Lords Committee hears evidence on National Plan for Sport and Recreation - April 21
|
The Lords Committee on a National Plan for Sport and Recreation
today continued taking evidence, focussing on racism in sport and
opportunities for women and girls. Panel 1 witnesses: Sanjay
Bhandari, Chair at Kick It Out Arun Kang, CEO at Sporting Equals
Janett Walker, Professional Mentor of the Founder, Black Girls Hike
Committee chair Lord Willis of Knaresborough asked for an analysis
of the government's efforts over the past five to ten years to
get...Request free trial
The Lords Committee on a National Plan for Sport and Recreation
today continued taking evidence, focussing on racism in sport and
opportunities for women and girls.
Committee chair Lord Willis of Knaresborough asked for an analysis of the government's efforts over the past five to ten years to get more people from ethnic minorities involved in sport and recreation. Sanjay Bhandari said the government's response had been patchy and based on the philosophy of open invitation rather than a granular understanding of the challenges. He pointed to the difference between "hard to reach communities" and those which were "hardly reached." The biggest predictor of outcomes was still poverty. Arun Kang said the Sporting Future strategy was the furthest that had been gone in the sports sector and was a good start. But the government's approach had been "knee-jerk." But he was excited about Sport England's Uniting the Movement strategy. Janett Walker said it was telling that, if there had been progress, it had not been communicated to the people the government was trying to reach. There were many grassroots organisations making great inroads into putting black and brown people into different recreational activities and sports. But the government and organisations involved, for example, in rambling and mountaineering were not doing enough. Baroness Blower asked about the experiences of people from ethnic minorities and what help they could be given. Janett Walker said black and brown people needed to be better represented in sports other than football and athletics. This meant involvement at a grassroots level, which needed funding and the involvement of people in authority. Arun Kang said the experiences of different minorities were diverse and some people were discriminated against on a multiple basis, for example women of colour who were also disabled. In terms of terminology, the witnesses agreed that the use of "BAME" had been useful, but was not granular enough. Replying to Lord Moynihan, Janett Walker said one of the big issues about racism in social media and on the pitch was about education. The governing bodies needed to collaborate with schools in order to create anti-racist allies. In football there needed to be zero-tolerance. In terms of recommendations that could be made by the committee, Sanjay Bhandari said quicker action needed to be taken to punish racial abuse at events. But the biggest problem was on social media, which was unregulated. The Online Safety bill had to be brought in as quickly as possible. Arun Kang said there should be a cross-sport approach and he thought the forthcoming report commissioned by UK Sport and the sports councils on tackling racism and inequality would provide a definition of what was happening in the sector.
Lord Hayward was concerned
about the failure to converse with sponsors regarding racism at
events. Arun Kang pointed out that some backers had removed their
support during Black Lives Matter and he agreed that sponsors had
a big part to play. Sanjay Bhandari said there had not been enough progress but there were green shoots in terms of expected regulation targets. The code for sports governance had missed a trick in not adding ethnicity to gender targets, but that may be rectified. There was a disproportionate focus on board representation without a pathway to senior executive leadership positions. Lord Snape asked the witnesses what recommendations the committee could make. Sanjay Bhandari said it would be "ask, don't assume." Arun Kang wanted focussed long-term targets to get away from systemic racism. Janett Walker added that senior leadership teams should go through anti-racist training. Panel 2 witnesses:
Lord Willis again asked for an assessment of the government's efforts to get women and girls from all backgrounds involved in sport. Baroness Campbell said that despite investment, provision had declined. There had been a lack of strategy and management implementation. In primary schools, it had been a postcode lottery. In secondary schools, time for PE had also declined. DCMS, Sport England and UK Sport had tried to do their part, but they were having to recover people lost because of the poor school system. Stephanie Hilborne said she had been shocked by the deliberate exclusion of women from sport in the past and recovering that position took time. She was impressed by the efforts of the current Sports Minister and by the efforts of Sport England. Sahiba Majeed agreed that women, especially Muslim women, had been marginalised. Sport England's Uniting the Movement had been a positive step. She supported a bottom-up approach to getting women from the Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities - the poorest in the UK - involved in sport. Replying to Baroness Sater, Baroness Campbell said there needed to be a national strategy with clearly defined roles at all levels. Lord Knight asked how to include women and girls from minorities in sport. Sahiba Majeed questioned the benefits of making Muslim girls take part in organised sports only to prove their inability. They would be more comfortable, and better results would ensue if they could control their environments, as they may have done during pandemic lockdown periods. Stephanie Hilborne explained at length the problem of stereotyping of women in sport. Baroness Campbell said much inherent sexism was built into social media which she hoped would be tackled in the Online Safety Bill. Baroness Brady asked what could be done to tackle the toxic atmosphere of abuse and discrimination against women and girls in sport. Stephanie Hilborne pointed to the lack of accountability for social media for which there had to be better regulation. Replying to Baroness Sater regarding getting women into positions of leadership in sport, Stephanie Hilborne said her charity had pressed for a minimum of 30% on government-funded bodies, but didn't realise there had to be 30% men as well. There was a lack of women at executive level and not enough female coaches. Baroness Campbell said there could be targets, although she did not favour quotas. It was known that a balance in the boardroom led to better productivity. At the FA, 50% of the senior executive team were women, which was changing the culture and nature of the organisation. Sahiba Majeed said there should be support for "grassroots ambassadors." Earl of Devon asked about suggested recommendations, Stephanie Hilborne said investment in women's sport needed to be more than 50% and sponsors should be required to put more than 1% of their investments into women. There also needed to be equality in prize money. Sahiba Majeed called for greater support for community organisations, providing young Muslims with the opportunity to take part in physical activity. Baroness Campbell wanted to see clarity in school provision with equal opportunity for girls and boys, which would require investment in teacher training. She also thought PE should be a core subject and she suggested there could be a 'national commissioner' to pull together the effort across all departments. |