Time: 11am - 1pm
Venue: Sport and Recreation Alliance, Burwood House, 4th floor, 14 Caxton Street, London, SW1H 0QT
PRESENT
In the Chair – Jane Nickerson (Swim England)
ATTENDEES
Will Lambe (BHA), Sam Gould (LTA), Tim Payton (ECB), Katie Dooling (RFU), Sarah-Jane Gray (RFL), James MacDougall (FA)
Present over the phone - Scott Dougall (British Cycling)
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Ben Calveley (RFU), Andy Reed (Sport and Recreation Alliance), Andrew Wright (Professional Golfers’ Association), Simon Taylor (Professional Players Federation), Anne Usher (Sport and Recreation Alliance)
IN ATTENDANCE
Richard Baldwin (Honorary Tax Advisor), Leigh Thompson (Policy Manager), Tom Morgan (Membership Development Officer), Emma Boggis (CEO)
Agenda
Jane Nickerson (JN) welcomed the members and asked for brief introductions to be given. She noted she was chairing the meeting in the absence of Ben Calveley.
Mark Etches (ME) thanked the room for inviting him to present and gave a description of GambleAware as an organisation. The organisation is not anti-gambling but rather has been established to provide research, education and treatment for people suffering from gambling related harm. Traditionally GambleAware has been mainly an industry-led organisation however this does not necessarily define where their funds are spent. Soon none of their trustees will be from within gambling industry. A new strategy is soon to be launched which will aim to reduce harm caused by gambling in Britain.
GambleAware is leading the development and implementation of a national safer gambling campaign. The two-year campaign will focus on younger men involved in sports betting, and will form part of a broader public health education strategy that will develop over time. The campaign will include television advertisements, including around live sport, as well as radio, cinema, print and online. The aim will be to raise awareness of risks associated with gambling, as well as signposting to further advice and support where necessary. They are seeking to encourage others who benefit from gambling advertising, including sports bodies, to look at how they can contribute both to this campaign and to the broader education strategy as it develops.
An example of an organisation that has showed interest are Crystal Palace FC who has advertised the webpage www.begambleaware.org around their ground during a match day.
JN asked how GambleAware are working with the National Lottery. ME explained that as the Lottery are responsible for selling at over 40,000 outlets they will be challenging Camelot to provide information around promoting safe gambling at the point of sale. It was noted that many sports reference their funding support from the National Lottery.
Sarah-Jane Gray (SJG) enquired whether GambleAware is able to segment the data they receive through their campaigns so as to assist in identifying particular types of individual who might be at risk. SJG expressed her concerns that while some participants with gambling issues did seek and receive support from their NGB or club, not all did and there were likely many more needing help. Therefore, an external service provider would be welcomed. Katie Dooling (KD) added that this issue extends to people within the sporting environment, such as coaches and support staff connected to the sport. ME explained that historically there has been limited emphasis on segmenting the data and caution was needed in some areas as it relied on self-reporting which tended to under-represent the true picture.
ME noted that the Alliance was represented on the GambleAware campaign Advisory Panel but that sports in attendance were nonetheless encouraged to get involved and to contact ME for further information.
ACTION – Members are welcome to contact Mark Etches at mark@gambleaware.org
Emma Boggis (EB) gave a brief outline of the consultation and referred to the list of consultation questions circulated in the room. EB also highlighted that there will be a number of follow up engagement events at a later date that members are advised to attend.
In order to help prepare the Alliance response there will be a members’ session on July (5th) and members are invited to contribute. EB also encouraged the room to think about how they will be responding. EB recently attended the launch event and summarised some of the discussions and feedback which included discussions around the diversity of the athletes in the high performance system. EB noted that the consultation was relatively narrow in focus and the Alliance was likely to write separately to the Minister to highlight a number of wider systemic issues which needed to be addressed.
In this respect, TP considered that the fundamental questions were whether or not to continue with the current ‘no compromise’ approach and what the respective roles of UK Sport and Sport England should be in relation to the talent pathway.
In terms of the consultation sessions, KD was concerned that the groups in the consultation workshop would consist of organisations with very different issues. In this context, it was hard to see how the process would arrive at a clear and consistent set of recommendations.
Scott Dougall (SD) asked the members in the room whether this was an opportunity to do something collectively to highlight the social value of investing in elite sport.
ACTION – The Alliance to circulate the details of the workshop for members
ACTION – KD to circulate Word doc of consultation
Leigh Thompson (LT) referred to the two Brexit documents circulated in the room and gave a description of both. The explanation document provides some context around Brexit and sport and an overview of the likely impact in different areas whilst the six point plan is intended to highlight the key headline issues of importance to the sector and which can be used as a basis for discussions with ministers, officials and other stakeholders.
EB noted the Alliance would like to publish the papers by summer (subject to brief consultation with other selected members referenced in the papers) and wanted to confirm members were content with the documents.
Members confirmed they were content with both papers and for the Alliance to publish as advised. KD asked for the stats around the workforce used at major events run by the RFU to be reviewed and suggested the use of the stats on trade recently published by the DCMS. LT agreed to pick these issues up in a final redraft.
ACTION - Alliance to redraft and keep members informed of publication plans and circulation
LT explained that the new Data Protection Act 2018 contained specific provisions which would allow NGBs to process data for regulatory purposes of anti-doping, integrity and safeguarding. It was expected that Government would make further provision for processing data for the purposes of disability classification via secondary legislation in the near future. LT then extended thanks to colleagues, members and their advisers – in particular TP and Bird and Bird – for the assistance they had provided in getting the changes into the legislation.
JN and KD highlighted that the long-term challenge for sport will be to make sure the initial improvements in data management made in response to GDPR coming into effect are embedded and applied consistently over time.
EB directed the members towards the GDPR resources on the Alliance website and explained that there will be a second stage in which all funded NGBs will be offered support. The law firm Wright Hassell will be providing ongoing support and resources to include face to face workshops and webinars, equipping NGBs to be able to disseminate additional information to their clubs.
a. Volunteering
EB extended thanks to the members who had attended the Summer Networking Reception on the 5 June. She then referenced the flyers in the room which highlighted the GIVERS research and the volunteer opportunity finder that is now on the Alliance website. The Finder is integrated into the Do-it.life opportunity finder which is the largest national finder across all sectors with around 200,000 people a month looking for volunteering opportunities. The hope is that the partnership leads to more diverse representation and that the opportunities will be viewed by a wider audience. There will be nationwide workshops in the future which will be advertised on the Alliance website.
b. Children and Young People (CYP)
EB explained that CYP is one of the main focuses in the Alliance’s strategy and that the Sports Summit 11 July will be hosted at QE11 centre and will have CYP as its central focus. Tickets are now available. On 14 June the Alliance published their work around youth boards and good practice on their website. Members were encouraged to review this.
c. Annual Conference and AGM – 25 September
The Alliance’s Annual Conference will be held this year at the Imperial College in South Kensington on the 25 September. The revamped event will include divisional meetings as well as the usual AGM business. The theme of Conference will be around funding and the spending review.
d. Sports Business Council and work towards a Sector Deal
EB explained that the SBC is focussing on what a sector deal would look like and how it would be used to reinvest, support the development and impact the wider sector. Members discussed progress on a potential sports betting levy and it was recognised this needed to move slightly faster than the SBC timescales but that it could still be included in any recommendations the SBC might make for a sector deal.
e. Civil Society Consultation
EB highlighted the recent consultation which was, given the Minister’s shared sport and civil society brief, similar to the consultation for Sporting Future. The Alliance had responded and this is available on the website.
Tim Payton (TP) highlighted that the CMA have signed undertakings with major secondary platforms. Viagogo have refused to comply and he considered that fairly soon court action by CMA will be taken. The CMA is also in the process of producing guidance on what fair ticketing terms look like.
KD wanted to make members in the room aware of the spending review. EB noted that this was the context for the Annual Conference in September and it was suggested it could be discussed in more detail at the next divisional meeting as part of that.
KD noted that Chris Bryant MP had secured a parliamentary debate on acquired brain injury 18th June.
KD referenced OpenActive and the recent letter from the Minister and asked the members in the room what actions they were taking towards it. EB explained that the ramp up in activity by Sport England is down to the frustration on lack of progress in getting data sets open. EB encouraged members to engage with SE and to identify where there might be challenges. The meeting felt that greater consultation is required so that both sides fully understand the data sets which can be made available without reducing income to NGBs or other organisations.
Sam Gould (SG) highlighted changes to the Policing and Crime Act designed to prevent people being left on bail for an extended period of time and talked about the issues the LTA are having with the new approach. There have been instances of the police requesting the LTA suspend coaches and then not charging the coach due to the suspension resulting in the coach no longer being classed as a risk. Members suggested LTA link up with other team sports such as cricket and rugby to ensure information was being exchanged on safeguarding good practice. (Post meeting information received from Swim England setting out their current experience – attached for information.
WL asked members in the room if they had noticed a rise in anti-social behaviour at major events as a number of recent race meetings had been marked by violence and drug taking. KD has been pleasantly surprised by the recent major events run by the RFU although noted that there had been a relatively heavy police presence. James MacDougall (JM) highlighted discussions he had had with British Transport Police (BTP) re: the behaviour of fans on the railway but felt it was a wider societal problem not a sport-specific problem.
SJG enquired as to how members in the room were approaching the current issues faced around gender self-identification. JN highlighted the experience of Swim England following the issue of draft guidance which indicated that it was a very difficult area. Members felt there was a role for Sport England to offer some central guidance and take a lead.
RB highlighted the forthcoming Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT which would require all VAT- registered organisations to make VAT returns online using specialist software from April 2019. This would put a huge burden on clubs in particular.’ LT and RB were finalising a members briefing to explain the issue in more detail.
LT noted that the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) was carrying out an informal consultation around the update service that allows voluntary organisations to get status updates on DBS checks. NCVO will be running a focus group in early July and members were encouraged to contact NCVO if they wished to be involved.
ACTION – Alliance to put Spending Review on agenda for MSSD meeting at AGM
Today (14th November) marks the start of UK Disability History Month (UKDHM), an annual event dedicated to highlighting the journey toward equality for disabled people. It celebrates progress and advocates for a future of full inclusion and equal opportunity.
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Today, the Sport and Recreation Alliance is publishing an updated version of the UK Concussion Guidelines for Non-Elite (Grassroots) Sport.
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The Alliance is delighted to announce that Ruth Hall and Alex Jordan have joined the Board, and started their four-year terms following the Alliance’s Annual General Meeting on 15 October.
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