UK SPORTS RECENT AND SIGNIFICANT NATIONAL POLICIES

UK Sports Recent and Significant National Policies

UK Sports Recent and Significant National Policies

Introduction

The UK government has made social exclusion a central issue that dominates all current social policies. Current documents such as 'The Social Exclusion Unit', and the 'DCMS's, 'Strategy for Delivering Government's Sport and Physical Activity Objectives' provide significant information to address the issues surrounding exclusion within sport. National agencies are constantly implementing strategies within local communities to ensure access for every individual. This essay will examine the more recent and significant national policies in relation to ethnic minority groups. It will look at how national policies are filtered down into local authorities and analyse the effectiveness of introducing sporting policy within a community and its benefits, in terms of the links with health, education and social order.

Analysis

Within the United Kingdom, the Government and National Agencies must follow a specific policy process before each document can be implemented. This process ensures complete preparation to allow for an effective policy scheme. The policy formulation process typically includes an attempt to assess as many areas of potential policy impact as possible, to lessen the chances that a given policy will have unexpected consequences. (Houlihan.B, 1997). The policy process is thought to be based on three main stages: (Jones, Gray et al, 1994):

Initiation

Formulation

Implementation

Even with this refined method of policy processing, it seems not one method has been fully established as the most effective system to use when implementing a scheme. The Government and each separate National Agency will have their own personal policy framework which they will use to implement their own policies. Within the policy implementation for sport there are three main bodies involved within the process, the government, sporting agencies and the voluntary/private sector. Throughout this next section, the essay will critically analyse the involvement of each separate body and discuss their importance towards the policy process (Long.J and Sanderson.I, 1996).

The first initial step towards implementing sporting policies for national governing agencies is to take into account the Government's objectives within sport. At national Government level the responsibility for particular sporting policies relies upon a range of government ministries including the Department of National Heritage (DNH), Home Office, Department for Education and Employment and of course the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. (Houliham.B, 1997) The ministries are recognised as playing a role within shaping national policies, although they have few administrative responsibilities. The main executive roles within sport policies are primarily conducted by Sports councils within the United Kingdom such as UK Sport. Accountable to Parliament through the DCMS, UK Sport's work is directed by the managerial board which meets every two months (UK Sport, 2007). UK Sport, Sport England and the Youth Trust are all three national agencies that work very closely with local authorities, governing bodies and clubs within their own region. Each national agency works in conjunction with each other; which allows for a focus upon increasing sports participation through national policy schemes throughout England (Hylton, Bramham et al ...