Game On: Community and school sport

Status / emerging findings

• Funding is insufficient and unstable: local authorities have absorbed £2.3 billion in real-terms cuts over 15 years while still providing £1.4 billion annually; fragmented short-term grants prevent strategic planning.
• Facility crisis: two-thirds of public sports facilities are unfit for modern standards; £875 million needed for renovation; closures disproportionately affect disadvantaged communities and smaller sports like tennis and cheerleading.
• School PE in decline: 41,000 fewer PE hours taught since 2011-12; only half of children achieve 60 active minutes daily; primary teachers receive inadequate training (4-6 hours average).
• Structural barriers persist: 50% of secondary schools underutilise facilities after hours despite 57% of grassroots groups needing affordable access; planning delays cost Football Foundation £70,000 per project; only 0.5% of corporate CSR investment reaches community sport.
• Government has committed £400 million grassroots sports funding and place-based distribution model, but cricket domes funding (£35 million) remains unfunded and no published national strategy exists.

Why it matters

Sport participation shapes lifelong health, productivity, and social cohesion, yet England's system is starved of funds, facilities, and coordination—leaving disadvantaged communities furthest behind while European peers invest substantially more.

Tone arc

Started cooperative and evidence-gathering in February 2025 (elite athletes and Youth Sport Trust on participation decline), shifted toward critical scrutiny from March onwards as sector leaders revealed systemic underfunding and planning barriers, culminating in July's final ministerial session where committee pressed government on lack of measurable strategy and private investment mechanisms.

Key witnesses

Stephanie Peacock MP (Minister for Sport), Catherine McKinnell MP (School Standards Minister), Robert Sullivan (Football Foundation CEO), Huw Edwards (ukactive CEO), Tim Hollingsworth OBE (Sport England CEO), Councillor Peter Mason (Local Government Association), Ali Oliver MBE (Youth Sport Trust CEO), Sarah Kaye (Sported)