Basketball Foundation s response to the DCMS A New Strategy for Sport: Consultation Paper

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1 Basketball Foundation s response to the DCMS A New Strategy for Sport: Consultation Paper About The Basketball Foundation ( Registered Charity The Basketball Foundation was founded because we believe that being involved in sport can improve people s lives and their communities, and that basketball can make sport accessible to all. We believe that basketball is uniquely positioned to make a difference to communities across the UK because of its popularity with young people and those in the lower socio- economic groups, particularly in urban environments, and also because it can be played and enjoyed in many different formats at low cost at existing indoor and outdoor facilities. We strive continually to develop our understanding of the barriers which prevent people from being engaged in sport and to partner with organisations (including funders) which share our beliefs and have the desire and capability to help overcome these barriers through basketball. The Foundation was established as a charity in We work alongside national and local partners to improve lives through basketball through providing funding, training, equipment, resources and advice about how to remove the barriers to participation and inspire more people to participate and volunteer. Organisations that we support through funding, advice and resources deliver basketball activities to over 20,000 people annually in schools and community settings. Executive Summary The Basketball Foundation welcomes the DCMS consultation on a new government strategy for sport and the recognition in this consultation of the value that individuals derive from playing sport, including health outcomes from becoming more physically active, better educational attainment linked to playing high quality sport in school, improved skills that then lead to better employability, a stronger sense of social integration or a reduction in (re)offending. We are encouraged by the cross department approach to the consultation exercise but urge that both the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice should be closely involved in developing a national strategy for sport, given the role that sport can play in achieving social integration and crime reduction. 1

2 We share the Government s aspiration that everyone no matter who they are and no matter what their ability has the opportunity to take part [in sport]. We are confident that, given the right support, Basketball can help to achieve this aspiration through developing basketball experiences that target all abilities, including disabled people as well as growing participation in hard- to- reach groups. Basketball has a unique opportunity to contribute to the outcomes outlined in the Consultation document because of its popularity with young people and especially among lower socio- economic groups. It is also highly accessible, as the sport can be played cheaply on outdoor courts. We in the Basketball Foundation agree that we need to ensure that sport is designed to meet the different motivations of [different participants] and are supportive of the lead role which Sport England have played in ensuring that participation programmes are insight- led and informed by customer motivations. The Foundation is particularly focused on increasing participation in recreational and informal basketball that can attract those who are motivated by social and fitness goals as well as those who seek competition or high levels of achievement. To this end, we are working with partners ranging from StreetGames (to target young people in deprived areas) to Walking Basketball (to adapt the Game for an older audience). We believe that the Government should take this opportunity to support innovation by working with charities and social enterprises to develop new offerings which meet the changing needs of customers. This work can complement the work of National Governing Bodies and community clubs whose main mission is to provide support and infrastructure for the traditional competitive format. Key Recommendations Government policy should focus on addressing market failures; in particular, on increasing the accessibility to sport for those from deprived backgrounds. Sport England s remit should be broadened to include school and community sport for those aged 5 and upwards. In addition to funding National Governing Bodies, Sport England should fund well- governed national charitable and social enterprises to develop sporting opportunities for those who are not attracted by structured competitive sport. Sport England should consider the social impact of its interventions when making funding decisions and measuring their impact. Funding and support should be given to develop an appropriately skilled workforce (both paid and voluntary) and consideration should be given to supporting a national coaching apprenticeship programme to enable small community sports organisations to develop new employment opportunities and provide more sporting activities. Detailed Response Participation 1. The Basketball Foundation believes that a key priority for Government intervention should be to overcome market failures and, in particular, to attract more participants from both the lower socio- economic and BME groups. There is a significant body of evidence (including the Active People Survey) which shows that the rate of participation in sport by people in lower 2

3 income households is significantly lower than that for those in higher income households. This is due not only to attitudinal and cultural barriers, but also to the fact that those in lower income households find it much more difficult to buy the kit and pay the membership fees imposed by most sports clubs. We therefore believe that Government investment should be focused more sharply on areas of high deprivation with a view to helping to those at the bottom of the income distribution overcome the barriers to participating in sporting activities. Action should be taken both in terms of funding and in measuring the success of the sport strategy. 2. We encourage the Government to look at funding models and programmes which support those on low incomes to participate in community sport. One example is the Australian KidSport model: it funds disadvantaged young people directly so as to enable them them to take part in extra- curricular sport. Such a scheme could be administered relatively easily using digital technology. 3. For a variety of reasons including the fact that it is primarily an urban sport, basketball disproportionately attracts those on lower incomes. This creates its own challenges for the sport as a large proportion of basketball clubs and other community providers have limited sources of funding. A Government funding scheme which allowed participants to choose their favourite sporting activities would ensure that community clubs and providers are not impeded from increasing participation in deprived areas because of the limited resources available to potential participants. 4. We welcome the statement in the Minister s introduction that participation [in sport] is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. The Inquiry Report published by the Basketball APPG in July 2014 describes cases where participation in sport has led to significant personal and community improvements, including improvements in educational attainment, employability, an avoidance of anti- social behaviour, as well as the obvious benefits on health and well being. There is also clearly greater benefit in persuading the inactive to become active than in providing further opportunities for those who are already active. We believe that these two points should be reflected both in the way initiatives are funded and the way that success is measured. This can be done through the use of positive weighting factors for determining where limited resources are invested and how these interventions are assessed for value- for- money. Usage could be made of systems such as MCDMA (Multi Criteria Decision Making Analysis) which is gaining traction in the health sector. Sport for Social Good 5. We are encouraged to see the cross- departmental approach taken in the Consultation document and the recognition of the potential impact of sport for social good. The report published by the APPG on Basketball outlined a large number of initiatives where basketball had been used to achieve positive social impacts. But these tend to be high cost initiatives which have high impact on only a relatively small number of individuals. We believe that measurement of any sport intervention s success should take into account not only the number of persons affected but also their socio- economic situation and the social impact of the intervention. This could be built on the Sportworks model developed by SportEd. Sports 3

4 organisations should be funded to collaborate, to develop new forms of interventions and to build an evidence base which can demonstrate the impact of sport and attract non- sport specific funding from sources such as Police and Crime Commissioners. We believe that sport should experiment with the use of new funding models such as Social Impact Bonds and that the Government s sport strategy should be an enabler for this. 6. A number of sport for social good interventions have utilised professional athletes or clubs to engage young people through the power of the badge. The professional basketball clubs within the BBL have developed a number of initiatives to address health, education, crime and employment goals. The clubs have shown clearly that basketball can engage young people in regular sporting activity and thus achieve important social benefits but their programmes are limited by the lack of TV income that other sports with larger community programmes enjoy. We believe that the Government s new sport strategy should be aimed at supporting the community outreach programmes of professional sports clubs because of the ability of these clubs to attract and engage young people. But these programmes must be focussed more clearly on those who live in the most deprived areas and / or those who would benefit most from the positive social impact that utilising professional sport and its athletes can provide by, for example, encouraging young people to seek employment or training. The fact that BBL clubs engage with a disadvantaged audience could be used to successfully deliver enterprise / employment initiatives, particularly if they worked with effective partners such as Princes Trust. Unfortunately, the BBL clubs do not have the money to achieve this. This is a missed opportunity. Children and Young People 7. We are pleased to see the importance placed on school sport and its connectivity to community sport. In particular, we welcome the recognition of the importance of early years and PE and sport for children. Sport and physical activity provision should be age appropriate and should be supported throughout the lives of children and young people, taking into account key transition phases at age 5, 11, 14, 16 and 18 or 19. It is well known that there are significant changes in the attitudes and behaviours of young people as they transition from primary to secondary school and, for this reason, we believe that an effective funding strategy should also encourage out of school hours participation from Year 7 and possibly as young as Year 3. This focus on those aged should be reflected in the funding opportunities for mainstream sport funding which are currently restricted to those aged 14 and above. 8. The Basketball Foundation believes that the School Games have been an important factor in ensuring the continuity of competitive school sport and that there are opportunities for young people to compete within their school, county and city in a fun and engaging environment. We recognise the inspiring impact that this national event can have. We believe, however, that this event should include basketball as DCMS statistics show that basketball is played in more than 70% of schools. The fact that basketball is not included in the national games is an anomaly which should be remedied as soon as possible. 4

5 Workforce 9. We believe that sport could play a more significant role in achieving three million new apprenticeships by 2020, which could benefit young people in their employment prospects but also be a cost effective way to increase participation in sport particularly in those environments where there is a lack of volunteers. The Basketball Foundation is working with the Royal Foundation, Greenhouse Sports and other partners to create a high quality apprentice community sports coach programme and to deploy these apprentices to develop participation in community sport. We believe that the Government sport strategy should create a national Community Sport Coach Apprenticeship Programme building on the lessons learned from this and other programmes. 10. The Basketball Foundation is encouraged by the initial work carried out by Sport England on the Coaching Strategy for England. We share Sport England s belief that the skills and motivations of the workforce need to be matched with the needs of potential participants. We encourage the Government to continue to invest to ensure that the sector can best prepare its workforce for the broader challenge of participation developing coaches, activators and leaders who can provide the right sporting experience. The Basketball Foundation is working with StreetGames and Basketball England to identify, recruit and up- skill a workforce which can deliver non- traditional basketball to new audiences. We believe this is the type of programme which should be encouraged and replicated for different customer segments. 5