Leisure Provision Questions

The government provides a large amount of money from taxation to fund the provision of physical recreation and sport facilities. Sport England is the agency responsible for determining priorities and allocating funding to local communities.

A) What are Sport England's Main Objectives?

• For people to start sports at grass roots
• For people to stay in sports once they leave school
• For people to succeed in sports and reach their potential

B) What strategies is Sport England using to try to meet those objectives?

• Advise people on sports
• Invest money ino sports facilities
• Promote sports

'It would be better to allow the private sector to provide sport and physical recreation facilities for all, as it would do so more efficiently and with higher quality.' Discuss this statement (6 marks)

• Private sectors have more money to spend on equipment and facilities making them of a higher standard
• However, to acces these facilities it costs a relatively high amount of money and therefore many people wouldnt be able to avoid it
• In the private sector people may feel uneasy about attending due to a sense of social exclusivity
• The private sector has more freedom of what they can do because they do not have to stick to government guidelines
• By not sticking to government guidelines they can turn people away to ensure there are not too many people using the facility at one time making it harder to access
• The private sector can react to the demands of the public quicker

Individuals have a range of opportunities to participate in sport and physical recreation

A) Explain the term public, private and voluntary sectors.

• Public sectors are run by local councils allowing everyone to participate in sports, there financial objectives are to break even and if money is made it is put back into the facilities
• Private sectors exist to provide a service and to make a profit from this service
• Voluntary sectors are run by volunteers within the community and there financial aim is to break even to keep the facility running

B) How and why has the relationship between the public and private sectors changed in recent times?

• Compulsary competitive tendering was brought in which allowed private sectors to run the public sectors to improve the facilities
• This was then replaced by best value which allowed local councils to run public sectors but in order to keep them they had to compete with other provisions such as private sectors to ensure standards were maintained

The provision of sporting and physical recreation activities is the responsibility of a variety of organisations in the UK

What advantages arise, in terms of equality of provision, from having many different providers for sport and physical recreation?

• Not one sector can provide the necessary or appropriate facilities to satisfy the needs and demands of all those who wish to participate
• It is good to have a number of provisions as some local areas are poorly provided for due to economic circumstances
• Some people to not have the personal resources to able them to participate and therefore by having the public sector these peoples costs are subsidised allowing them to participate
• Some provision may make people uncomfortable to attend such as the private sector so therefore by having the tripartite system there is more of a choice