Committee publication · Report · 20 April 2026 · HC 593

4th Report - Game On: Community and school sport

From: Culture, Media and Sport Committee

Inquiry: Game On: Community and school sport

Government response deadline: 22 June 2026

Summary

The Culture, Media and Sport Committee's fourth report examines community and school sport in England, finding strong local demand and committed volunteers offset by persistent financial pressure, limited facilities, and fragmented national coordination. The committee identifies insufficient and unstable funding, ageing infrastructure, inconsistent school provision, and uneven community participation—particularly affecting disadvantaged areas. It recommends a cross-government strategy, increased spending from 0.3% to 0.6% of public expenditure, statutory duties on councils, and simplified funding processes to unlock health, social, and economic benefits.

Key findings

Current funding inadequate and worsening: local authorities lost £2.3 billion in real-terms spending on culture and leisure since 2010; UK spends 0.3% of government expenditure on sport versus European average of 0.8%.
Each £1 invested in community sport generates £4.21 in social and economic value, preventing 3.3 million chronic conditions annually and saving nearly £6 billion through productivity gains.
Facility crisis: 500 swimming pools lost since 2010; ageing infrastructure and closures disproportionately affect smaller sports and disadvantaged communities; no statutory duty on councils to provide facilities.
School provision inconsistent: declining PE curriculum time, variable teacher training, restrictive kit policies, narrow curriculum failing girls, pupils with SEND, and less active children.
Fragmented responsibility across multiple policy domains (education, health, local government, planning) prevents coherent investment and delivery; absence of national coordination framework.

Recommendations

Increase government expenditure on sport and recreation from 0.3% (£3.8 billion) to at least 0.6% (£7.6 billion) over the next ten years.
Government play proactive role convening alternative investment sources, leveraging private finance, pension funds, crowdfunding, and debt guarantees; encourage corporate social responsibility alignment with community sport.
Sport England and public funders simplify and standardise funding application processes, including piloting video and interview-based submissions, light-touch eligibility checks, and enhanced pre-application support.
Strengthen accountability for PE and Sport Premium through clearer national reporting, consistent benchmarking, and robust Ofsted scrutiny; require detailed government breakdown of all school sport funding by department.
Department for Health and Social Care must contribute its share of funding to school sport system alongside Department for Education and Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Commission comprehensive national audit of sports and physical activity facilities within six months, published with 12-month progress report.
Place statutory duty on local authorities to provide sporting and leisure facilities; provide councils with extra capital funding to meet this duty.
Government set out measures to mitigate adverse effects of business rate changes on sporting facilities; undertake full impact assessment of economic, social, and operational consequences.
Retain Sport England as Statutory Planning Consultee; include robust, enforceable mechanism in planning reforms to protect playing fields and sports facilities.
Develop cross-government strategy aligning health, education, local government, and community policy around shared objective of increasing physical activity and widening sports participation.

Tone

Critical

Topics

public-financesport-recreationhealth-wellbeingeducation-curriculumlocal-government

Key actors

Dame Caroline Dinenage, Stephanie Peacock MP, Sport England, Local Government Association, Football Foundation, Sported, Tim Hollingsworth, Peter Mason

Notable line

“Without such a framework, progress will continue to depend heavily on local capacity and short‑term programmes.”

Key Quotes

“Investment in community sport and physical activity delivers substantial social and economic returns, including reduced illness, improved productivity, and support for people returning to work.”
— Dame Caroline Dinenage and committee · Summary of findings on investment returns

“… each £1 invested in community sport and physical activity generated £4.21 in social and economic value.”
— Sport England · Evidence on return on investment in sport

“… around £875 million would be needed to "bring the two thirds of public facilities that are currently not fit for purpose up to modern standards".”
— Peter Mason, Leader of the London Borough of Ealing Council · Facility maintenance funding gap

“… venues—generally football—are securing those [available school venues] at the expense of those putting vital provisions [on] for the deprived and underserved communities".”
— Sarah Kaye, Chief Executive of Sported · Inequality in facility access

“Ofsted is meant to evaluate the premium spend, but everyone knows that schools just "make up" a plan and Ofsted do not notice.”
— Heathfield Junior School · Weak accountability for PE and Sport Premium spending

“The benefits are clear; the evidence is overwhelming. What is missing is urgency.”
— Committee · Summary of need for national action on sport and physical activity

“… their volunteers, often people in their 70s, had to navigate 44 pages of the code of conduct when trying to access Sport England's 'Movement fund'.”
— Jon Cockcroft, Chief Executive of Bowls England · Complexity of funding application processes

“We want to work together with local authorities and with Sport England as a Government to make sure that local areas can have the facilities that they need.”
— Stephanie Peacock MP, Minister for Sport · Government response on facility provision and local authority duties

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗