Place-based approach

The physical benefits of sport and physical activity are well documented. Being active can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 30-40% and can reduce the risk of a range of medical conditions, including cancer, dementia, strokes, heart disease and depression, but only 56% of adults are physically active for the 150 minutes each week which are part of recommendations by the UK’s CMOs. The figures are lower still for children. Physical inactivity costs the UK an estimated £7.4bn each year. 

Sport is, for many people, a hugely enjoyable experience. Physical activity can reduce stress and anxiety. Mastering new skills can increase confidence and self-esteem. Volunteering to help other people at local sporting events can be very satisfying and major sporting success leads to great national pride. Research has shown that exercise can be as effective as anti-depressants for those with mild clinical depression.

These positive mental wellbeing outcomes are every bit as important as the physical benefits from taking part in sport, and evidence is clear on the mental as well as physical health benefits of meeting the CMO guidelines. However, less is known about the precise links between mental wellbeing and sporting behaviours. Placing mental wellbeing at the heart of this new strategy will ensure that more evidence is collected and government and its agencies will work with the new What Works Centre for Wellbeing among other initiatives to fill these gaps.

We know through work already funded by government and a great many consultation responses how powerfully sport can affect an individual’s development more broadly. Evidence shows clearly how taking part in sport improves educational behaviour and attainment, through greater self-esteem and confidence and direct cognitive benefits. This can also have a positive impact on the employment opportunities available to individuals and sport can have a positive role in tackling the problems of those who are not in employment, education or training (NEETS).

Currently these individual development impacts are a nice additional benefit from engagement in sport that, while acknowledged, tend not to be the main reason for making the investment. For the future, we will make sure that public investment in sport recognises and encourages the broader benefits of sport to the individual, in particular the behaviours and skills linked to employment through improvements in perceived self-efficacy.

Various scales have been developed to measure self-efficacy and DCMS will work with other relevant government departments, ONS and academics in 2016 to identify the best way of evidencing the impact of this strategy in this area.

As well as developing individuals, sport can help build stronger communities by bringing people together, often from different backgrounds, to make them feel better about where they live, improve community links and cohesion and build social capital.

We know that people who volunteer in sport, for example, are more likely to feel they belong in their area and people who take part in sport are likely to enjoy stronger social links with other people. There are many aspects to measuring social capital, but the best starting point for the type of impact we want sport to focus on having is the level of social trust within communities.

In the past, the economic value of sport has been looked at completely separately to the other public benefits sport can deliver. A significant proportion of the £39bn sport contributes to the UK’s GDP comes from grassroots sport, the millions of people who buy trainers, bikes, gym memberships or pay match fees. The government’s investment of £10m in the Tour de France Grand Départ in 2014 helped unlock a £125m contribution to GDP. So the UK’s economic success is bound up with our sporting engagement, and vice versa. Sport also plays a huge role in supporting the GREAT Britain campaign to promote the UK abroad and the UK was ranked top in a recent analysis of global soft power.

The economic impact of sport, how it creates jobs, promotes growth and drives exports is a fundamental part of this new strategy. We will ask organisations to consider not just how they contribute to the nation’s health or wellbeing, but to the economy as well, both nationally and locally.