Introduction

Paul Belton, Leisure Development Officer at North Norfolk District Council, comments on a piece from the last edition:

"Despite all the publicity and the wealth of information available, I was surprised to read about someone writing to the Times who thinks that 3 x 20 minutes exercise per week is the way to achieve good health and fitness. The writer no doubt would be deeply shocked to learn that a deconditioned person (is that the majority of the population now?) would need to carry out at least 40 to 50 minutes of moderate exercise 5 times a week to achieve any improvement.

The 20 minute concept is for people who can carry out intense exercise session over that period and excludes warm up and cool down periods. Also are we to assume that the writer perceives exercise can only take place in a gym? What happened 50 years ago when people were healthier and fitter and access to "gymnasiums" was mainly restricted to schools, colleges, universities and a few top sports clubs?

Sport and active recreation will never get into the "soul" of the public when it is seen as medicine for prevention of illness rather than to promote a better quality of life; perhaps this is where the "Health Professional" has a dilemma. I think, along with many, that we should stop having to justify sport and active recreation, let them be their own justification in their own right. I don't need to justify why I want to go to a concert or look at piece of art, I do it because I enjoy it. I am sure the Arts bodies do not think about linking their projects with health benefits!

The French, Spanish, Germans and Australians provide good facilities that are accessible; it's as simple as that. They therefore produce many champions in a wide variety of sports.

Mike Baden takes the 'rant line' approach:

'On average it might add a year to his life and cost him money, but what might be the situation with his life if he were to do nothing? He may die a year earlier - so what, but what might be the quality of his life in the preceding years to his early death and how much might the NHS have had to pay out to keep him alive due to his osteoporosis leading to bad injuries every time he misses his footing annoyingly brought about by his continued lack of flexibility and poor mobility which gets worse because he can't walk very far anyway because he gets out of breath very easily and starts to feel dizzy so he stays at home more often than not but that's ok because his family (if he's lucky to have any) run around after him (destroying their quality of life) plus the constant hospital visits they have to make to see him on his regular visits following his falls and other multitude of illnesses. If he hasn't got the family, then it's the burden on the good old taxpayer due to the need for social services help. Oh yeah plus the ongoing prescription costs for the multitude of drugs he takes to keep him going and pain free plus the fact that as he feels poorly all the time, is housebound and is a burden on society, which can only be detrimental to his mental well being.'

Of course the above doesn't happen in the final year - this is an ongoing process over his final 10 years, so let's be realistic, exercise will on average add quality of life to many years, not just the extra one that he wouldn't get because he'd probably want to die early anyway, given the above inevitable scenario.

HOW ABOUT THAT FOR A RANT!"

Research indicates that most people know that exercise is a good idea, but not many understand why and what they need to do. Is Paul right though that we shouldn't need to 'justify sport'? Some of us love to do sport and can't understand that most people aren't like us, so maybe we need to understand their motivation. Mike's motivation is pretty clear!! What do you think? Click here and enter the debate:

davidalbutt@leisure-net.org

It's interesting to read that the cost of obesity to the US healthcare system is now more than the cost of either smoking or alcohol abuse. The Rand Corporation estimates that the per annum health care cost of obesity is now $395 per person, almost double that of smoking ($230) and almost three times the cost of heavy drinking ($150) However much Jeremy Clarkson jokes about 'fat Yanks' we shouldn't be complacent - the picture must be very similar in the UK.

Also, a 10-year study of 31,742 men, aged 53 to 90, found that men who exercised three or more hours each week reported a 30% lower risk of ED (erectile dysfunction) compared with those who did little or no exercise. Dr. Eric Rimm, author of the study and an assistant professor at the Harvard School of Public Health notes: "A lot of people have known about exercise and obesity and cardiovascular disease and the message is still not getting through....but ED is more immediate and affects the quality of life. It's something that could affect you every day." The Value of Sport indeed!

The young people in sport link is:

http://www.sportengland.org/resources/pdfs/publicat_pdfs/Young-People-and-Sport-2002-report.pdf

David Albutt
CLOA Hon Sec and Value of Sport editor

Back to contents

 

Critical Comment

Sue Campbell CBE has been appointed Chair of the United Kingdom Sports Council (UK Sport)

Sue takes over from Sir Rodney Walker who has been the Chair of UK Sport since 7 July 1998. Her term of appointment is for a maximum of 18 months, with a review after 9 months and starts with effect from 19 September 2003. Sue will lead UK Sport through a period of considerable change as the organisation undergoes reform to ensure that it best meets the sporting needs of all parts of the United Kingdom. Sue has supported Value of Sport, following her presentation to the Wellbeing Conference in Ipswich. We wish her every success in what will clearly be a very challenging role.

Back to contents

Continuous Improvement

Planning for Play

We often hear complaints that playing fields are still being lost. DCMS has now published its analysis of the facts, in " Planning for Play":

"The Government is committed to protecting playing fields wherever possible and to boosting the opportunities that young people have to participate in sport. Playing fields are not only a precious resource for sport and recreation, but also provide important green areas in towns and inner city areas.

There were 985 planning applications relating to playing fields between April 2001 and March 2002. Of these, 695 have been approved, 161 have been rejected or withdrawn and 129 have yet to be decided. The great majority of approved applications involve redevelopment to provide new or improved sports facilities for communities:

188 sites will provide 447 new sports facilities to a value of over £270 million

134 applications will improve the use of playing fields, through new or refurbished changing rooms, added floodlighting or improved access to the site

113 new playing fields will be provided as like-for-like replacements

Of the remaining approved applications:

There were 201 cases where the site was too small or the wrong shape to accommodate a playing pitch.

There were seven cases where a careful assessment of supply and demand against a playing field strategy showed that there was a strong case for releasing the land for a different use.

There were 52 cases where Sport England objected to the proposals and applications were approved by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for local strategic reasons.

In 91% of approved cases, sport benefited or remained unaffected." So, that's OK then - or is it? Let us know whether you think that this is fair enough or maybe there's a touch of spin involved. Any comments from the people who've lost playing fields because of what ODPM calls 'local strategic reasons' - are you happy?

For more, see:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/global/publications/archive_2003/planning_for_play.htm

Back to contents

Making A Splash in Knowsley!

Like many authorities Knowsley received major funding for SPLASH this year. The total attendance on the programme exceeded 20,000, with young people undertaking a variety of activities - sport, drama and outdoor pursuits.

Below is a bullet point summary of the views of John Bell and his team on the benefits, the pitfalls and the lessons that have been learnt:

• A number of measures are being put into place locally to enable a more effective response in the event of future funding opportunities. Planning will take place much earlier in the year for the summer programme. Draft programmes based on this years experience should be available at the beginning of the financial year. Funding bodies need to recognise the necessity of a longer lead in time to enable the development of programmes.
  
  
• In the evaluation of the programme it was recognised that with more time the variety of workshops that could have been delivered may have increased the participation of the 15+ age range in the arts element of the Splash programme.
  
  
• The programmes were heavily oversubscribed and ways need to be found to co -ordinate the joint delivery across the partner agencies but the potential for joint working dealing with a range of issues was clearly demonstrated.
  
  
• In youth work, to maximise the effect and impact of the work, the young people must be involved in the planning process and have ownership of it. The time scales relating to the funding and delivery of the programmes affected our ability to effectively involve young people in the early planning stages. While later in the programme children and young people were involved programmes were changed and additional sessions added during, the critical planning stages they were not.
  
  
• The programme for Splash should be seen as an integral part of the programme available to young people locally and nationally.
  
  
• The work should:
  o complement, reinforce and link to other work being undertaken
  o further develop projects and groups of Young People
  o act as a way of supporting young people
  
  
• The need is to take a more proactive approach to the dissemination of information within the schools using existing networks.
  
  
• National support is essential in continuing the benefits and building upon the successes achieved.
  
  
• Targeting the Children's Fund at Splash is a positive National and local emphasis.
  
  
• The importance of clear accurate crime data cannot be over emphasised. Without the clarity this provides proof of what works will be impossible to attain. We need to plan for future provision of this information with our Police partners.
  
  So how does this compare with your experience? Contact davidalbutt@leisure-net and let us hear your views on the programme.
  
  Back to contents
  
  

Making the Case for Sport

The economic importance of Sport

What is the economic impact of sport in England?

In 2000, 400,000 people were estimated to have been employed in sport-related activities in England, just under 2% of all employment.

This indicates that the employment impact of sport is increasing, as in 1998 it was estimated that sport supported around 1½% of employment in the UK.

The share of sport in overall employment is highest in the North East, North West and South East and lowest in London.

In England 160,000 of these jobs are in the Commercial Sport sector.

170,000 were in Commercial Non-Sport (including for example, jobs in higher education, betting and gaming and construction).

Of those in Commercial Sport, 48,000 were employed in spectator sports,

29,000 were employed in sport-related retailing and 22,000 in commercial participation sports activities. Some 33,000 are employed in sport-related manufacturing of which 25,000 are reported to be in the motor-sport engineering cluster.

Sport generated £9.8bn in value-added in England, around 1½% of England's total value-added, a similar share to that estimated for the UK as a whole in 1998.

The share of sport in overall value-added is highest in the North East, Yorkshire & the Humber and the West Midlands and lowest in London and the East of England.

Sport related employment provides households in England with £5.8bn in disposable income, just over 1% of total household disposable income.Most sport-related income comes from Commercial Sport (particularly spectator and sports-related retailing)

Within sport, the sectors with the largest income are Commercial Sport (in particular, media and distribution) and Commercial Non-Sport. The £10.2bn received by the Commercial Sport sector is three times the income received by the voluntary sector. The picture is generally similar across the English regions.

The Local Authority sports sector received about £740m in sport-related grants, about £15 per person. Of this, the bulk represents support to local authority sports facilities funded indirectly from the general grant to local authorities by central government.

It is estimated that Commercial Sport receives over £600m each year in the form of advertising, sponsorship and corporate hospitality. This represents almost half of all income to spectator sports.

There is very little information on the characteristics of the Voluntary sector. A study has estimated that the combined income for the sector is £3.3bn (including bar receipts), of which over one-third comes through subscriptions.

Sport contributes £5.5bn to Central Government through taxes, compared with £660m received in direct grants.

People in England spend £2.7bn each year participating in sport, considerably more than the £600m they spend attending spectator sport events. Subscriptions and fees account for around one-quarter of all sport-related household spending. Sport-related gambling and sports clothing and footwear were other large items of spending.

More from:

http://www.sportengland.org/resources/pdfs/publicat_pdfs/SportEng_Eng_June03.pdf

Back to contents

What the reviews say

Ipswich

Ipswich Borough Council's Sport and Recreation Service is a good service with promising prospects for improvement. User satisfaction with the service is good and compares well with similar services in other local authorities. However, the council needs to carry out further market research in order to be clear about the needs of local people, particularly non-users of the service and minority groups.

Back to contents