The future of sportscotland
Stewart Maxwell, Minister for Sport
Scottish Parliament
January 9, 2008
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This Government has the best interests of Scottish sport at heart and therefore the review of sportscotland has been conducted with this in mind. We have taken a flexible and open-minded approach to this review.
It was very important that we listened to our stakeholders and take account of the recent challenges and opportunities that the winning of the bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games create for Scottish sport.
This offered a new dimension to the review. It is a fantastic opportunity and even more reason to make the delivery of sport the most efficient and effective it can be and as quickly as possible.
The review examined whether sportscotland's current functions continued to be necessary and, if so, which organisational arrangements would be most effective in delivering them.
As part of the review process the Government agreed that it was crucial to engage with all our stakeholders and key players that represent the delivery of sport in Scotland and give them the opportunity to submit their views.
That is why all the principal organisations that represent sports interests in Scotland have been consulted. This included a number of Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport directly and others as part of group work shops led by the Scottish Sports Association, the representative organisation for Scottish Governing Bodies. This enabled them all to input into the review process.
In addition others such as COSLA, the Scottish Institute of Sport, the Area Institutes of Sport and the Commonwealth Games Council also contributed to the review.
The consultation process was carried out through a combination of written correspondence and discussions with key stakeholders.
The feedback from the stakeholders indicated that the majority wanted to retain a National agency for sport and valued its expertise.
They identified the integrated 'one stop' approach to lottery and Government investment as paramount. However, they also felt that there was scope for simplifying the current complex sporting landscape. I have been impressed by the positive and practical responses from our stakeholders and I wish to thank them for their input.
This country must ensure the delivery of sport reaches the whole nation and we are now presented with a unique opportunity.
The tremendous success of Glasgow in winning the bid to host the Commonwealth Games in 2014 for Scotland offers a great opportunity for Scottish sport and the people of Scotland.
This is not just an opportunity for those who take part as elite athletes, coaches or officials, but can be used as an opportunity to inspire everyone in Scotland. Most of all we want to inspire our young people to adopt a healthy lifestyle and to enjoy being active, with all the personal and social benefits this brings. This is truly an exciting time for sport.
We therefore need to ensure that we have an efficient, effective and co-ordinated approach to sports development. Delivery of sport depends heavily on having a robust developmental programme for sports professionals.
We need people who are able to identify and disseminate good practice by working with national, regional and local sports development networks.
This Government is committed to ensuring the organisation which will deliver sport in Scotland will be leaner and more efficient, removing the "layers of bureaucracy" of the previous structure. It will be fit for purpose ensuring the interests of sport remain paramount. It will provide strong support across the country nurturing talent, supporting grass roots and boosting participation in sport.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Having listened to, and considered the views and opinions of stakeholders, this Government has made the decision that sportscotland should merge with the Scottish Institute of sport, into a single body, under a single board.
This government wants to de-clutter the sporting landscape and ensure this new organisation delivers sport in a more effective and efficient manner which will benefit Scotland.
I also want to emphasise that we are not just merging together two bodies but are carrying out a radical overhaul. We will create a flatter structure and bring delivery much closer to the user.
We have decided that this newly merged organisation will retain the name sportscotland. This decision has been made as we do not want to waste time or money on an unnecessary re-branding exercise, when sportscotland is a strong recognised brand within the market place.
The changes in how sportscotland is structured and operates to better support sport is the key, and it with this in mind that we will initiate changes as quickly as possible.
LOCATION
Turning now to the issue of the location of sportscotland's headquarters, I am pleased to announce that this new organisation's HQ will be located in Glasgow. I know that this decision will come as a huge disappointment to the Labour benches, who were desparately hoping to attack the Government, but yet again their attacks have proved to be nothing more than the usual ridiculous scaremongering.
We intend to initiate this relocation as soon as possible and it will ultimately be located at the new indoor arena in Glasgow.
Basing sportscotland in Glasgow emphasises the opportunities the 2014 games will bring. And the important role sportscotland will need to play in ensuring a legacy from the games for the people of Scotland. It will also have a crucial role in supporting our aspirations for the most successful Scottish Games team ever.
The Scottish Institute of Sport will be the performance delivery arm of sportscotland reporting directly to their CEO and their board. The Institute will be tasked with the primary responsibility for delivering on the elite athlete programme.
The high performance hub will remain in Stirling and will be encouraged and supported to continue operating in the innovative and unique way appropriate to the performance sport environment.
Links across the 6 Area Institutes of Sport will be strengthened with potential for the simplification of funding arrangements. It is intended, following discussion to further simplify the structure, to reduce the number of area boards from 12 to 6.
We aim to create a clearer and better supported performance pathway for our aspiring athletes and governing bodies.
We acknowledge the important role the performance experts can play with the Scottish Institute of sport, not only in the area of high performance but taking a technical lead role in performance development.
sportscotland will be charged with ensuring a seamless pathway from grassroots to elite performance level. It will also continue to provide funding, both Government and Lottery, with an integrated strategic approach, to provide statutory functions and the provision of expert advice and support services to sport across Scotland.
We will create a number of 'de-centralised delivery hubs' which will provide expertise and advice to Local Authorities and Scottish Governing Bodies of Sport.
The de-centralised delivery approach will build on sportscotland's experience of the remote working practices already being used by its staff. This will enable a reduced central HQ office base. We believe this will achieve greater efficiency and promote 'smarter' and 'greener' working practices for a national delivery organisation. However, I want to make clear to staff that there will be no compulsory redundancies because of these changes.
It is proposed to create four hubs. One in Glasgow, alongside the new HQ, plus one in Edinburgh, Stirling and Aberdeen.
These decentralised hubs will ensure staff will be able to work more closely with the Area Institutes, Local authorities and Governing Bodies. It will mean less travelling time for staff enabling them to concentrate on building strong partnerships with their stakeholders.
The new sportscotland will encourage wider participation through more initiatives like Active Schools and to support talented sports people with the potential to reach world-class standards.
The three National Centres, Inverclyde, Cumbrae and Glenmore lodge will continue to operate as a trust under their current arrangements. They will be linked more closely, and play a role in the new de-centralised delivery structure.
A new single board will be established to replace the existing sportscotland and SIS boards. This board will retain a number of its current members but will be encouraged to recruit the additional expertise required to best support its new structure.
An implementation team which will include sportscotland, Scottish Institute of sport staff and Government officials, will be created to oversee the set up of the new organisation.
I believe these decisions meet all the objectives we set for the review of sportscotland. They meet the needs of sport, take account of the views of stakeholders and reduce the number of public bodies.
We must now look to the future of sport in Scotland and build on the success of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne which saw outstanding achievements by Scottish athletes.
It is important that we now set in place an infrastructure that will deliver an even greater medal tally in Glasgow.
We also want to ensure our athletes receive the best support possible to enable them to excel in the Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing later this year. Scotland will also have a team of young athletes competing in the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India in October. Some of these will hopefully go on to success in Glasgow.
In addition we must work towards the winter Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver and the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in 2010.
But this is not just about Commonwealth and Olympic sport. Scotland we can look forward to Ryder cup golf in 2014.
And more recently Scotland has seen a resurgence in its success in football internationally, not just with the National Team but also our club teams, and Andy Murray has got Scotland off to a great sporting start to the New Year with his win in Qatar.
LEGACY
We are committed to sport in Scotland and securing a firm and lasting legacy for the future. That was part of our successful bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Through the games we will have an opportunity to showcase Scotland on the International stage, to increase Scotland's sporting prowess and most importantly demonstrate a long lasting benefit to sport.
Scotland as a nation is passionate about sport. We want to see our young people inspired by Scottish athletes performing on the International stage and in a major show case event on home soil in 2014.
We will improve facilities and sports venues; we will focus on increasing participation in sport and physical activity and create an army of volunteers for future sporting events.
There will be many other non sporting benefits for Scotland with probably the most important being the potential improvements to our nations health.
REACHING HIGHER
This Government is committed to implementing Reaching Higher, the national sport strategy which was launched early last year.
The strategy defines what needs to be done to improve sport in Scotland and lays out clear specific roles and responsibilities for all the major partners in Scottish sport, the Scottish Government, sportscotland, local authorities and sports governing bodies.
It is crucial we provide strong leadership to achieve this and we look to our partners to do likewise.
We are all alive to how sport can make a significant contribution across society and without doubt contributes to our objective of Scotland as a nation which is 'wealthier and 'fairer', 'healthier, 'smarter', 'safer' and 'stronger', and 'greener'.
We are emerging from a period of change nationally and locally and have a unique opportunity to ensure that the value of sport is high on a range of new and emerging policy agendas such as Education, Health and Transport.
For example we must continue to encourage physical activity for everyone and continue to promote walking and cycling to benefit the health of the people of Scotland.
LOTTERY
You are all aware of the concerns we share of reduced lottery funding for grass root sports and we continue to pursue this matter with the UK Government.
Since the Lottery began around £275 million has been invested in sports projects in Scotland alone. This is a significant investment and one we cannot allow to be hijacked. More specifically Scotland will lose over £13m directly to Scottish sport.
Why should Scottish sport suffer to deliver a London 2012 Games?
Why is it that winning a major sporting event for London means more lottery money being invested there but, Scotland winning a major sporting event for Glasgow results in lottery funding being taken away from Scottish Sport?
That is unacceptable and an issue this Government will continue to press.