New standards - designed to help tackle crime and anti-social behaviour - have been launched by SkillsActive and Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

The National Occupational Standards, which are funded by the foundation, outline best practice for using sport to help develop new accredited training programmes. The Level 2 standards have been developed following a three-year Active Communities Network project to explore the use of sport to engage young people and gangs involved in crime.

Partners such as the Football Foundation and the Metropolitan Police worked with sector skills council SkillsActive to draw up the standards, which it is hoped will be used around the world. SkillsActive chief executive Stephen Studd said: "We know that sport is a great leveller - it has the unique potential to bring communities together.

"We also know that participation in sport can reduce youth crime and anti-social behaviour, so to now be able to provide clear standards on how coaches, volunteers and managers in our community can use sport to tackle crime is fantastic." Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson, vice chair of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, added: "These occupational standards provide crucial building blocks that will unlock sport's potential to help tackle gun and gang crime."

Image: Tanni-Grey Thompson (centre left) and Laureus Sport for Good Foundation chair Edwin Moses (centre right), with young people from the Peace Players International project.