Crouch reports ‘good progress’ on government’s Sporting Future strategy

Sports minister Tracey Crouch has described the government’s strategy for sport as making “good progress” since its introduction in December 2015.

Crouch published the second annual report to Parliament on Sporting Future yesterday (30 January), listing successes including widespread adherence by national governing bodies to the new Code for Sports Governance and continued investment in the sector.

“We’re making good progress on a number of fronts,” Crouch said. “We’re ensuring our governing bodies have world-leading standards of governance as well as targeting funding to encourage new participants in sport and physical activity.

“There’s still more work to do. This year I will particularly focus on mental health in sport and encouraging the sector to continue to step up on safeguarding all participants – from the grassroots to the elite.”

The report said continued investment in the sector is “in line with the change in approach to encouraging participation in sport and physical activity that Sporting Future signalled”.

It pointed to Sport England’s investment of more than £530m of exchequer and lottery money in over 2,500 projects over the past 20 months.

It also noted the formation of the Sports Business Council, new anti-doping recommendations, Tanni Grey-Thompson’s Duty of Care report, the hosting of major global sporting events including the 2017 World Athletics Championships, and the successful bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) released the report alongside an announcement it will invest £6.1m to help educate athletes, share intelligence and conduct testing in the fight against doping.

It said the budget had been increased in the run-up to Tokyo 2020 to cement UKAD’s position as “one of the leading anti-doping agencies in the world”.