The Sport and Recreation Alliance – the independent voice for sport and recreation – has received a response from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) regarding the media speculation around its possible abolition.
Following a series of reports suggesting that the DCMS would be dismantled following the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Alliance’s chair, Andy Reed, swiftly wrote to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt MP, asking for clarification on his department's future.
Andy Reed said: “For obvious reasons, the Sport and Recreation Alliance would be set against moving responsibility for sports policy to a department where it was a secondary concern or a tool to achieve a single, specific aim.
"We firmly believe that given its proven effectiveness in contributing to a wide range of public policy objectives – like crime reduction, higher educational attainment and improved social cohesion, for example – shoehorning sport into a department where primacy lies elsewhere would do it, and the nation, a great disservice.
Hugh Robertson MP has now provided reassuring clarification, stating in his response letter that:
“I hope you have now seen that the department and Number 10 quickly dismissed the story….it is completely without foundation."
We welcome the publication of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s “Game On: Community and School Sport” report, which identifies a series of recommendations to government to strengthen grassroots sport and physical activity.
Read moreThe Sport and Recreation Alliance is delighted to confirm appointments to the National Governing Body (NGB) Coalition Management Committee, alongside existing NGB Coalition Division Chair, Ralph Rimmer OBE, and Deputy Chair, Jack Baker.
Read moreThe Sport and Recreation Alliance is delighted to welcome Justine Baynes to the Board to fill a casual vacancy.
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