WIREDGOV

Jennie Price – Sport England’s Chief Executive – yesterday announced that Sport England will undertake, with its partners, a short focused review of its No Limits Policy1.

Commenting on the review, Jennie Price said:

“In order to realise our ambition of getting 2 million people doing more sport by 2012, we have to reach out to women, people with disabilities and those from ethnic minority backgrounds.  Sport England’s Active People survey tells us that:

• less than 4 million women do sport regularly2 each week compared to almost 5 million men;
• just under 9% percent of people with a long-term illness or disability do sport regularly compared to over 23% of other people; and
• 18.6% of black and other ethnic minority groups do sport regularly each week compared to 21% of white adults.

The purpose of the review is two-fold; to update and review Sport England’s No Limits Equality Policy and to make sure the Equality Standard3 is an effective tool in driving up participation in community sport. We want to hear from people about what has worked and how we could do more to promote equality with a view to increasing participation in community sport.”

The review will start on 1 August 2007.  It will be led by Tim Cantle-Jones (Chair of the North East Regional Sports Board)4 and will be concluded by the end of the year.
The requirement for National Governing Bodies to meet the Preliminary level of the Equality Standard by September 2007, and for County Sports Partnerships to reach the Foundation level by December 2007, remains in place.  

Sport England welcomes the improvements being made to the Standard’s assessment process - moving away from a paper-based assessment to a more facilitated process that will ensure the principles of equality are embedded within organisations.  

The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS), Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) and Sporting Equals Limited (SEL) have pledged to support the review and will be key partners during the process.  In undertaking the review, Sport England will also work closely with and consult the Sports Councils Equality Group, UK Sport, Youth Sport Trust and the other home nation Sports Councils.


For more information or to take part in the review, email
tim.woodhouse@sportengland.org.

For media enquiries, please contact Jane Clarke, Head of Communications (020 7273 1800) or Chris Rolfe, Press and PR Officer (020 7273 1593).

Notes to Editors

1. The No Limits policy was introduced in 2002 and is being reviewed to ensure the policy still reflects Sport England’s commitment to ensuring that everyone in England has the opportunity to take part in community sport.  The review will ensure that the No Limits Policy accurately reflects changes in equalities legislation.
   
2. Regularly doing sport means taking part in moderate intensity sport for at least 30 minutes three times a week.
   
3. The Equality Standard is a framework and vehicle for widening access and increasing the participation and involvement in community sport from under-represented individuals, groups and communities, especially women and girls, ethnic minority groups and disabled people.  It aims to assist sports organisations in developing equality-proofed policies, structures and processes and will allow for performance to be assessed, ensuring continuous improvement in equality. Sport England has achieved both Foundation and Preliminary levels of the Standard.
   
4. Tim Cantle-Jones (Chair of the North East Regional Sports Board) has most recently acted as the interim Chair of the Sports Equality Alliance (EFDS, WSF and SEL).  He is also a board member of Culture North East and a member of the Football Foundation Grants Advisory Panel.  Tim has played a significant role in supporting the bid and subsequently planning for the 2012 Olympics. He is a member of the 2012 Nations and Regions Committee and Chair of the North east Olympic Forum.