§ Mr. ColmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made on the review of Sport England. [6515]
§ Mr. CabornAs part of this Department's programme of quinquennial reviews of its public bodies, I am today announcing the conclusion of the first stage of the Sport England quinquennial review.
Sport England is responsible for developing and maintaining the infrastructure of sport in England, for distributing national lottery funds for sport in England and for five national sports centres. The first stage of the review concludes that the development of sport is important to both the Government's wider objectives and the public, and that Sport England should continue its unique role in the development of sport in England on behalf of the Government but at arm's length from it.
The first stage of the review has made a series of recommendations for consideration in the second stage of the review to enable Sport England to further become a responsive and high quality organisation responsible for the development of sport in England and play its part in implementing the proposals set out in the Government's plan for sport published earlier this year.
We aim to complete the second stage of the review in the autumn. Copies of the first stage report have been placed in the Libraries of the both Houses.