Review of National Sport Effort By Carter - Research Paper Example

A Critique on Carter Report: Review of National Sport Effort and Resources, Introduction and Executive Summary, Patrick Carter, March 2005 Introduction Studies have shown that sport has the power to formulate social identity, reduce health care costs by improving the health of the people and that it has the potential to contribute to the economic growth of the nation. However, it is unfortunate to find that the public investment of England on sport is comparatively lower to other European powers. It has resulted in a number of health related issues in the nation, obesity being the most significant area of concern. Subsequently, the healthcare costs of the nation have increased tremendously emphasising the link between the sport participation, physical activity and the health care of the nation. The paper tries to make a critique on the Carter report of 2005 which has been considered as a land mark in the history of Sports England as it made genuine efforts to co-ordinate both the private and public sector enterprises to build up a new National Sports Foundation. In doing so, he paper tries to bring out the link between sport, health and economic benefit in England in comparison with its international peer nations. The Carter Report of 2005 The Carter report of 2005 is structured into five sections. The introduction and the executive summary of the main points are dealt with in the first section. Section 2 highlights the major findings of the report and the third section proposes recommendations based on the key findings. The vision and plans for the future are elaborated in the fourth section and the fifth section serves as an appendix to the whole report which offers the supporting evidence for the findings of the report. The report has taken into account the views of a large number of stakeholders in the public, private and voluntary sectors and has identified that the “Government does not always receive full credit for its investment, largely as a result of a confusing and fragmented funding infrastructure which lacks clear accountability and sometimes causes duplication across the sporting landscape” (Carter, 2005, p. 2). For the purpose of the study, the review team conducted both primary and secondary research. They consulted over 200 stakeholders from the public, private and voluntary sectors. The methodology of the review team concentrated on three core work streams of the sport in England, namely the sporting landscape of the nation, international comparisons between England and its peer countries, and the private sector of the sport in England (Supporting Evidence: Review of National Sport Effort and Resources p. 2). The report seeks to analyse the existing efforts and resources in the sport sector in the nation and takes into consideration factors such as “the effectiveness of deployment, and the potential for improvements and/or increased resources –so that everyone has opportunities to participate” (Carter, 2005, p. 6). The aim of the report was to analyse the favourable conditions by which sports participation could be made more effective through local and community level strategies and infrastructural development. The promotion of school sport, elite sport and community sport deliveries was another major concern for the report. The report makes it clear that there should be “lifelong opportunities for everyone to get involved and stay involved in sport” and holds that sport has the “power to bring people together for enjoyment, regardless of race, ability, background or age” (Carter, 2005, p. 7). Vision and Achievements: The vision of the review committee is that by 2012 England will be a healthier nation with significantly increased levels of participation in sport and physical activity and that the nation would be converted to be ‘one of the best sporting nations in the world’(Carter, 2005, p. 7). The report throws light on the recent achievements the nation has witnessed in the sports sector. The achievements include improvements in PE and school sport, greater success rate at the Olympics and other international competitions, greater potentiality to host major international sport events, steady participation and involvement of youth in various sports items, enhanced co-ordination between the public and private sector, improved local delivery structures and all together the report identifies that the nation has prepared itself to make a solid bid to hoist the Olympic games in 2012 (Carter, 2005, p. 7) Major concerns: The major concerns identified with regard to the sport in England are the lack of proper structures for sports in the nation, lack of effective management of the possible resources at the local level, non-promotion of informal sport, categorization of sport in the same category as cinemas or leisure time activities, lack of community facilities and incentives for the private, voluntary or public sector, lack of clear alignment between national and local level sports delivery and lack of commercial orientation and expertise at the grass-root level, and insufficient advertising (Carter, 2005, p. 7). Key findings: The advantages of promoting participation of sport are many and varied. It has been proved that participation in sports “improves health, reducing direct healthcare costs and the risk of contracting chronic diseases”, “increasingly stimulates the economy” and “promotes educational achievement and reduces anti-social behaviour, helping to build sustainable communities” (Carter, 2005, p. 11). Sports has a greater role to play in improving the health of the people and studies have shown that “an inactive person generates 32% greater direct annual medical costs than an active one” (Carter, 2005, p. 11). The report identifies that the converging factors that impact sports policy and investment are focus on school sport, community investment, Government led efficiency drive, evidence-based healthy policy, media interest and national pride (Carter, 2005, p. 13). The report has rightly identified the link between sport participation and the health care cost of the nation. However, it fails to bring out creative strategies and policies to attract people to actively indulge in physical activities. Recommendations: The recommendations proposed by the review team include introducing “robust measurement and monitoring systems to inform Government investment at local level and ensure clear lines of accountability”, promoting “the personal benefits of sport and physical activity and to help people to identify their local delivery points”, improving local delivery of sport and enabling the “co-ordination of public, private and voluntary sector investment –as well as LAs and regional bodies –in order to improve local sporting facilities”, creating centralized leadership, and providing ‘targeted incentives and commercial assistance through a new National Sports Foundation and other sports Governing bodies such as Sport England, UK Sport, Sportsmatch, the Football Foundation and other private sector organizations (Carter, 2005, p. 7). Thus, the only possible way to increase sport participation in England is to increase the infrastructural facilities and to spend large amount of public funds and subsidies to sport promotion at the local, community and national levels. Obesity and Participation in Sport The growing rate of obesity in England is a major concern that needs to be paid special attention. There is an obvious link between the sport participation rate of the people and the obesity rate of the nation as greater participation in sport and related physical activity is most likely to reduce the obesity rate of the nation. The Carter report of 2005 identifies that the “adult obesity level in England is 10 times that of Japan and twice that of France and Germany” and that the heart attack rate of the nation is worse (Carter, 2005, p. 15). This is to be understood in connection with the fact that England’s per capita public investment in sporting infrastructure is comparatively lesser than either France or Germany. An analysis of the obesity levels in England and peer countries reveals that England has the second highest rate of obesity (22.5%), USA (30.8%) being the first. Other peer countries such as Australia (20.7%), Finland (19.6%), Canada (14.9%), Germany (11.5%), France (11.4%), Italy (9.7%) and Japan (2.1%) maintain a comparatively low rate of obesity in Great Britain (See Appendix 1). Similarly, a critical analysis of the heart attack rates in England and peer countries shows that England is the leading nation with the highest rate of heart attacks per 1,000 populations annually (3.65%). This rate is much higher than other countries such as Canada (2.26%), Germany (2.00%), USA (1.92%), Finland (1.86%), Italy (1.10%), France (1.08%), Australia (1.06%) and Japan (0.37%) (See Appendix 2). The question whether lack of higher level of participation in sports and other physical activities have led to this higher rate of obesity and heart attacks need to be analysed. The funding on sport spent by Finland deserves attention in this regard. The annual sport expenditure made by the nation is €1.7 billion approximately; the local authorities, sports clubs and various sports organizations invest considerably on the sport of the nation and the Government readily offers subsidies and performance based funds to the local bodies and the sports organizations (Supporting Evidence: Review of National Sport Effort and Resources p. 8). On the other hand, the public investment in sport in England also is comparatively low. Statistics point that England’s per capita investment on sport (£ 36.1) is higher only to Germany (£ 29.9) whereas the other European peers have spent immensely on sport. For instance the per capita investment spent by France is £ 109.7 and Finland (£ 83.8), Canada (£ 43.6) and Japan (£ 43.6) have all invested considerably on sport participation (See Appendix 3). Thus, it can be concluded that the nation needs to spend more on sport and sport related activities so that it can enhance the health of the citizens, reducing the large amount of health care costs due to lack of physical activities. Sport and Economic Growth The potential of sports as a public asset and a tool of economic growth have long been established. The New SMG Policy Framework for Sport in Canada rightly asserts “sport’s potential to help advance a broad range of social and economic goals -- in communities and the country as a whole” and exhorts that the full potentiality of sport is to be explored at the local, community, federal and national level (Beyond 2010: A New SMG Policy Framework for Sport p. 3). The Carter report also highlights that the nation needs to attribute great value to sport as it contributes to 2% of the GDP rate of the nation and makes a significant contribution to the ‘health, social cohesion and identity’ of its citizens (Carter, 2005, Carter p. 7). In this regard, Chris Gratton (2004) unearths the interconnected relation between sport, health and economic benefit. It is generally accepted that sport participation and physical activity can offer solutions to many of the health related problem, thereby considerably reducing the health care costs of the nation. Gratton elaborates a number of health related benefits of sports participation. According to him, “regular physical activity decreases the risk of cardiovascular mortality in general and of CHD mortality in particular”; besides physical activity reduces high blood pressure, hyper tension, over body weight or obesity, diabetes, depression and enhances one’s mental health by reducing anxiety and promoting one’s mood and self-esteem (Gratton 2004 p. 87-88). The Game plan (2002) proposes to achieve “major increase in participation in sport and physical activity, primarily because of the significant health benefits and to reduce the growing cost of inactivity” and the development of professional and non-professional; sports clubs is identified as the ‘key to supporting and sustaining the anticipated increased demand for participation’ which would culminate in accomplishing the broader social and economic objectives envisioned by the game plan (Inclusive Sports Clubs ). It is thus evident from the literature reviewed that sport participation can contribute to greater economic growth. However, it is pathetic to note that that England’s participation in sport and physical activity is only 21% and is not so promising compared to other European nations. The statistics show that other European countries such as France (24%), USA (26%), Germany (27%), Canada (39%), Australia (46%) and Finland (52%) have greater levels of sport participation compared to England. Similarly, one can also notice that the club membership in England fall considerably after school leaving and is below that of Germany and France across the age groups (Carter, 2005, pp. 24-15). However when it comes to the comparison of the elite performance of the nation with other European nations in Athens 2004, the performance rate of Britain is better than that of Japan, USA, Canada and Finland. This underlines the fact that England has great potential to perform well in sports at the international level and that the nation now needs to promote participation of all its citizens in sport and related activities. Direst Health Care Cost of Physical Inactivity Just as participation in sport contributes to both the reduction of health related problems and economic growth, physical inactivity leads to loss of economic growth as it results in immense healthcare costs. Game Plan, DCMS and Strategy Unit Report, 2002 has published the total cost of physical inactivity to England per annum and the statistics point to the great amount of public funding that the nation has to spend with regard to health and health care. The direct health care costs of physical inactivity in England in 2002 amounted to £m 325 whereas the earnings lost due to sickness and premature mortality amounted to £m 785 and £m 780 respectively; thus, the total direct and indirect costs of physical inactivity totals an amount of £m 1890 per annum (Gratton 2004 p. 91). Gratton (2004) also points out that there are around ‘34,000 premature deaths each year due to physical inactivity’ in UK alone (p. 92). All these statistics also reveal that England could convert these economic losses into means of economic prosperity with better practices and implementation of effective policies for the promotion of sport participation which would undoubtedly reduce the number of people who suffer from the direct and indirect costs of physical inactivity. It is estimated that a “ten percent increase in adult activity would prevent around 6,000 premature deaths not to mention bringing economic benefits worth at least 2 billion pounds a year nationally” (Inclusive Sports Clubs). Even people who resort to sport as a leisure time activity can benefit heavily from regular physical activity. Conclusions It has been identified that participation in sports contributes immensely to building sustainable communities. The report cites a number of evidences to show how participation in sports has improved educational attainment, reduced truancy costs, offered local role models, reduced arrest rates and crimes, and enhanced social cohesion and inclusion (Carter, 2005, p.11). Therefore, it is mandatory from the part of the Government to set effective policies and provide necessary investment for sport related activities so that the participation levels are increased considerably and that the nation gains recognition as one of the best sporting nations in the world. There should be more integrated and effective efforts to address major challenges in the sport and recreation systems of the nation and this calls for “enhanced capacity to: engage a broad range of stakeholders in ongoing dialogue, mobilize diverse partners in coordinated action, and continually capture and apply feedback to improve strategies and initiatives” (Beyond 2010: A New SMG Policy Framework for Sport p. 3). However, the major limitation of the Carter report is that even though it identifies that participation in sports has the potential to improve the health and economic sector of the nation, it fails to show how the participation of sports can be propagated in the nation and how sports could be introduced as a better leisure time activity for the common man just like T’V watching or participating in parties. Bibliography Supporting Evidence: Review of National Sport Effort and Resources. Sport England. Available from: http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/Carter_supporting_evidence.pdf [March 8, 2009]. Carter, Patrick March 2005, Review of National Sport Effort and Resources, Sport England. Available from: http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/Carter_report.pdf [March 8, 2009]. Gratton, Chris 2004, Sport, Health and Economic Benefit, Driving up participation: The challenge for sport, London: Sport England. Available from: http://www.sportdevelopment.org.uk/duphealth.pdf [March 8, 2009]. Inclusive Sports Clubs, DAISYUK. Available from: http://www.daisyuk.com/inclusive-sports-clubs/ [March 8, 2009]. Beyond 2010: A New SMG Policy Framework for Sport May 2008, SMG. Available from: http://www.sportmatters.ca/Images/2008%20Files/Take%20Action/Conversation%20Brf%202008%20V6.pdf [March 8, 2009]. Appendices Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Read More