things.”¹⁹⁵

250. Asked about vision and funding, Mr Harris told the Committee—

“…our strategy for sport and recreation goes way beyond the Commonwealth Games. We are putting a system in place for performance and community sport that will enable us to achieve the ambition that we and everyone around this table are striving for – it is not a cliff edge at 2014. We want to continue all the good work that we are doing and we want Scotland to be ambitious.”¹⁹⁶

When delivered in the right way

251. Evaluation and best value were very much to the fore in people’s thinking at a time of reduced public spending. The Robertson Trust, however, counselled against assuming that participation in sport would inevitably bring positive outcomes. It suggested that quality was crucial.

252. In a follow-up letter to the Committee, the Trust said—

“A key finding from our funded projects is that sport can be a valuable vehicle to engage hard-to-reach young people”. Furthermore: “when delivered in the right way, sport can help young people to develop key life skills that can transfer into other areas of their lives”.¹⁹⁷

253. Quality over quantity of provision or “less activity and more good practice” was very much what counted, as Alistair Gray of Winning Scotland Foundation told the Committee—

“We want to focus on improving the quality….rather than worrying about supply all the time. We must focus much less on individual initiatives and much more on partnership and collaboration. We must also focus on building a new generation of leaders rather than worrying about governance, rules and health and safety. The change will come from that.”¹⁹⁸

254. The potential for sport to make a positive impact in communities, and, in particular, on hard-to-reach or disenfranchised groups, was a key aspect of the inquiry. The SFA, Scottish Rugby and Cricket Scotland, among others, all highlighted “diversionary” initiatives involving street games and, in the case of football, linking sport to behaviour and attendance at school in a positive way.¹⁹⁹

255. This was also very much the ethos of the Roberston Trust, sported and others that sought to apply a youth work model to community sport and participation.

256. The Trust’s Robert McGeachie told the Committee—

“Our objective is to widen participation…and ensure equality of access, and one way in which we do that is by supporting a youth work approach in sport…we can open up access by going into environments where young people choose to be, such as youth clubs and youth work facilities.”²⁰⁰

257. Gordon Crawford of Active Stirling said—

“Community clubs can be quite a threat to young people because they are formal and full of old people – people who have different dress sense – and they have to be on time and finish on a certain time. We are trying to create a different environment within school clubs that meets the needs of people there.”²⁰¹

Doorstep sport

258. The ethos of StreetGames was (as the name suggests) to deliver sport to young people rather than waiting for them to come to a club. It also worked on the basis that a lot of young people in deprived areas did not necessarily have the parental support or “taxi service” that some of their peers might enjoy.

259. Ceris Anderson told the Committee—

“All our provision is what we call doorstep sport, which means that it is delivered at the right time and price, and in the right place and style. That sounds basic but… For example we do not necessarily provide football on Sunday morning. That is how it has been done for 100 years, but it may need to be on a Friday night at eight o’clock, because that is when the young people want to come.”²⁰²

This is why we still do it

260. Another means of reaching people who were not physically active or sporty or were difficult to reach was via the health service.

261. Neil Matheson spoke of Atlantis Leisure’s experience—

“We have a health professional on our board… We have done GP referral schemes for a good number of years… We looked at national stuff and found that it was not good quality.”²⁰³

262. He said they liked the idea but wanted to improve it – on the basis that GP referrals under the current scheme (it was felt) could result in people not showing up to whatever activity they had signed up to—

“We set up a completely new business called Lorn and Oban Healthy Options, which is a separate charity… We now have a trained person who goes into the health centre and whom a GP sends to an individual. She sits down for half an hour or whatever with that individual and spends time on flushing out what that person might sign up to do.”²⁰⁴

263. He told the Committee the project was only a year old but already its results were “stunning”.²⁰⁵

264. Mr Matheson reported that many people being referred had mental health issues and were helped immensely by getting physically active in some small way. “I find that inspiring,” he said. ²⁰⁶

265. He relayed a story about a chance meeting the previous week—

“I went to a wee art gallery and I was stopped by somebody who said: ‘Are you still involved with Atlantis?’ I said: ‘Yes’. He said: ‘That healthy options girl saved my life.’ I said: ‘What are you talking about?’ He said: ‘She has completely changed my life. I had this, that and the next thing wrong with me, but being referred to her completely changed my life.’

That is why we still do what we are doing 20 years later – because we get that kind of feedback.”²⁰⁷

Football has a powerful reach

266. The reach of football clubs in their communities and indeed wider society was deemed another way to attract people into sport and becoming more physically active. Dr Cindy Gray of Football Fans in Training explained the approach taken—

“…our aim was to implement an evidence-based programme…something that would really help to engage men and to help men to make long-standing changes to their health.”²⁰⁸

267. The scheme had the support of the Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League Trust and, once the evidence was firmly established, the aim was to have the programme in surgeries so it could be prescribed to patients. ²⁰⁹

268. Dr Gray recognised Atlantis Leisure’s concerns about with GP referrals (i.e. people being referred but not turning up) from anecdotal evidence. She told the Committee—

“There must be a suite of options with something for everybody, because an activity that one person will engage with is not necessarily something that others will engage with.”²¹⁰

269. She said—

“We know exactly who is on our programme and we have found that we attract people from across the socio-economic spectrum without doing any special targeting. I suggest that the attraction of football clubs should be recognised; perhaps they can be used to target the people from specific backgrounds with whom we want to engage. The clubs have a powerful reach.”²¹¹

Communities delivering their own legacy

270. Asked about co-ordinated working between local sports clubs, the Active Schools network and others, the Minister told the Committee—

“Sportscotland is the key…and through its relationships with each of the 32 local authorities, it is able to address where things are working well…and where there is not the co-ordination and communication that there should be.”²¹²

271. She added—

“The Active Schools co-ordinators are critical links between schools, clubs and communities, and ensuring that pathways between them exist.”²¹³

272. She praised the Scottish Sports Association for their support for the smaller governing bodies via its club network—

“It has done a lot of work on some of the more challenging tasks, such as developing a child protection policy. I saw at first hand some of the work that it is doing to support training and to offer it alongside bigger governing bodies and clubs, so that smaller organisations do not have to manage all the challenging issues themselves.”²¹⁴

273. Addressing funding, the Minister said—

“As the Committee knows, we have launched a new £10 million games legacy fund to help local communities to deliver their own legacy within their community.”²¹⁵

274. Questioned on the subject of budgetary constraints and any concerns she might have about how local government decisions were impacting on community sport—

“There is a real appetite, even in tough times, to improve and renew the sporting infrastructure.”²¹⁶

275. The Minister continued—

“There are opportunities – for example, through the new community ownership and management fund, which we will launch soon…If a community wants to take over the running of a facility – whether it is a sports hall or whatever – we want to make that easier.”²¹⁷

276. With regard to Cashback, she told the Committee—

“I know that the Committee has been looking at Cashback, through which we have involved 100,000 youngsters who have benefitted from activities that have been provided by, for example, the Scottish Football Association and Scottish Rugby Union programmes.”²¹⁸

277. The Minister said—

“…Inspiring Scotland is doing an in-depth evaluation of all Cashback projects. It will look at many matters, including who the projects have reached, where they have reached, what they have done, what has been achieved, and whether they represent value for money. We will use all that not just to look at what has been achieved, but to set clear guidance for us for future investment.²¹⁹”

278. Also—

“The Scottish Football League clubs are actually quite often located in some of our more deprived areas and they have a good reach. The investment in the Communities League Club is directly linked to the participation of young people in programmes in the clubs. In particular, we have asked the clubs to include young people who might require diversionary activities. We have also asked the clubs to consider the potential for becoming hubs.”²²⁰

Committee conclusions

279. The Committee is encouraged by what it heard regarding examples of partnership working between bodies and across sectors, the previous Health and Sport Committee having recommended there be more collaboration.

280. The perception can be of the sporting landscape being a cluttered place, with clubs, local sports councils, governing bodies, various arms of the local authority, leisure trusts, the health sector, community planning partnerships, community sports hubs etc.

281. The Committee hopes that the indications of greater co-operation are accompanied by a more integrated and strategic approach to the support of community sport than may have been the case in the past. As one witness said: “we are in danger of joining things up”.

282. The Committee notes that its predecessor’s report, Pathways into Sport and Physical Activity, recommended that local authorities should produce local sports strategies (including implementation plans) and those that did have existing strategies should ensure that they were up to date and properly implemented. The Committee reinforces that recommendation.

283. The Committee believes it is important for local authorities to apply a strategic approach by developing and then applying sports strategies or frameworks for their area, taking into account all sports and active recreation taking place in the locale, who the providers are, where areas of deprivation exist, identifying hard-to-reach groups, and having an awareness of all local sporting facilities in the interests of “sweating assets”.

284. As with its predecessor, this Health and Sport Committee has been alerted to some fantastic initiatives, schemes and projects, targeted and innovative, but the real test will be whether these can be sustained, embedded and even replicated. Monitoring and evaluation will be crucial.

285. The Committee was told of the difficulties that social enterprises and other organisations can encounter in understanding and meeting the requirements of the evaluation process. The Committee acknowledges the role that the Robertson Trust and others play in better equipping them to deal with that process when seeking funding.

286. The Committee welcomes the approach of sportscotland in bringing the CSHs together on a regular basis to exchanges ideas, experience and knowledge. The Committee recognises though that the hubs are community-led and that the role of the national agency is essentially that of facilitator.

287. The Committee notes that a review of community planning partnerships is underway and that VOCAL was keen that community sport and active recreation should not “fall through the cracks”.

288. The Committee notes that the Cashback for Communities programme uses the financial proceeds of crime, recovered through the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, and “invests them into community programmes, facilities and activities largely, but not exclusively, for young people at risk of turning to crime and anti-social behaviour as a way of life”. ²²¹ It wishes to learn more about the correlation between where money is recovered from and where resources are being deployed. The Committee therefore awaits the report of Inspiring Scotland’s evaluation of the programme with interest.

SPORTING FACILITIES

289. That people are more important than places might be a valid comment in the world of community sport – where the role of the volunteer is so crucial – but this is not the same as saying places don’t matter. The “where” is certainly an issue if there is nowhere to play your sport or to be physically active.

290. This section addresses accessibility, availability, affordability and quality of sporting facilities.

We would rather find out

291. Access to sports facilities in schools is an area that sportscotland is looking to address. Stewart Harris told the Committee—

“We are working on the issue. Sportscotland is examining access to schools through a study in all 32 local authorities that is looking at the exact situation in every school.”²²²

292. He said—

“We have done the study because lots of general statements are made about schools not being open. We would rather find out the specific situation in each local authority area and in each school so that we can then address it with the local authorities.”²²³

293. A key issue raised by a number of witnesses was the importance of making best use of the wide range of facilities that schools have available. Secondary schools have a range of facilities that are often not used outside school hours. Primary schools are less likely to have high-end equipment available, but have locally available space that can be used by the community outside core school hours.

294. The After School Activity Programme stated in written evidence—

“[Our] basic idea has always been to work with schools and fill the gap after school and before 6pm, when teenagers have little to do and facilities lie empty.”²²⁴

295. Sportscotland told the Committee—

“I return to my point about the use of schools. A range of facilities are available, whether private or publicly owned. The way forward is to look at the provision strategically to support growth in participation.”²²⁵

296. Charlie Raeburn said—

“Some secondary schools in Scotland are fantastic facilities in their own right, with sports centres, games halls, swimming pools, gymnasiums, fitness equipment, outside pitches and so on, all in one place.”²²⁶

297. A number of those who gave evidence either in writing or in evidence sessions with the Committee talked about barriers to accessing the school estate. These barriers were diverse and covered—

Letting arrangements that are not conducive to ensuring a balanced programme of activity;
Access and availability at times that suit the accessibility needs of the community in question e.g. at weekends and during school holidays, as well as, for some groups, during the school day;
Uninviting or poorly maintained facilities; resulting in facilities not being opened due to lack of demand;
Lack of commitment on the part of the school management/head teacher to opening up the school estate to the wider community inside and outside school hours;
High rental charges for use of the facilities/space e.g. due to janitorial charges or need for other paid staff to be available/on site;
Criteria that are difficult for small local clubs and volunteer run groups e.g. volunteers being required to hold specific qualifications;
Contractual issues, particularly in first round PFI-funded schools involving public private partnerships, involving local authorities giving management of facilities to external organisations.

298. Cost was recognised as a barrier in some contexts but witnesses suggested it need not be the case. VDS stated—

“In terms of facilities, the needs of grassroots sports clubs are usually fairly basic. It is not necessarily the well-equipped sports centres that they need but rather community centres, town and village halls, playing fields and schools. These can – and should – provide local, affordable and accessible facilities for local sports clubs.”²²⁷

299. An issue many of those who gave evidence highlighted was the importance of flexibility and innovation in making best use of the facilities available in Scotland, including the school estate. VOCAL stated—

“There is a very mixed pattern to the levels and quality of community access to sporting facilities on the school estate, with some excellent examples of good practice such as in Perth and Kinross where community access is available throughout the week (including during the school day) at their community campuses.”²²⁸

300. Sportscotland told the Committee—

“There are many good examples of key-holder status and a much more flexible use of schools. Security is obviously an issue – that has to be managed responsibly. But if communities are to be sustainable and to have pride in their future, we must give them a bit more responsibility in how they manage, lead, direct and operate facilities.”²²⁹

301. Availability of a facility or a home was a problem for some local sports clubs. Lee Cousins of the Scottish Sports Association told the Committee—

“A lot of our hockey clubs, basketball clubs and hall sport clubs in particular do not have the stability of having their own home so they cannot do long-term planning.”²³⁰

Just for a knockabout

302. NHS Health Scotland’s Ann Kerr said—

“We also have a fantastic inheritance of the public parks that the Victorians built. How easy is it to access the pitches or the courts just for a knockabout? This is the sort of openness that we could be looking at.”²³¹

303. On the question of accessibility in terms of cost, Mary Allison told the Committee—

“Sportscotland monitors charges for sports facilities every year and has done so for the past decade. In the past year – in which we would expect to see some real pressure points – the majority of sports facility charges have gone up less than the retail prices index…In some cases, the cost has not gone up at all.”²³²

304. She said—

“Although, there will undoubtedly be a change in the cost for some groups to use some facilities in some places, the charging position throughout Scotland as a whole is still relatively stable and has not changed significantly over many years.”²³³

305. Kim Atkinson of the Scottish Sports Association told the Committee—

“…facilities do not have to be expensive; there are a lot of facilities that can, with a small amount of investment, make a big difference. That might involve opening up existing estates such as schools or looking at natural resources in the environment.”²³⁴

306. She touched on making better use of existing facilities, as opposed to new buildings, and suggested accessibility was “about evenings, weekends and holidays” and ideally priority access for clubs, whether sports clubs or in the widest definition.²³⁵

307. Questioned about pressures on local authority budgets and whether there was concern at how community assets could be maintained, Mr Harris said—

“…we must consider what local authorities do around making decisions on priorities…we certainly stand ready to look at any ways in which we can help to make facilities stock more effective, whether through influencing or funding. Those conversations will go on.”²³⁶

Imagination and creativity

308. Mr Cousins told the Committee—

“One important thing about facilities is that their poor quality has a direct impact on participation. A poor-quality facility will turn off participation without a doubt. There is a job to be done in balancing investing in more facilities and maintaining the quality of existing facilities.”²³⁷

309. Ms Allison said—

“One of the biggest studies on effective community sport intervention showed that a critical factor is communities using every bit of their estate…there is a lot of resource in communities that is perhaps underused or underutilised.”²³⁸

310. She added—

“We are looking at the whole outdoor and adventure sport agenda. Scotland has one of the most fantastic sets of ready-made natural resources for sport and we think that there is a lot more value for us in that in terms of being able to drive up participation through some of those channels. It is also about recognising some of the financial realities and bringing imagination and creativity to the re-use and expansion of facilities that have perhaps not been in our sights in the past.”²³⁹

311. In terms of accessibility, Steven Percy of East Renfrewshire Council said—

“A lot of our facilities that we are talking about are just pavilions, or community halls, which provide a social base for a club, but people really need access to higher-quality facilities, which might still be owned by the local authorities – I am thinking about games halls or third-generation football pitches, which are potentially substantial assets.”²⁴⁰

312. Andy Salmon of the Scottish Golf Union said that local authorities had a significant role to play in facilities for his sport, given the municipal courses in places such as Edinburgh, south Ayrshire, Dundee and Aberdeen.²⁴¹

In no particular order

313. Ayr United Football Club, in their written submission to the Committee, suggested that the three most important issues for sporting facilities at a local level were: “1) Lack of, 2) lack of, and 3) lack of – in no particular order!”²⁴²

314. Alistair Gray of Winning Scotland Foundation told the Committee—

“Huge investment has gone into sports facilities, but affordable access is the bigger issue…I was recently involved with one of Scotland’s major cities, which said it needed to reduce its budget by £3 million. That was turned round by asking instead: “How can we increase revenue by £3 million?” The answers were to get more people through and to encourage programmes that brought people into the facilities and made them spend more when they were there.”²⁴³

315. Liz McColgan returned to the issue of quality and the state of facilities—

“Our clubhouse is derelict and we have to rent a toilet facility from the council for the club to use the track. There are clubs in similar positions all over Scotland. That is the sad state of affairs that we are in.”²⁴⁴

Those kids just do not have the finances

316. She told the Committee—

“I was at the Olympic Games…and heard all this emotional talk about legacy and how we were all going to go back to our little corners of the world and have all our lovely children well catered for in fantastic facilities. That just has not happened. My main grief is that although we have all these facilities in deprived areas, local authorities are still charging kids £3 to use them; those kids just do not have the finances.”²⁴⁵

317. To Charlie Raeburn, the role of the local authority was key—

“A facilities strategy is needed – a way to open the facilities up is critical too. That is the other big responsibility for local authorities.”²⁴⁶

Trailblazers

318. Regarding accessibility, the Minister told the Committee—

“I am aware the cost of accessing facilities has been raised…and I recognise the fact that cost can be a significant issue for some families. Although many local authorities and leisure trusts offer a wide range of discount schemes. I hope that all facility owners and operators will look at how to address the issue of affordability. Affordability of access is a key element of the community sport hub model that is taking off across Scotland.”²⁴⁷

319. On the subject of school-based sporting facilities, she said—

“Sportscotland is undertaking a study to get a baseline on how open the school estate is. That will allow us to measure how open it becomes after we take the initiatives to try to open it up.”²⁴⁸

320. She also stated—

“It does not always take a lot of money to make the difference between a school being accessible and it not being accessible. For example, having a community access door that is separate from the access that the school uses can make the difference between the school being easily opened to the community after hours and it not being easily opened.”²⁴⁹

321. Addressing the issue of budgetary constraints, the Minister said—

“We are experiencing tough times, but despite that…there is still a considerable amount of investment in refurbishing and opening up the school estate…My own local authority, Dundee City Council, has spent £30 million in recent times on refurbishing the sporting estate.”²⁵⁰

322. She said there was “a big challenge around access” but suggested there were “some trailblazers” such as Highlands and Islands Council--

“The local authority took a risk and said: ‘The only way that we think that we can reduce charges is by getting more people to come into the facilities so that everybody pays less.’ The high life card gives people access to every single facility in the Highlands and Islands and it has worked; the number of people coming through the door has massively increased and the council has therefore managed to reduce the cost. We would like other local authorities to look at that model because we do not want people to be put off by charges.”²⁵¹

323. Finally, adding—

“One of our stipulations for the hubs is that access to them is affordable. We do not want to open up the school estate and everything else only to find that people have to pay charges that are beyond their means. We have said that joining a hub must be affordable; it must be free, or cost very little. We hope that, in that way, we will make access easier for people.”²⁵²

Committee conclusions

324. Access to school-based sporting facilities has long been a cause of concern in certain areas of the country, anecdotally at least. The Committee will await the findings of sportscotland’s audit of current access, expected next spring, and consider what bearing this may have on plans for opening up the school estate.

325. A range of barriers to gaining greater use out of the current school estates were highlighted to the Committee. These are diverse, ranging from contractual difficulties with gaining access to the estate through to cost issues emerging from the need to have paid staff on site when the estate is being used outside school hours.

326. The Committee agrees with the Scottish Sports Association that defining “accessibility” in terms of opening up the school estate and its sporting facilities and other existing places for sport and physical activity for all ought to translate into being open in the evening, at weekends and during holidays. The Committee commends the practice of “sweating assets” and encourages COSLA, VOCAL and local authorities to make it a cornerstone of their policy in the interests of accessibility, availability and participation.

327. The Committee notes that local authorities play a crucial role in the provision, ownership, running and up-keep of facilities. It is hoped that, as part of their sporting strategy, they maintain an awareness and overview of what assets are at their disposal and that this would cover the standard and condition of facilities. It would also be of benefit to the public, and in line with encouraging participation, if local authorities could provide clear and consistent information on charging and opening hours for all facilities in their area. Sportscotland might wish to consider these matters further in light of its audit of the school estate.

328. The Committee agrees with sportscotland that more consideration should be given to making the most of the sporting potential of Scotland’s outdoors, the natural environment (even in urban areas) and adventure sport.

329. The Committee recognises the reality that straitened financial times pose a challenge to making participation in sport and physical activity cheaper and affordable to everyone. The Committee notes the Minister’s enthusiasm for Highland Council’s High Life scheme and the approach of lifting participation by dropping prices. The Committee wishes to highlight the example to COSLA and recommends that local authorities give consideration to whether such a scheme would work in their area.

EQUALITIES AND PARTICIPATION

330. A recurring theme during the course of the inquiry was the important role participation in sport can play in facilitating a shared sense of belonging and engagement in society for an individual. The Committee received evidence, however, regarding attitudinal, practical and strategic barriers that people can face that deter them from participating in sport.

Rather than seeing them as the problem…

331. One issue explored by the Committee was the lower participation rates of women compared with men in sport. Figures from the Scotland’s People Annual report: results from 2009/2010 Scottish Household Survey show that excluding walking, women were far less likely to have participated in a sporting activity in the previous four week period (48%) than men (60%).^{^[253]}

332. Professor Mutrie of University of Edinburgh told the Committee that—

“…right now we need to do everything that we can to make sport more appealing to the parts of the public for whom it is not.”^{^[254]}

333. She argued that widening the concept of sports hubs to cover physical activity might help facilitate engagement of groups such as girls and young women who could be deterred by the perception that hubs are about competitive sport.^{^[255]}

334. The Fit for Girls project; and Girls on the Move programme were highlighted to the Committee as specific examples of initiatives which had successfully increased physical activity levels among girls and young women in Scotland.

335. The Girls on the Move was a £1 million^{^[256]} joint investment by The Roberston Trust and the Scottish Government from 2005-2011. It aimed to increase girls’ and young women’s physical activity by addressing the barriers that prevent their participation.

336. The Committee heard that the key to the success of projects such as Girls on the Move and Fit for Girls was involving the girls in the development of the sports activities and adapting what was provided to suit their preferences. Mary Allison, Head of Strategic Planning, sportscotland, commented—

“We have learned from the Fit for Girls project about what more we can do through the active schools network and through physical education to engage better with teenage girls, and better meet their needs. We should, rather than seeing them as the problem, sometimes see the services that we provide to them as being the problem, so we should change those services.”

337. In the case of Girls on the Move the Robertson Trust told the Committee that the girls and young women were involved in the design of the physical activities they participated in, which gave them the opportunity to take part in the activities that interested them such as dance, boxercise and yoga.^{^[257]}

338. John Howie of NHS Health Scotland told the Committee that small grants to community groups, to increase girls’ engagement in sport, had generated significant benefits—

“Targeted small investments into populations where needs are known to be greatest, and use of different supports and trained local staff can have major impacts.”^{^[258]}

339. The University of Stirling evaluation of the Girls on the Move programme in 2010 found that of the approximately 3,000 girls and young women who took part between 2005 and 2010, 62% of participants reported being more active by the end of the project and 75% said they would continue with the activity after the programme ended.^{^[259]}

340. As well as initiatives aimed at increasing women’s engagement in sport the Committee also received evidence of steps being taken to broaden the appeal to women of sports traditionally associated with men.

341. Andy Salmon of Scottish Golf Union advised the Committee that the organisation was trying to broaden participation in golf, as only 13% of the total membership of golf clubs was currently female. He explained the work being done through the schools programme to attract girls into the sport, resulting in improvements in uptake with an average of a 26% participation rate among girls making the transition from the schools programme to the club stage.²⁶⁰

342. Andy Salmon also discussed the success of a piloted adult participation programme for golf which had been particularly successful with women as they had enjoyed the social aspect of the game—

“the programme seeks to target adults who do not play golf and who have no background in golf, and to introduce them to the game in a fun, socially inclusive and structured way, leading to golf club membership.”^{^[261]}

343. The Committee heard further examples of where women’s engagement in sport had increased as sports provided activities and training more tailored to suit their needs. Stuart Smith of Scottish Canoe Association explained that, because the UKCC-endorsed coaching awards could now be gained on a modular basis rather than on a week long course, this had led to a 10% increase in the number of female coaches.²⁶²

Disadvantage knows no boundaries

344. Asked about the link between quality of facilities and participation in the context of disability, Gavin Macleod of Scottish Disability Sport told the Committee—

“…the two issues are closely linked. The new facilities will be a huge bonus for sport in Scotland. Aberdeen Sports Village, which Bob Doris mentioned, is a fantastic example of good practice. The facilities are first rate and an inclusive approach is being taken to the clubs that use them. We would like the model to be replicated across the country.”²⁶³

345. He referred to the need for elite disabled cyclists to travel to England to train in Manchester and how the Chris Hoy Velodrome would be “a huge benefit”.²⁶⁴

346. Mr Macleod referred to research showing that attitude was the biggest barrier to participation. He cited the Fife Institute of Physical and Recreational Education in Glenrothes as being an exemplar of integrated provision—

“It is not the best building in the world – it is a 1970s build – but its ethos, the staff training, how it is marketed and the culture of the programming mean that it provides a fully inclusive environment.”²⁶⁵

347. On the importance of culture and training, he said—

“Our remit is to provide the relevant volunteers with the education, training, skills and knowledge to overcome the fear factor of working with disabled groups.”²⁶⁶

348. Asked how to go about driving up participation in areas of deprivation, Mr Macleod told the Committee—

“You are talking about geographical disadvantage, but from our point of view the disadvantage knows no boundaries.”²⁶⁷

349. Furthermore—

“The real battle that we have is in driving the inclusion agenda and ensuring that we get the next batch of Paralympians. We have just had a fairly successful Paralympics and have increased our number of athletes in a larger number of sports, but where is the next generation coming from and how can we provide good local opportunities for them?”

A ball and a goal

350. The Scottish Football Association employed six regional “equity officers”. David Drummond said—

“…they are in post to drive participation in and far greater engagement with the black and minority ethnic community, which is an untapped area as far as football is concerned. I hold my hands up and admit that it is still very much a learning area for us all.”²⁶⁸

351. He added—

“We are aware that there are a number of members of the BME community who want to play football or who play football but who do not necessarily know the direct route into the game, or who just want to volunteer and be part of the game. A lot of work is being done on that at the moment.”²⁶⁹

352. In Edinburgh, a Leith-based charity, Multi-Cultural Family Base, was launching a free scheme with the support of the SFA to provide football sessions for black and minority ethnic (“BME”) children and young people, a group which, it was suggested, “are so under-represented in youth football that no participation statistics exist”.²⁷⁰

353. They were therefore missing out, it was suggested, on the opportunities that football can provide, such as fostering a sense of community and building confidence. The question posed was—

“Football is our national game, so why aren’t more children and young people from our black and minority ethnic communities participating?”²⁷¹

354. The vision for the initiative was stated as—

“Giving BME children and young people ‘a ball and a goal’.”²⁷²

Out for sport

355. The Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance raised the issue of barriers to participation in sport for LGBT people. The Equality Network highlighted the findings from its Out for Sport report published in June 2012 that 79%, of respondents were of the opinion that there was a problem with homophobia and transphobia in sport. In its written submission, the Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance commented—

“Significant numbers of LGBT respondents were clear that homophobia and transphobia, and the fear of being subjected to discrimination and abuse were, at worst, stopping them from taking part and, at best, stopping them from being open about their sexual orientation or gender identity in a mainstream sporting setting.”^{^[273]}

356. The submission noted that some common attitudes towards gender in sport could act as barriers to the LGBT community’s participation in sport—

“The culture of sport is often seen as being a very macho, male dominated one where there is a need for a clear hierarchy and certainty in relation to gender.”^{^[274]}

357. The common gender stereotypes around the labelling of sports as “boy sports” and “girls sports” also presented challenges to engagement.

358. As well as attitudinal barriers to participation, the Equality Network found that there were practical barriers to participation, such as the lack of private and non-gender specific changing facilities suitable for transgender participants in sport.

359. The Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance also believed that there were strategic barriers to LGBT engagement in sport.

360. Scott Cuthbertson of the Equality Network told the Committee that LGBT people felt that at a local level they were not being targeted to get involved in sport^{^[275]} In its written submission the Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance stated—

“within Scottish Governing Bodies, local authorities and grassroots club provision “there continues to be a hierarchy of equality provision within which LGBT participation is largely ignored.”^{^[276]}

361. It believed that this was due to a number of reasons including; lack of available participation data; work on other equality issues being prioritised within organisations; failure to accept that barriers to LGBT participation exist; risk averse positions taken by organisations and individuals due to reactions or potential reactions from parents, club members or spectators.

362. At a national level, the Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance argued that “little or no specific action is currently being taken by the Scottish Government and Scottish sports bodies in terms of tackling homophobia, biphobia or transphobia, or increasing LGBT participation in sport.” They stated that the LGBT community were looking for “strong and decisive leadership” on the issue of homophobia and transphobia in Scottish sport from both the Government and from the decision makers within Scotland.^{^[277]}

363. The Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance recommended that there should be a specific role for Community Sports Hubs in sharing best practice in the area of equal opportunities.^{^[278]}

364. Within local sports facilities they called for improved changing room facilities and for staff to have sexual orientation and gender identity equality training.

Committee conclusions

365. The Committee is concerned about the lower level of participation of women compared with men in sport. It is important that women feel included in sport and able to participate. To address this inequality the challenge is to make sport more appealing to girls and young women.

366. Initiatives such as Fit for Girls and Girls on the Move demonstrate that, by engaging girls and young people in the design of projects and tailoring the sporting activity to suit their preferences, participation levels can increase. The Committee hopes that this approach to engagement is one replicated in future projects aimed at increasing sports participation.

367. The Committee highlights two examples of facilities where the training, ethos, marketing, programming etc. are geared towards overcoming attitudinal and other barriers in order to encourage disabled people’s participation in sport and physical activity – Aberdeen Sports Village and Fife Institute of Physical and Recreational Education. The Committee hopes that such an inclusive approach can inform cultural change and practice more widely, in the words of Scottish Disability Sport: “to overcome the fear factor in working with disabled groups”.

368. The Committee was encouraged by the Scottish Football Association’s initiative to drive up BME participation in the game but heard that this was at an early stage. It is hoped that such work will in particular address the matter of why more children and young people from black and minority ethnic communities are not participating in the national game.

369. The Committee is concerned at the findings of the Equality Network’s report that LGBT people are inhibited from sports participation due to homophobia and transphobia. The Committee endorses the objectives of the Equality Network’s report Out for Sport: Tackling Homophobia and Transphobia in Scottish Sport:

leadership to ensure the elimination of homophobia and transphobia in sport;
practical action to lift barriers to LGBT inclusion and to encourage greater participation in sport at all levels;
a better understanding of the issues relating to homophobia and transphobia in Scottish sport and what should be done to tackle the problem.

370. The Committee seeks further information from the Scottish Government, sport’s national agencies and its governing bodies on the concerns expressed by the Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance in Out for Sport and what steps that they are taking not only to challenge but to eradicate homophobia and transphobia in sport.

371. The Committee also seeks further information from the Scottish Government regarding how Community Sports Hubs are sharing best practice in the area of equal opportunities and ensuring that they have a clear and embedded equality policy which makes a positive difference to LGBT participants.

372. While the Committee recognises that breaking down the barrier to transgender engagement in sport is fundamentally about public attitudes the practical barriers regarding the provision of private gender-neutral changing rooms is also a factor to be considered. The Committee asks the Scottish Government for information on the current requirements for new sports facilities in relation to provision of such facilities.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

373. The Committee, in drawing up the remit for this inquiry, was clear that it wanted the inquiry to examine the specific question of support for community sport and would focus mainly on people, places and participation. Part of the rationale for this decision was that the Committee was aware that the session 3 Health and Sport Committee had carried out an extensive inquiry on Pathways into Sport, which had examined the questions of physical education and physical activity within schools at some length. The Committee was also conscious that education does not fall within its remit.

374. Nevertheless, the Committee is aware that schools are part of communities, and it is in schools that children will generally receive their earliest opportunities to participate in organised sport and develop their skills and physical literacy to the levels required in order to participate in organised sports.

375. While the contribution made by community sports clubs and volunteers is, as the report has shown elsewhere, important, the role played in young people’s development in sport played by the education service in general and by physical education in particular, cannot be ignored.

376. This section of the report, therefore, examines some issues related to physical education and its relationship to community sport.

Physical literacy

377. Many of the Committee’s witnesses stressed the importance of children developing “physical literacy” – competence in the five core skills of running, jumping, throwing, catching and swimming – as early in their lives as possible. The Committee heard that developing competence in these skills early would enable children to participate in sports of their choosing at any subsequent time they wished.

378. In written evidence, Save the Children Scotland and Scottish Swimming stated that 25% of children leave primary school unable to swim and the research suggested the figure was higher in deprived areas.²⁷⁹

379. Judy Murray told the Committee that if children had “developed good co-ordination skills”, they could, after age eight, “become reasonably competent at whatever sport they take up”^{^[280]}. Conversely, she said, if they not developed these skills, it would be “much harder for them later in life”.

380. This view was echoed by other witnesses including the Scottish Sports Association, who told the Committee that primary schools provided “the opportunity for quality PE and for every young person to be physically literate”^{^[281]}.

381. The Committee also noted the work that had taken place over the last few years under the play@home initiative, which was working through health visitors and nurseries to support active play among the under-ones, toddlers and in the pre-school years. Evaluation of the initiative shows small but modest gains in basic motor skills in toddlers.

382. Other witnesses agreed on the importance of high-quality physical education in primary schools. Ann Kerr, Head of Healthy Living at NHS Health Scotland, told the Committee that physical education “builds on what children learn through active play—it is about taking active play through into active recreation, sport and dance”.

383. She concluded that there was a need to “build on that through the primary school, and our primary school teachers need to have a culture of valuing physical activity in all its forms”.

384. The Committee heard mixed views on the extent to which primary schools were able to provide the kind of quality physical education necessary to develop the physical literacy required. John Taylor, for example, told the Committee that that physical education in Scotland was “upside down”.²⁸²

385. Although skilled physical education teachers – many of whom had trained for four years – were found in secondary schools, neither such specialists nor any peripatetic physical education supports were often found in primary schools. Although primary school teachers delivered physical education, they were “not skilled in doing that” and did not “have the skills to look at a young person and see how they are developing”.²⁸³

386. He concluded that it “would probably be better if physical education teachers were based in primary schools” so that they could “put the appropriate physical literacy and other physical education input into the development of young people who, when they left primary school, would have confidence in their physical abilities and be aware of what was needed to do different activities”.²⁸⁴

387. Other witnesses stressed the importance of adequately supporting generic primary school teachers to provide appropriate and high-quality physical education. Judy Murray, for example. told the Committee—

“It is necessary to support teachers. Some teachers are incredibly good at running such sessions because they are that way inclined, but for many teachers it is not for them. Support should be provided to teachers in primaries 1, 2 and 3 to help with the development of co-ordination skills.”^{^[285]}

388. Stewart Harris of sportscotland, when questioned on this issue during evidence on the Scottish Government draft budget 2013-14, stated that, in his experience, some of the best PE delivery had come from generic primary school teachers, who were “at times even better at it than specialist teachers”^{^[286]}.

389. He added, however, that “if the leadership and direction do not allow that change to happen, or if they inhibit it or act as barriers, we have a problem”.²⁸⁷

390. The Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport was clear that primary school teachers needed support to enable them to deliver physical education to the required standard—

“We need to support classroom teachers in primary school to be as confident in delivering PE as they are in teaching maths, reading and science. Given the challenge of ensuring that every child gets access to physical education, the classroom teacher in primary school will be absolutely critical; the question is around how well supported and trained they are. A lot of resource has gone into additional training and support for them, but I am keen for it to be built far more into their teacher training. We should be equipping primary school classroom teachers to teach PE in the same way as they teach other subjects.”^{^[288]}

391. The Minister went on to explain that the Scottish Government had been working towards agreeing funding for local authorities through Education Scotland that was about delivering “better training for primary school classroom teachers”^{^[289]}.

392. She added that many of the younger teachers coming out of teacher training were “quite comfortable and confident about delivering PE”^{^[290]}. The challenge, she said, was “perhaps around those teachers in the workforce who did not get that experience through teacher training and do not feel as confident in teaching PE as they do in teaching other subjects”^{^[291]}.

393. The Minister concluded that was “where we need to focus a lot of our support”^{^[292]}. Classroom teachers in primary schools would continue to be “centre stage in PE, so we need to ensure that they have the confidence and skills to deliver it properly”^{^[293]}.

A real drop-off

394. Besides being major community assets in their own right, secondary schools are significant skills bases. As well as having a number of professionally qualified and experienced PE teachers, most will have a dedicated principal teacher to lead and manage the PE provision.

395. In addition to the opportunities that exist in secondary schools for the formal study of PE, secondary schools often have a wide range of opportunities for pupils to participate in sport, both as part of PE within their regular timetable and on a voluntary basis as a member of a team in one of more of many popular sports.

396. Secondary schools also often have some of the best sports facilities available in many communities, including sports fields, gymnasia, games halls and swimming pools. It is understandable, therefore that the Scottish Government has promised that many of the planned community sports hubs will be based in secondary schools.

397. The Committee learned during the inquiry that, despite these assets, the period during which young people are at school often coincides, particularly for girls, with a loss of interest in sport and, often, an extinguishing of participation in sport that may never be rekindled over a whole lifetime.

398. Gordon Crawford of Active Stirling told the Committee that although primary schools were “well catered for”^{^[294]}, there was “a real drop-off in participation in secondary schools”^{^[295]}.

399. The Committee was also told by Dr Joe Bradley that young people could “quickly disengage”^{^[296]} from sport and would not wish to participate if they perceived themselves as being “unable to do it, particularly in the case of team sports and field sports”^{^[297]}.

400. Such disengagement, he said, could be for life. Young people could also be put off from participating in sport in schools because of negative associations with the school.

401. An interesting point was made by Steven Percy of East Renfrewshire Council, who told the Committee about the disconnect between sports that were taught and played in secondary schools and those available in the local community—

“one thing that could lend itself tremendously to the throughput of people into sports clubs or to getting people to be more physically active outside school time relates to how often teachers—predominantly PE teachers—choose to teach sports that are not necessarily available in the community.

For example, basketball is delivered in many schools, but how many basketball clubs are available in communities? The answer is probably very few. I would like the national agenda to encourage teachers to go out and seek advice or support from community clubs and to deliver those sports in their schools, so that, if people are interested in what they do in physical education—in the two hours that we encourage to be provided—they can do that sport in the community afterwards.”^{^[298]}

402. There was interesting evidence on innovative projects in some areas that sought to engage girls, young LGBT people and young minority ethnic people – all groups that traditionally are inclined to disengage from sport in their teenage years – through a range of different ways of working. These are covered in more detail in the equalities section.

What is our sporting community?

403. Some of the most compelling evidence the Committee heard concerned efforts to develop stronger links between physical education, sport and physical activity and to build stronger and more effective collaboration and resource sharing between practitioners and organisations involved in each sector.

404. Gordon Crawford, of Active Stirling, told the Committee that attempts to increase participation at secondary school level had failed, so Active Stirling and its partners were working to develop a new model—

“We are trying to provide a better service in the community. We have club development officers, who are linked to the geographic clusters and who work with and among local clubs. We respond on what is required to support clubs, whether that is about increasing volunteers, recruiting officials or developing training pathways for officials. Our club development officers facilitate that work—they are animators in the local community and they act as a conduit to our partners, including the other organisations that are round this table.”^{^[299]}

405. Noting that it was in a “luxurious position”^{^[300]}, Mr Crawford told the Committee that in a small geographic area with a population of only 90,000 people, Stirling had active schools co-ordinators in primary schools, secondary school sports co-ordinators, club development officers, sport-specific development officers, a coaching manager with coaching staff, a coach education officer, an outdoor team and a performance sport team. It was, therefore, a lot easier than it might otherwise have been to have a vision that linked PE, sport and physical activity.^{^[301]}

406. The approach in Stirling, the Committee was told, was to use PE support money that was available through the Scottish Government, Education Scotland and sportscotland to appoint a PE manager and align PE closer to sport and physical activity. Active Stirling and its partners were “trying to shape what we do for sport”^{^[302]}.

407. Mr Crawford concluded—

“What is our sporting community? Is a school a school or is it a community in which activity, sport and learning happens? We are trying to focus on the learner’s voice. We seek to identify their requirements and link what we can do for PE, sport and physical activity to the contribution of the health and wellbeing agenda as well as the education agenda. We are trying to embed ourselves within education.”^{^[303]}

Committee conclusions

408. The Committee welcomes the wide consensus that the maximum possible development of physical literacy in children in their early years is essential if they are to be able to take part in sports of their choosing later in their childhood or adulthood.

409. The Committee is concerned however to learn that 25% of children leave primary school unable to swim and that the research suggests that the figure is even higher among those living in deprived areas. Swimming is an integral part of physical literacy and in terms of safety, confidence and social inclusion, the statistic is as unacceptable as it is worrying. The Committee would therefore welcome the views of Save the Children Scotland and Scottish Swimming, who relayed the figure, the Active Schools Network and the Scottish Government on what can be done to address the matter.

410. The Committee notes the evidence received about physical education in primary schools, the influence over it by head teachers and the variation in PE skills amongst different primary school teachers.

411. While the Committee understands that the provision of more specialist teachers to the primary sector would no doubt be helpful, it also accepts that for the foreseeable future there will be insufficient resources to allow that to happen.

412. The Committee notes that many generic primary teachers have keenly embraced PE and teach it to the same high standards as they teach other subjects.

413. The Committee agrees with the Minister that the best value and most realistic option for improving the quality of physical education in primary schools is to concentrate on raising the skill and competence levels in PE of all primary teaching staff to, or as near as possible to, that of the best. In this respect, the Committee welcomes the progress that has been made with regard to CPD in PE since the session three Health and Sport Committee’s Pathways into Sport inquiry.

414. The Committee also notes on-going changes in initial and continuing teacher education following the Donaldson review of teacher education in 2011, which should widen the opportunities for both newly qualified and long-serving teachers to continue to develop and increase their skill levels over time.

415. The is also an opportunity to enhance and add value to the PE component of primary education through developing the role of active schools co-ordinators and maximising the potential of partnership working involving schools, other local authority services (for example sports development, leisure trusts and community learning and development services) and, indeed, with other community planning partners such as the NHS boards and the voluntary sector, including sports clubs.

416. If this is to be developed fully, it will require strategic leadership from within the local authority. Community sports hubs, as they develop, should assist both in facilitating such partnership working and in providing the required leadership

417. The Committee recognises that reasons for a fall in participation in sport during and beyond the adolescent years are complex and related to wider societal factors that are little to do with the ways in which physical education is provided in secondary schools.

418. The Committee commends the examples it saw during its visits and heard of in evidence of innovative work taking place around the country to improve levels of participation, particularly amongst groups and minorities that are most likely to be turned off or discouraged by traditional approaches. In many cases – and members saw an excellent example during the visit to St Maurice’s High School in Cumbernauld – such work is developing with the help of highly collaborative relationships between PE teachers, active schools co-ordinators and young volunteers, many of whom have developed their own skills and gained community sports leader awards. The evidence, however, is that progress in this type of innovation is patchy, with more being attempted and achieved in some areas than in others.

419. The Committee considers that although community sports hubs are still at an early stage in their development, it will be important that they seek to play a role in attempting to improve participation amongst young people at secondary school by engaging with them positively and not simply working with those who are already part of the established club system. Carving out an appropriate role for PE staff, along with partners, in the development of such innovation, is likely to be crucial.

420. The Committee commends the work in the Stirling area. It is notable that the vision in Stirling actively sought to link PE, sport and physical activity and in realising that vision, it was essential that partners worked across traditional boundaries, emerged from their silos and actively collaborated with each other.

421. This is not only a sensible way of getting the most out of available resources, it also reflects the post-Christie direction of travel across the public sector, where it has become increasingly accepted that in order to achieve the best outcomes for communities, it is essential that different players and participants are enabled to bring their skills and resources together.

422. The Committee fully accepts that what may work well in one area may not necessarily be appropriate in other areas where circumstances may be different. The Committee also accepts that there will be other models and approaches in use across the country that are equally effective. Nevertheless, the Committee would like to see more areas promoting the kind of innovation and collaboration that appears to be taking place in Stirling, particularly in relation to the efforts made to align PE with the wider areas of sport and physical activity.

OVERALL CONCLUSIONS

423. Sport is clearly not the answer to everything, or the solution for all society’s ills, but it has great reach and the passion that it inspires in people, as the Committee found throughout this inquiry, is clear.

424. Sport and physical activity (the Committee did not quibble on definitions) have proven health benefits and can also promote wellbeing, confidence, team work, social cohesion, pride and a sense of belonging. The point that it should be fun too was something witnesses were keen to impress.

425. The relationship between community and elite sport is one of mutual dependency. Those at the top come from the grassroots and those from the grassroots produce, and are in turn inspired by, those at the top.

426. The Committee recognises that community sport is nothing without volunteers, the unsung stars of the show, “from the lady who makes the tea at the cricket club to someone who sits on the board of a governing body” in the words of Judy Murray.

427. There was surprise at the lack of detailed information about the scale and skillset of this “workforce”. Given the emphasis on the legacy of the Olympics and Glasgow 2014, particularly the potential for greater participation, a better sense of “where we are” might be expected.

428. The Committee was pleased however to hear that a Volunteering in Sport framework is being developed to ensure the volunteer experience “is as good as it can be”. The Committee was also re-assured by the Minister for Sport and Commonwealth Games that “barriers that can be removed should be removed”.

429. Volunteers must be supported and the Committee recommends renewed encouragement from the national sporting agencies for the development of strategies by all governing bodies – strategies that lead on crucial issues such as recruitment and retention: strategies that “take the pain out of volunteering”.

430. What volunteers valued most, the Committee heard, is not a thank you or an award for their efforts but a good volunteering experience.

431. The Committee encourages the Scottish Government, national agencies, policy makers, the sporting fraternity and others to lead by example in actively promoting a culture of volunteerism.

432. It requests that the Minister for Sport and Commonwealth Games provides an update on progress in all aspects of volunteering in sport before the Parliament enters summer recess in 2013. The Committee is particularly interested in the readiness on the coaching side for the anticipated increase in demand for club sport from Glasgow 2014.

433. Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons underlined the benefits for young people of taking part in sport and sport clubs, particularly those growing up in deprived areas. He referred to the momentum behind sport coming from the London Olympics and Glasgow 2014 as “an important bandwagon that just needs a good shove”. The Committee encourages all in the sporting world and beyond to contribute to that momentum.

434. The Committee awaits the findings of sportscotland’s audit of the school estate, expected to be published in spring 2013, to see what impact this may have on plans to open up the school estate in respect of its sporting facilities. The Committee commends the practice of “sweating assets” in the interests of accessibility and participation.

435. The Committee awaits the evaluation by Inspiring Scotland of the Cashback for Communities programme to see what impact the scheme has had and the correlation between where the money was recovered and where it was spent.

436. The Committee hopes that the inclusive approach to disabled people’s participation in sport and physical activity, as highlighted in the examples of Aberdeen Sports Village and Fife Institute of Physical and Recreational Education, can inform cultural change and practice more widely, in one witness’s words: “to overcome the fear factor in working with disabled groups”.

437. The Committee is encouraged by the SFA’s initiative to drive up BME participation in football. It is hoped that such work will address the matter of why more children and young people from black and minority ethnic communities are not participating in the national game.

438. The Committee endorses the three objectives of the Equality Network’s report Out for Sport: Tackling Homophobia and Transphobia in Scottish Sport: 1) leadership to ensure the elimination of homophobia and transphobia in sport, 2) practical action to lift barriers to LGBT inclusion and to encourage greater participation in sport at all levels, and 3) a better understanding of the issues relating to homophobia and transphobia in Scottish sport and what should be done to tackle the problem.

439. Swimming is integral to physical literacy and the Committee was concerned to learn that 25% of children leaving primary school were unable to swim and that the figure was higher among those from deprived areas. The Committee welcomes the views of the Scottish Government and others as to how this can be remedied.

440. Not everybody will want or even be able to be part of a community sports hub and the Committee issues a plea on behalf of those local sports clubs outside the hub system that they not be forgotten or lose out on funding or other support.

441. The Committee welcomes the simple but brilliant idea of collaboration and flexibility that lies behind the hubs and will monitor their development to see if that ethos can be turned into positive outcomes for sport and community alike. In the words of one witness: “we are in danger of joining things up”.

ANNEXE A: EXTRACT FROM MINUTES OF THE HEALTH AND SPORT COMMITTEE

22nd Meeting, 2012 (Session 4)
Tuesday 4 September 2012

1. Decision on taking business in private: The Committee considered whether to take item 3 in private. After consideration, the Committee agreed to take the item in public.

2. Inquiry into support for community sport: The Committee took evidence

from—

Stewart Harris, Chief Executive, and Mary Allison, Head of Strategic Planning, sportscotland;

Lee Cousins, Chairman, and Kim Atkinson, Policy Director, Scottish Sports Association;

Ann Kerr, Head of Healthy Living, and John Howie, Health Improvement Programme Manager, NHS Health Scotland;

Stuart Younie, Service Manager, Sport and Active Recreation, Perth and Kinross Council and Member of VOCAL National Executive Committee;

Andrew Bain, Chief Executive, Active Stirling and sporta Scotland;

Oliver Barsby, Chief Operating Officer, Scottish Association of Local Sports Councils;

Steven Percy, Community Sport Hub Development Officer, East Renfrewshire Council;

Willie Young, Community and Sport Lead Manager, Argyll and Bute Council;

Daryl Mckenzie, Community Sport Hubs Officer, Leisure and Culture Dundee.

3. Support for community sport: The Committee considered and agreed its approach to the inquiry.

23rd Meeting, 2012 (Session 4)
Tuesday 11 September 2012

2. Decision on taking business in private: The Committee considered whether to take item 5 in private. After consideration, the Committee agreed to take the item in public.

3. Inquiry into support for community sport - witness expenses: The Committee agreed to delegate to the Convener responsibility for arranging for the SPCB to pay, under Rule 12.4.3, any expenses of witnesses in the inquiry.

4. Inquiry into support for community sport: The Committee took evidence, in round-table format, from—

Sarah Pryde, Regional Swimming Development Manager (East of Scotland), Scottish Swimming;

David Drummond, Regional Manager, South East Region, Scottish Football Association;

Andy Salmon, Scottish Golf Development Manager, Scottish Golf Union;

Colin Thomson, Director of Rugby Operations, Scottish Rugby;

Stuart Smith, Chief Executive, Scottish Canoe Association;

Steve Paige, Head of Community Development, Cricket Scotland;

Dr Cindy Gray, Research Fellow, University of Glasgow, Football Fans in Training;

Neil Mathieson, Chairman, Atlantis Leisure;

Alan Cunningham, Secretary, Broxburn United Sports Club;

Graham Hunter, Founder and Managing Director, Reach for the Sky Basketball;

Les Brown, Director and Treasurer, Newmilns Snow and Sports Complex.

5. Inquiry into support for community sport: The Committee considered and agreed its approach to the inquiry.

25th Meeting, 2012 (Session 4)
Tuesday 25 September 2012

Inquiry into support for community sport: The Committee took evidence, in round-table format, from—

Gavin Macleod, Chief Executive Officer, Scottish Disability Sport;

John Lee, Policy Officer, Volunteer Development Scotland;

Alistair Gray, Executive Chairman, Winning Scotland Foundation;

Liz McColgan, Athletics coach;

Alex Richardson, Chief Executive, Gladiator Programme;

Judy Murray, tennis coach and current captain of the British Fed Cup team;

John Heraghty, Scotland Manager, sported;

Ceris Anderson, Knowledge Manager, StreetGames;

Diane Cameron, Social Enterprise and Sport Co-ordinator, Senscot;

Mark McGeachie, Project Officer, The Robertson Trust;

Gordon Crawford, Head of Sport, Active Stirling;

Jane Blanchard, Chair, Lochaber Sports Association.

26th Meeting, 2012 (Session 4)
Tuesday 2 October 2012

Inquiry into support for community sport: The Committee took evidence

from—

John Taylor, Research Fellow, and Dr Joseph Bradley, Senior Lecturer, University of Stirling;

Professor Ian Diamond, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Aberdeen;

Professor Nanette Mutrie, Chair of Physical Activity for Health, University of Edinburgh;

Rebecca Simpson, Youth Active Manager, Youth Scotland;

Scott Cuthbertson, Community Development Coordinator, Equality Network;

Charlie Raeburn, Independent Sports Consultant;

Shona Robison, Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport, Scottish Government

Donnie Jack, Deputy Director for Sport and Physical Activity, Scottish Government

Derek Grieve, Team Leader, Sport and Physical Activity Policy, Scottish Government.

32nd Meeting
Tuesday 20 November 2012

Inquiry into support for community sport (in private): The Committee considered a draft report. Various changes were agreed to, and the Committee agreed to consider a revised draft, in private, at its next meeting.

33rd Meeting, 2012 (Session 4)
Tuesday 4 December 2012

Inquiry into support for community sport (in private): The Committee considered and agreed a draft report on its inquiry into support for community sport.

ANNEXE B: ORAL EVIDNECE AND ASSOCIATED WRITEN EVIDENCE

22nd Meeting, 2012 (Session 4) Tuesday 4 September 2012

Written Evidence

sportscotland
Scottish Sports Association;
NHS Health Scotland;
Active Stirling ;
VOCAL
Scottish Association of Local Sports Councils;
Argyll and Bute Council;
East Renfrewshire Council Education Department

Oral Evidence

sportscotland;
Scottish Sports Association;
NHS Health Scotland;
Perth and Kinross Council and VOCAL;
Active Stirling and sporta Scotland;
Scottish Association of Local Sports Councils;
East Renfrewshire Council;
Argyll and Bute Council;
Leisure and Culture Dundee.

23rd Meeting, 2012 (Session 4) Tuesday 11 September 2012

Written Evidence

Save the Children Scotland and Scottish Swimming;
Scottish Rugby;
Scottish Canoe Association;
Cricket Scotland;
Broxburn United Sports Club;

Oral Evidence
Scottish Swimming;
Scottish Football Association;
Scottish Golf Union;
Scottish Rugby;
Scottish Canoe Association;
Cricket Scotland;
University of Glasgow, Football Fans in Training;
Atlantis Leisure;
Broxburn United Sports Club;
Reach for the Sky Basketball;
Newmilns Snow and Sports Complex.

Supplementary Written Evidence

University of Glasgow;

25th Meeting, 2012 (Session 4) Tuesday 25 September 2012

Written Evidence

Volunteer Development Scotland;
Winning Scotland Foundation;
Gladiator Programme;
sported;
StreetGames;
Senscot;
The Robertson Trust;
Active Stirling.

Oral Evidence

Scottish Disability Sport;
Volunteer Development Scotland;
Winning Scotland Foundation;
Liz McColgan, Athletics coach;
Gladiator Programme;
Judy Murray, British tennis coach and current captain British Fed Cup team;
sported;
StreetGames;
Senscot;
The Robertson Trust;
Active Stirling;
Lochaber Sports Association.

Supplementary Written Evidence

The Robertson Trust;
Lochaber Sports Association.

26th Meeting, 2012 (Session 4) Tuesday 2 October 2012

Written Evidence

University of Edinburgh;
Youth Scotland;
Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance;
Charlie Raeburn, Independent Sports Consultant;
Scottish Government.

Oral Evidence

University of Stirling;
University of Aberdeen;
University of Edinburgh;
Youth Scotland;
Equality Network;
Charlie Raeburn, Independent Sports Consultant;
Scottish Government.

Supplementary Written Evidence

Charlie Raeburn, Independent Sports Consultant

ANNEXE C: LIST OF OTHER WRITEN EVIDENCE

After Schools Activity Programme
Ayr United Football Academy
Birnie Y (individual)
Borders Sport and Leisure
Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Scotland
City of Edinburgh Council
Clyde Netball Club
COSLA
Dunfermline and West Fife Sports Council
East Refrewshire Council Education Department
Edinburgh Road Club
Falkirk Community Trust
Flett DJG (individual)
Global Taekwon-Do Federation Scotland
Inverclyde Local Athletic Partnership
Inverness Area Sport Council
McCulloch J (individual)
Milroy D (individual)
Multi-Cultural Family Base
North Coast Leisure Centre
Orkney Islands Council
Ramblers Scotland
Safeguarding in Sport
SALSC Joint Submissions
Scottish Youth Parliament
Sport Inverclyde
Strivens C (individual)
University of the West of Scotland
Voluntary Arts Council
YouthLink Scotland

ANNEXE D: NOTE OF VISITS TO ABERDEEN SPORTS VILLAGE AND ST MAURICE'S HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS HUB, CUMBERNAULD

The note of the visit to Aberdeen Sports Village can be found on the Scottish Parliament website at the following webpage:

http://scottish.parliament.uk/S4_HealthandSportCommittee/Note_of_visit_to_Aberdeen.pdf

The note of the visit to St Maurice’s High School sports hub, Cumbernauld can be found on the Scottish Parliament website at the following webpage:

http://scottish.parliament.uk/S4_HealthandSportCommittee/Note_of_visit_to_Cumbernauld.pdf

Footnotes:

¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2683.

² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2557.

³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2764.

⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2513.

⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2684.

⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2686.

⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Cols 2685-86.

⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2474.

⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2475

¹⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2475.

¹¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2476.

¹² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2694.

¹³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2694.

¹⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2483.

¹⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2483.

¹⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2474.

¹⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2556.

¹⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2556.

¹⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2693.

²⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2477.

²¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2585.

²² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2538.

²³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2562.

²⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2477.

²⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2538.

²⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2484.

²⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2535.

²⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2691.

²⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2560.

³⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2683.

³¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2484.

³² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Cols 2690-91.

³³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Cols 2690-91.

³⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2484.

³⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Cols 2695-2696.

³⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2557.

³⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2694.

³⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2564.

³⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2565.

⁴⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2565.

⁴¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2693.

⁴² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2707.

⁴³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2707.

⁴⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2692.

⁴⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2697.

⁴⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Cols 2705-06.

⁴⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2481.

⁴⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2485.

⁴⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2477.

⁵⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2539.

⁵¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2478.

⁵² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2728.

⁵³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2479.

⁵⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2479.

⁵⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2479.

⁵⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2563.

⁵⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2777.

⁵⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2482.

⁵⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2557.

⁶⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2557.

⁶¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2479.

⁶² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2779.

⁶³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2558.

⁶⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2484.

⁶⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2482.

⁶⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2481.

⁶⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2724.

⁶⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2725.

⁶⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2725.

⁷⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2727.

⁷¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Cols 2727-28.

⁷² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2537.

⁷³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2562.

⁷⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2561.

⁷⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2562.

⁷⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Cols 2585-86.

⁷⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2586.

⁷⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2726.

⁷⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2586.

⁸⁰ Scottish Parliament Meeting of the Parliament. Official Report, 20 September 2012, Cols 11784-11785.

⁸¹ Scottish Parliament Meeting of the Parliament. Official Report, 20 September 2012, Col 11763.

⁸² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2790.

⁸³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2801.

⁸⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2801.

⁸⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2802.

⁸⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2804.

⁸⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2803.

⁸⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2804.

⁸⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2806.

⁹⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2806.

⁹¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2806.

⁹² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2808.

⁹³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2801.

⁹⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2808.

⁹⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2806.

⁹⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2476.

⁹⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2476.

⁹⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2475.

⁹⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2494.

¹⁰⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2489.

¹⁰¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2513.

¹⁰² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2493.

¹⁰³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2687.

¹⁰⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2769.

¹⁰⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2576.

¹⁰⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Cols 2717-18.

¹⁰⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2714.

¹⁰⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2724.

¹⁰⁹ Letter to the Convener of the Health and Sport Committee, 26 September 2012.

¹¹⁰ Letter to the Convener of the Health and Sport Committee, 26 September 2012.

¹¹¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2483.

¹¹² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2590.

¹¹³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2557.

¹¹⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2693.

¹¹⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2765.

¹¹⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2525.

¹¹⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2513.

¹¹⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2513.

¹¹⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Cols 2489-2490.

¹²⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2699.

¹²¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2697.

¹²² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2533.

¹²³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2533.

¹²⁴ Letter to the Convener, 26 September 2012.

¹²⁵ Letter to the Convener, 26 September 2012.

¹²⁶ Letter to the Convener, 26 Sep 2012.

¹²⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2765.

¹²⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2508.

¹²⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2592.

¹³⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2605.

¹³¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2487.

¹³² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2528.

¹³³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2530.

¹³⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2530.

¹³⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2533.

¹³⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Cols 2791-92.

¹³⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2798.

¹³⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2804.

¹³⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2684.

¹⁴⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2685.

¹⁴¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2507.

¹⁴² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2492.

¹⁴³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2519.

¹⁴⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2519.

¹⁴⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2519.

¹⁴⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Cols 2522-23.

¹⁴⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2523.

¹⁴⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2523.

¹⁴⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2525.

¹⁵⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2723.

¹⁵¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Cols 2531-32.

¹⁵² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2533.

¹⁵³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2539.

¹⁵⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2541.

¹⁵⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2791.

¹⁵⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2792.

¹⁵⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2796.

¹⁵⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2796.

¹⁵⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2796.

¹⁶⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2800.

¹⁶¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2808.

¹⁶² Health and Sport Committee 5^th Report 2009: Pathways into Sport and Physical Activity.

¹⁶³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2490.

¹⁶⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Cols 2490-91.

¹⁶⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2495.

¹⁶⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2496.

¹⁶⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2498.

¹⁶⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Cols 2517-18.

¹⁶⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2543.

¹⁷⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2527.

¹⁷¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2559.

¹⁷² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2579.

¹⁷³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Cols 2569-70.

¹⁷⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2768.

¹⁷⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2768.

¹⁷⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2772.

¹⁷⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2773.

¹⁷⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2695.

¹⁷⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2696.

¹⁸⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2502.

¹⁸¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2501.

¹⁸² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Cols 2505-06.

¹⁸³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2505.

¹⁸⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2593.

¹⁸⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2608.

¹⁸⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2730.

¹⁸⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2730.

¹⁸⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2729.

¹⁸⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2730.

¹⁹⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2730.

¹⁹¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2503.

¹⁹² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2699.

¹⁹³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2709.

¹⁹⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2709.

¹⁹⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2501.

¹⁹⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2511.

¹⁹⁷ Letter to the Convener of the Health and Sport Committee, 8 October 2012.

¹⁹⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2685.

¹⁹⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Cols 2564-66.

²⁰⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2712.

²⁰¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2721.

²⁰² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2720.

²⁰³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2596.

²⁰⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2597.

²⁰⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2597.

²⁰⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2599.

²⁰⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2599.

²⁰⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2595.

²⁰⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2569.

²¹⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2598.

²¹¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2601.

²¹² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2794.

²¹³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2794.

²¹⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2800.

²¹⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2791.

²¹⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2812.

²¹⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2812.

²¹⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2790.

²¹⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2799.

²²⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2798.

²²¹ Scottish Government webpage on Cashback for Communities

²²² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2493.

²²³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2493.

²²⁴ After School Activity Programme. Written submission.

²²⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2490.

²²⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2767.

²²⁷ Volunteer Development Scotland. Written submission.

²²⁸ VOCAL. Written submission.

²²⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2507.

²³⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2493.

²³¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2495.

²³² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2497.

²³³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2497.

²³⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2498.

²³⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2507.

²³⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2512.

²³⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2512.

²³⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2512.

²³⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2512.

²⁴⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2518.

²⁴¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2578.

²⁴² Submission to the Health and Sport Committee from Ayr United Football Club.

²⁴³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2681.

²⁴⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2701.

²⁴⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Cols 2696-97.

²⁴⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2768.

²⁴⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2790.

²⁴⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2792.

²⁴⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2793.

²⁵⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2812.

²⁵¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Cols 2812-13.

²⁵² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2813.

²⁵³ Scottish Government. Scotland’s People Annual Report: Results from 2009/2010 Scottish Household Survey.

²⁵⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2767.

²⁵⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2767.

²⁵⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2487.

²⁵⁷ Robertson Trust. Written submission.

²⁵⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012, Col 2487.

²⁵⁹ Robertson Trust. Written submission.

²⁶⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2572.

²⁶¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2573.

²⁶² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2573.

²⁶³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2682.

²⁶⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2682.

²⁶⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2682.

²⁶⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2691.

²⁶⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012, Col 2710.

²⁶⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2572.

²⁶⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 11 September 2012, Col 2572.

²⁷⁰ Multi-Cultural Family Base. Written submission.

²⁷¹ Multi-Cultural Family Base. Written submission.

²⁷² Multi-Cultural Family Base. Written submission.

²⁷³ Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance. Written submission.

²⁷⁴ Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance. Written submission.

²⁷⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012, Col 2769

²⁷⁶ Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance. Written submission.

²⁷⁷ Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance. Written submission.

²⁷⁸ Equality Network and Scottish Transgender Alliance. Written submission.

²⁷⁹ Save the Children Scotland and Scottish Swimming. Written submission.

²⁸⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012. Col 2689.

²⁸¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012. Col 2509.

²⁸² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012. Col 2788.

²⁸³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012. Col 2788.

²⁸⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012. Col 2788.

²⁸⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012. Col 2689.

²⁸⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012. Col 2863.

²⁸⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012. Col 2863.

²⁸⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012. Col 2809.

²⁸⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012. Col 2809.

²⁹⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012. Col 2809.

²⁹¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012. Col 2809.

²⁹² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012. Col 2809.

²⁹³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012. Col 2810.

²⁹⁴ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012. Col 2715.

²⁹⁵ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012. Col 2715.

²⁹⁶ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012. Col 2780.

²⁹⁷ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 2 October 2012. Col 2780.

²⁹⁸ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 4 September 2012. Col 2542.

²⁹⁹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012. Col 2714.

³⁰⁰ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012. Col 2715.

³⁰¹ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012. Col 2715.

³⁰² Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012. Col 2715.

³⁰³ Scottish Parliament Health and Sport Committee. Official Report, 25 September 2012. Col 2715.

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1st Report, 2013 (Session 4): Report on Inquiry into Support for Community Sport

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This website is using cookies.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we’ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on this website.