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THOUGHT LEADERS INDUSTRY EXPERTS SHARE THEIR VIEWS ON THE CURRENT ISSUES AFFECTING SPORT


THE DANGER OF SCRAPPING THE DCMS JOHN GOODBODY


Olympic Games has sent a shiver through the sporting establishment. After being set up in 1992 and originally called the Department of National Heritage, it was quickly nicknamed ‘The Ministry of Fun’ and ‘the Ministry of Free Tickets.’ Howev- er, over the last 20 years, the government department has gained in stature by giving sport a much greater prominence and also playing a key role in deciding that London should bid for the Games and then wholeheartedly supporting the candidature. The reason for scrapping the Depart-


R


ment is, of course, to reduce costs. It has been suggested that its three main components – culture, media and sport – should be hived off to other parts of Whitehall, which is where they were


eports that the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) faces being scrapped after the


before 1992. With negotiations currently underway for a merger of UK Sport and Sport England, it looks as if we will be back to where we were in the 1980s, when there was a Sports Council, responsible for both England and UK dimensions, and it, in turn, being responsible to a Sports Minister, who, at that stage, was with the Department of the Environment. Andy Reed, who chairs the Sport and


Recreation Alliance, is among those concerned about any dismantling of the DCMS, with sport then moving to join a much bigger department, such as Educa- tion, where it was, briefly, before 1992. He says that in the DCMS, sport enjoys


a higher profile than moving to a depart- ment “where it was a secondary concern or a tool to achieve a single, specific aim.” He believes that “given its proven effec- tiveness in contributing to a wide range of public policy objectives – like crime


reduction, higher educational attain- ment and improved social cohesion – shoehorning sport into a department where primacy lies elsewhere would do it, and the nation, a great disservice.” As sport permeates so many areas of


society perhaps it could sit in the Cabinet Office, which has a wide-ranging role? Reed would reluctantly accept this but


says he would prefer for the DCMS to re- main as an entity, with sport continuing to be a permanent fixture there. Surely this is right, because returning to where we were in the 1980s is retrogressive. The change since then has worked and been seen to work and should be allowed to continue to work in the future. John Goodbody has covered 11 successive Olympic Games for the Sunday Times. @JohnGoodbody


CAPITALISING ON OUR GOLDEN DECADE OF SPORT SIMON JOHNSON


T


he clock is ticking down to the start of Britain’s Golden Decade of Sport, with the 2012 Olympic and


Paralympic Games first on the calendar of major events. And it’s to my personal sorrow that as COO of England’s bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup that we weren’t able to add that prized tourna- ment to the list of blue riband sporting events taking place on these shores. As the new CEO of Business In Sport


and Leisure (BISL), I recognise that our members have a large impact on wheth- er the objectives of hosting these major events are met. The first area is economic benefit and


inward investment. Every time a bid is made to host an event, an Economic Impact Assessment is made by an inde- pendent body. These invariably forecast a huge fillip to the country’s GDP and jus- tifies the government in supporting the


event with guarantees, tax breaks and underwrites of cost. Forty per cent of that economic benefit


is assumed to come from visitor spend. And where will this money be spent? The answer is in bars, pubs, clubs, casinos, res- taurants, hotels and visitor attractions. A thriving leisure industry is therefore the key to us deriving the economic benefit from hosting these events. But if the fiscal and regulatory regime


continues to over-regulate this sector, to burden it with unfair taxes and dispropor- tionate costs, not only will the industry not grow, but businesses will close. So, if visitors can’t find opportunities to spend their money when they visit the UK to watch the 2013 Rugby World Cup, it means we risk squandering the economic reason for bidding for this event in the first place. The second area linked to event host- ing is sports development legacy.


8 Read Sports Management online sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital The government


wants to encour- age more people to be more active and these events are expected to provide the motivation to take up sport. However, playing fields and leisure centres are dis- appearing or falling into disrepair due to public sector cuts. The government needs the private sector to step in to offer high- quality facilities and our members are keen to do so, but we need help to make procurement quicker and cheaper, to make planning more responsive to leisure needs and a system which rewards energy reduc- tion and offers easier ways to raise capital. To prevent the Golden Decade of Sport


falling flat, the government needs to allow the sports and leisure industry to grow. Simon Johnson CEO, Business in Sport and Leisure simon.johnson@bisl.org


Issue 2 2012 © cybertrek 2012


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