Ollie Dudfield, Executive Director of the Sport for Development Coalition, gave evidence to the House of Lords National Plan for Sport and Recreation Committee.
Ollie appeared alongside Rebecca Donnelly MBE, Chief Executive of Fight for Change, and Mark Lawrie, CEO of StreetGames, after the Coalition responded to the Committee’s call for evidence entitled ‘How can we lead more active lifestyles?’
The National Plan for Sport and Recreation Committee was appointed to consider the effectiveness of current sport and recreation policies and initiatives, and the case for a national plan for sport and recreation.
During the inquiry, the Committee looked at a wide range of issues including:
- how we can increase physical activity, including among young people
- how we can increase participation in sport among under-represented groups including women and girls, disabled people, people from ethnic minority communities and low-income groups, and
- whether current funding structures are effective in getting money to where it has most impact.
When launching the inquiry, its Chair, Lord Willis of Knaresborough, commented: “In 2015 the Government launched its Sporting Future strategy which followed a long period where we saw significant investment in sport after the introduction of lottery funding and the 2012 Olympics. However, we have also seen stagnant physical activity rates and changes in the way people keep active. The time has come to ask whether the Government have the right priorities for helping more people to live active lifestyles.
“Our inquiry will only be as strong as the evidence we get and I would encourage anyone with an interest in these issues to give us their views. We would love to hear from people delivering sports and recreation at the grassroots to understand what help they need to get more people active.”
During the hearing, the Committee asked how the respondents defined sport for development, and what were some of the barriers to high-quality delivery of it.
Also appearing earlier in the session were Justin Coleman, Co-Founder and Chief Operations Officer of the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice; Professor Rosie Meek, who has conducted extensive research on the role of sport and physical activity in youth crime prevention and prison settings; and Barry Jones MBE, Secretary of the Police Community Clubs of Great Britain.
Read more about the National Plan for Sport and Recreation Committee.