§ Mr. WigginTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what action the Government are taking to encourage local authorities to recognise the role that sports can play in society. [68532]
§ Mr. CabornLocal authorities are key providers of sport and recreation and play a central role in the delivery of sport for local communities. The Government has taken significant action to encourage local authorities to recognise the important role that sport can play in society. These measures include forging successful partnerships with local authorities through Sport England to deliver a number of key sports programmes such as 'Active Sports' 973W (which helps children and young people achieve more from their sport, delivered at local level by local authorities, sports clubs, education services, schools and governing bodies of sport), and 'Active Communities' ( which involves working closely with local authorities and other partners in the community to increase life long participation in sport and to promote the improvement in the delivery of local sporting opportunities and services for the community).
Sport England has also published "The Value of Sport"—a major advocacy tool to help local authorities to respond in a positive way to the Government's Best Value and Modernising initiatives. The document responds to the challenge of 'Why invest in sport?', and highlights the key role of the public sector in enabling and providing sport at the local level. It actively champions the benefits and contribution that sport can make to the broader local authority policy agenda, including health, education, social inclusion, community safety, community regeneration, the economy and the environment.
The Government's Beacon Council Scheme aims to raise standards of local authority services by a programme designed to spread best practice. Beacon Council status recognises councils which are excellent in a particular service or cross cutting area and have good performance across the board. The scheme requires Beacon Councils to share best practice with other councils through a national co-ordinated programme of events. In 2001 the Beacon Council Scheme identified four successful councils excelling in Regeneration through Culture, Sport and Tourism, which were Knowsley, Sunderland, Gateshead, and Nottingham. These successful authorities will use their position as Beacon Councils to promote and share best practice with other authorities. My Department is also encouraging local authorities to develop Local Cultural Strategies by the end of 2002. These strategies will help local authorities express their own cultural visions and priorities in response to the needs and aspirations of local communities. They will provide a strategic overview, recognising the role of cultural services, such as sport, in tackling the wider objectives of social inclusion, regeneration, life long learning, and creating healthier and safer communities. Cultural Strategies will help local authorities to ensure equity and access for everyone to cultural activities.