Agenda item

Kevin Mills, Sport England, and James Wurr, Department for Culture, Media & Sport, to attend.

The meeting entered confidential session.

The Chair invited Kevin Mills, Director of Capital Investment at Sport England, and James Wurr, Head of Sports Participation at DCMS to introduce the report.

James explained that the Government had announced in October an allocation of £100m of ring-fenced funding to support public sector leisure services hit by the Covid pandemic. This funding was lower than Sport England and partners had identified as being necessary to sustain the sector longer term, but should help to keep core services open and save jobs. 2,265 centres had been identified as provided by outsourced providers and were expected to be eligible for the fund. More work will be done over the coming months to make the case to the Treasury for further funding.

Kevin outlined the details of the fund and the bidding process that had been worked up with DCMS and MHCLG. This was now awaiting sign-off from the Treasury which had unfortunately delayed the process. This would now be challenging to complete prior to Christmas and Sport England were preparing to extend the deadline for bids in a way that wouldn’t disadvantage those local authorities in most urgent need of funding.

Following the presentation, members raised the following points:

·       Concern was expressed about the delay to the bidding process and the potential damage this could do at a time when councils were going through their budget setting processes. Greater certainty was needed very soon.

·       Whilst members welcomed the £100m funding, they queried whether it would be enough to secure the longer-term future of the public leisure sector.

·       Would the money go directly to the councils that provide the service rather than a higher tier?

·       Would factors such as deprivation and health be used in the allocation of funding? There are particular financial pressures around some centres in the heart of BAME communities.

·       What type of costs could the funding be used to cover?

·       Concern was expressed that hard-pressed local authority staff would have to draw up funding bids over the Christmas period and deadlines could potentially be missed. Were local authorities aware that this bidding process would soon be launched so they could start doing preparatory work now?

James and Kevin gave the following responses:

·       Realistically, it was looking as though the deadline would have to be extended into January. However, assessment panels that had already been set up for early in the new year would not be moved, in order to help councils who were desperately in need of funding.

·       DCMS were realistic that the £100m would not be sufficient to secure the sector longer-term. It was vital that all stakeholders continued to lobby Government about the scale of the problem.

·       The money would be paid out directly to the councils that provide the service.

·       The money could be used for operational costs incurred between 1 December 2020 and 31 March 2021.

·       The bidding criteria was designed to achieve an equitable distribution of funding across the country to aid the national recovery. It would be broadly based on population but also link to other Government strategies, for example around health.

·       Councils had been given some indications about the process, but it would not be sensible to provide the bidding criteria prior to Treasury sign off. DCMS and Sport England were aware of the potential issues for staff over the Christmas period and were trying hard to avoid this.

Decision:

·       Culture, Tourism & Sport Board noted the report and presentation.