§ Mr. ReedTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she is taking to promote greater co-operation between the sports administrators of the four home nations. [121409]
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§ Mr. CabornA number of means already exist to facilitate effective co-operation between the sports administrators of the four home nations. At ministerial level, there is the Sports Cabinet, which is responsible for identifying strategic priorities and brings together Sports Ministers from the four parts of the UK and others closely involved in the development of UK sport. The membership comprises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who chairs it, and the Home Country Ministers with responsibility for sport. I represent England. The Chairs of the Home Country Sports Councils also attend in the capacity as observers to hear discussions where appropriate. The Cabinet meets on average twice a year.
The Chairs of the Home Country Sports Councils are also Council members of UK Sport. UK Sport takes the lead in co-ordinating activities between home country sports councils and sport administrators working in high performance sport. UK Sport hosts regular meetings of the Chief Officers' Group, lead officers in performance, modernisation and on issues of ethics and equity. In addition, UK Sport has convened a 'Performance Forum', involving home country sports councils, the sports institutes from the home countries and representatives of national governing bodies of sport. This complements the work of the 'leadership group' which includes the directors and chairs of the four home country sports institutes, alongside representatives of UK Sport and which was established to help co-ordinate work across the UK Sports Institute network.