'Little progress' in tackling barriers to participation in sport

There has been little progress in recent attempts to tackle barriers to participation in sport and physical activity.

The government's approach is not believed to be effective by the House of Commons Public Account Committee.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport doesn't have a compelling vision for integrating physical activity into everyday life.

The value of government contracts is examined by the PAC.

A group of MPs say that a refocusing of strategy by funding agency Sport England in 2015 on local-based efforts to target the least active shows some signs of working.

It's disappointing that it hasn't resulted in meaningful change in national rates.

The percentage of people who are active increased by 1.2% between November 2016 and November 2019.

The Chief Medical Officer's guidelines for recommended activity are not met by nearly two in five adults.

The report also states that.

• Hopes for a boost to grassroots sport from London 2012 "failed to materialise", with the proportion of adults participating at least once a week falling in the first three years following the event
• Sport England's spending data "is not sufficiently granular to assess how well it targets spending at the least active"
• The DCMS has applied "some, but not all" of its learning from the 2012 London Olympics to the hosting of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, with no mechanisms in place to monitor the long-term participation legacy from the Birmingham event
• Sport England "recognises the fragile financial position of some leisure providers, but lacks understanding of the support the sector may need. Leisure facilities also face longer-standing challenges" and the DCMS "should urgently review the condition of leisure facilities".

"After the short-term financial boost there's been precious little to show by way of legacy, even in my immediate area of East London where the 2012 Games were held," said Dame Meg Hillier.

The levelling-up benefits have not been brought about byResets since 2015.

There is more waste and more loss of public money. As the cost-of-living crisis bites hard, DCMS needs to set out what it will do differently to achieve change.

The government made the nation's health and fitness a priority and people's activity levels were at all time highs before the Pandemic.

We provided over one billion dollars to support leisure sectors such as public pools and leisure centers, as well as grassroots and professional sports, and we continue to drive up participation.

The activity levels for young people have returned to pre-pandemic levels and we continue to work with Sport England to invest in sport for all.

A new sport strategy will be published soon to set out our ambition to increase activity rates.

Participation in sport and activity continues to recover, despite activity levels being at a record high before the Pandemic.

Sport England records and publishes data on all grant recipients, including location data.

Information on where every pound that we spend goes can be found on the internet.

The inquiry calls for a more compelling vision for grassroots participation in sport, and nowhere is this more evident than across our growing UK-wide network of charities and organisation.

• Young will miss out on sport, community groups warn