Freedom of Information Act 2000 Sport England Publication Scheme

About this Publication Scheme

Sport England’s publication scheme sets out information about who we are, how we are organised, how we spend public and lottery money, what our goals are and how well we are doing in meeting those goals.

The purpose of this publication scheme is to ensure that we are transparent and open in how we spend public and lottery money.

Some of the information is available via links to pages on our website. Where there are no links, you may write to us a the address on the top right of this page for the information. We will tell you if there is a charge for the information.

Where we make a charge for information, we will tell you in this Publication Scheme. Cheques should be made payable to Sport England.

Some of the documents referred to in our publication scheme may contain information that is exempt under the Freedom of Information Act. Where this is the case, the information will be deleted but we will indicate where such deletions have been made and which exemptions apply.

If you wish to make a request for information that is not available via our publication scheme, you may make a Freedom of Information request.

Who we are and what we do

Sport England is the trading name of the English Sports Council which was created by Royal Charter in 1997 to foster, support and encourage the development of sport and sporting excellence.

You can download a PDF of our Royal Charter 

Details of the National Lottery Act in 1993 can be viewed on the the UK Statute Law Database

The Financial Directions and Memoranda are available on request.

Sport England is also answerable to Parliament through the Department for Culture Media and Sport, which is its sponsoring department.

Sport England carries out its objectives mainly by granting awards to sporting bodies and by making representations on planning applications which affect playing fields.

Sport England receives its funding from two different sources: from the government and from the National Lottery. The Annual Funding Agreement sets out the funding that Sport England will receive from the Government. A copy of this document is available on request. More information about our current awards programmes can be viewed in our funding section.

You can find information about how Sport England is structured and the roles of the Main Board, the Executive Team, our regional offices and the eight Sport England Directorates on the page, How we are structured. This information includes biographical details of Main Board and Executive Team members.

Sport England works with numerous partner organisations, including its sister organisations, UK Sport and the Youth Sport Trust. You can find out more about work with our partners in our most recent Annual Report.

The locations and contact details for Sport England can be found on the following pages:

How to contact Sport England

Local offices and contacts

Main office - travel information

Sport England contacts for local government

What we spend and how we spend it

You can search for Lottery awards made by Sport England on DCMS' Lottery Grants website.

Sport England is developing a page where you will be able to view quarterly Exchequer awards made by Sport England. This will be available in the near future.

Sport England’s Annual Reports set out Sport England’s activities for the past year and accounts for how public money has been spent. Our Annual Reports can be published on our Annual Reports page.

We will be publishing a summary of our Annual Budget from February/March 2010

Sport England receives funding through agreement with DCMS via the Government Spending Review process, which sets a three-year funding settlement. Sport England’s latest funding agreement can be viewed here. It should be noted that we will post this agreement annually but it is subject to some change throughout the year.

Pay received by Board Members and senior Sport England colleagues is listed at pages 37-43 of the Annual Report 2008-2009.

From 2009/10, Sport England will publish expenses of Board Members and senior Sport England colleagues in its Annual Report. You can download a PDF of our expenses policy.

We have some information about Sport England’s current competitive contracts and Terms of Trade on our Tenders and contracts page. We are developing a site that will give information about the contracts that Sport England currently holds as well as contracts going out to tender. The site will also give information about any major projects or Public Private Partnerships or PFI initiatives.

What are our priorities and how are we doing?

Sport England’s Strategy sets out Sport England’s goals for 2008-2011.

These goals are:

Grow

• One million people taking part in more sport

• More children and young people taking part in five hours of PE and sport a week

These targets account for 15% of our investment.

We are measuring how much progress we have made towards this goal through the Active People Survey.

Sustain

• ·More people satisfied with their sporting experience
• ·25% fewer 16-18 year olds dropping out of at least five sports

These targets account for 60% of our investment.

We are measuring how much progress we have made towards this goal through the Satisfaction Survey.

Excel

• · Improved talent development in at least 25 sports

This target accounts for 25% of our investment.

Sport England is investing in 46 national governing bodies to improve talent development. Sport England has set the NGBs indvidual challenging targets to meet that are qualitative as well as quantitative. We will be reporting on how they are doing on a yearly basis, starting in April 2010.

One of the measures of how well we are doing in the field of children and young people is our contribution to the five hour offer. The School Sports Survey will give you some information about young people participating in club sport and young leaders and volunteers.

Sport England’s publishes an annual Business Plan.

Sport England sends quarterly reports to DCMS giving a summary of performance against key outcome measures.

How we make decisions

Major policy proposals and decisions are made by Sport England’s Main Board. Agendas and Minutes for Main Board meetings are published online.

Agendas will be loaded onto the website 4 working days before the meeting takes place. Board papers are available on request by writing. There is a charge for Board papers of £5 per paper.

The Executive Team makes operational decisions about Sport England.

The Projects Team makes decisions on funding applications for major sporting projects.

Guidance notes for all of our current award programmes can be found on the funding pages of our website.

Policies and procedures

If you would like to see any of the following Sport England policies, please write to the address above. Sport England charges £5 for every policy supplied:

• Anti-Fraud & Corruption
• Code of Conduct
• Conflicts of Interest
• Data Protection
• Delegated Authorities
• Email and Internet Acceptable Use
• Equal Opportunities
• Freedom of Information
• Gifts & Hospitality
• Procurement Policy & Governance
• Records Management
• Safeguarding and Protecting Children and Young People
• Travel & Subsistence
• Whistleblowing

Sport England has a published complaints procedure

Lists and registers

Sport England has a register of its assets. If you would like any information from this register please write, using the address above.

Sport England holds a list of gifts and hospitality provided to senior colleagues and Board members. If you would like to see this list, please write to the address above.

There is a £5 charge for copies of the register.

The interests of senior colleagues are listed at pages 77 and 104 of the Annual Report

Sport England will publish a Freedom of Information disclosure log from 1 November 2009.

The services we offer

Advice on developing sporting policy, including:

• Creating regional and sub-regional policy
• Creating local policy
• Examples of core strategy policies and
• Guiding principles for sport and spatial planning

can be viewed on our developing policies for sport section.

Sport England publishes detailed design guidance notes for a whole host of facilities.

Our Sports Facilities Calculator (SFC) is a planning tool which helps to estimate the amount of demand for key community sports facilities that is created by a given population.

Active Places is a public database of sports facilities in England, which helps get people active by providing free information on where to take part and by showing them where to go on a map.

Active Places Power provides a planning tool for sports facilities. It is designed to assist in investment decisions and the development of infrastructure improvement strategies for sport. You will have to subscribe to use this tool.

Sport England publishes a guide to the production of playing pitch strategies called Towards a Level Playing Field.

Advice on securing improved sport and recreation facilities in their areas through  planning contributions can be viewed in our Planning Contributions Kitbag.

Other planning tools and guidance notes can be ac.cessed on our Planning Tools and Guidance page

Since August 1996 Sport England has been a ‘statutory consultee’ on planning applications affecting playing fields. This means that Sport England must be consulted by the local planning authority (LPA) when a relevant planning application is received. We have produced a guidance note for local authorities explaining these consultation arrangements.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, Sport England must disclose any information it holds to anyone who asks for it, unless an exemption applies. You can find out more on our Freedom of Information page