The Equality Standard: A Framework for Sport English National Governing Bodies Self Assessment Survey

1. The Equality Standard: A Framework for SportEnglish National Governing BodiesSelf Assessment Survey Report prepared for Sport England By Chris Hudson and Maxine Barlow Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University c.hudson@shu.ac.uk tel: 0114 225 2546 April 2005

2. Contents Slide No. The Equality Standard for Sport 3 Research Aims 4 Outline of Methodology 5 Project Outputs 6 SURVEY FINDINGS 7 Section 1. Current position of NGBs 8 - 17 (Survey questions 1 – 7) Section 2. Demographic Profiles 18 - 24 (Survey questions 8 – 10) Section 3. Perceived benefits of gaining the Standard 26 - 38 (Survey question 11) Section . Challenges faced and assistance required 39- 43 (Survey questions 12 – 15)

3. The Equality Standard for Sport Sports equality is about fairness in sport, equality of access, recognising inequalities and taking steps to address them.  It is about changing the culture and structure of sport to ensure that it becomes equally accessible to all members of society, whatever their age, ability, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality or socio-economic status. The aim of the Standard is to provide a framework for sport to achieve equality and to assist agencies to develop structures and processes, assess performance and ensure continuous improvement. Achieving this aim will help to realise the vision of fair, accessible and high quality sport and physical activity for all. Source: Equality Standard for Sport. Sport England 2004.

4. Research Aim • The purpose of the survey was to gather the thoughts of the Chief Executive of each National Governing Body (NGB) on the current standing of their organisation with regards to equality. • The survey was designed to assess how well NGBs are placed to undertake the work necessary to achieve the Equality Standard in the coming months. • Each Chief Executive provided an insight into the biggest challenges for the NGB individually and any assistance required in working towards the Standard. • Finally, the respondents were asked to consider any possible benefits their organisation might derive from achieving the Equality Standard.

5. Specific sports identified by Sport England as priority development sports have been tasked with achieving the Equality Standard preliminary award by April 2006. This provided a sample of 24 NGBs for the research. The survey was undertaken by telephone with all those English NGBs. This was to ensure the best possible response rate from the small number of NGBs in the sample. As a result of the pro-active efforts of everyone involved a 100% responses rate was achieved. The Chief Executive of each NGB was asked to take part. They were first sent a covering letter and a copy of the survey questions in advance. A Researcher then contacted them by email or telephone to arrange a convenient date and time to undertake the survey by telephone, which then took place on the agreed date. SPSS was the statistical package used to code and analyse the data and produce the headline findings presented in this report. Outline of Methodology

6. Project Outputs The outputs of the survey are twofold: • This summary report of the findings provides a statement of the current position and perceptions of the 24 English NGBs as reported by them. • An individual self assessment statement for each of the participating NGBs has also been produced and provided separately to Sport England. These can be used to ensure the support available to assist NGBs working towards the Equality Standard is tailored and targeted where most needed. In addition, the survey results form the basis for a repeat of the same survey to be conducted in two years time (i.e. after the participating NGBs have gained the Standard). This will allow a comparison of the impact the Equality Standard has had to be made.

7. Survey Findings The findings are structured into four sections which present the following: Section 1. The current position of NGBs Section 2. The demographic profiles of the membership, staff and National Council/Board Section 3. Any perceived potential effects and benefits of gaining the Equality Standard Section 4. Challenges to overcome and assistance required All quantitative responses were measured on a scale of 1 – 4 1 represents ‘not at all’ and 4 represents ‘greatly’

8. Section 1The current position of National Governing Bodies regarding equality and the implementation of the Equality Standard

9. Chart 1. Desire to ensure NGB operates equitably

10. Chart 2. Necessary knowledge to ensure NGB operates equitably

11. Chart 3. Necessary human resources to ensure NGB operates equitably

12. Chart 4. Necessary financial resources to ensure NGB operates equitably.

13. Chart 5. How equitable is your NGB?

14. Chart 6. To what extent is your NGB committed to equality?

15. Chart 7. Understanding issues faced by under-represented groups

16. Chart 8. Comparison of responses from Questions 1 – 7

17. Summary of current position of NGBs • NGBs expressed a high level of desire to work equitably, a high commitment to equality and an encouraging level of knowledge to ensure they operated equitably. • This was balanced by fewer NGBs having the available human and financial resources. • The area of greatest need is lack of available of financial resources to assist with implementing the standard – as indicated by over two thirds of NGBs (67%) • Overall, the reported position of English NGBs can be stated as being very committed to equality, fairly well informed, but lacking resources to make it happen. • It is notable that 76% of NGBs stated they are fairly (i.e. score 3) or greatly equitable at this moment in time. This contrasts with the findings regarding demographic profile in the next section.

18. Section 2 The demographic profiles of NGBs membership, staff and National Council/Board with regard to gender, ethnicity and disability

19. Chart 9. To what extent does the demographic profile ofyour Membership reflect the population as a whole? Some significant gender representation (38% ‘greatly’ represented) Low levels of disability membership (19% ‘not at all’ represented) Lowest level of membership representation amongst ethnic groups Over a quarter of NGBs did not have disability/ethnicity information available

20. Chart 10. To what extent does the Demographic profile of your National Council/Board reflect the population as a whole? A majority of NGBs stated that people with a disability and people from ethnic groups were ‘not at all’ represented on their National Council/Board. Gender representation varied significantly across NGBs.

21. Chart 11. To what extent does the Demographic profile of your staff reflect the population as a whole? Very low levels of ethnicity and disability representation amongst staff High gender representation – 62% ‘greatly’ represented

22. Chart 12: Demographic profile in terms of disability Low levels of disability representation, particularly on National Council and amongst staff.

23. Chart 13: Demographic profile in terms of gender 62% of NGBs reported that females were ‘greatly’ represented on their staff Proportionately lower levels of female representation at National Council/Board level

24. Chart 14: Demographic profile in terms of ethnicity Low levels of ethnicity representation across all three categories with the highest representation amongst NGB staff and the lowest at National Council/Board level

25. Demographic Profile Summary Gender: • There are some encouraging levels of gender representation: • amongst NGB membership, ‘greatly’ represented in 38% of NGBs • amongst NGB staff, almost two thirds of NGBs (62%) ‘greatly’ represented • However, there are proportionately lower levels of female representation at National Council/Board level Disability: • Low levels of disability membership ('not at all’ represented in 19% of NGBs) • 62% of NGBs stated that people with a disability were ‘not at all’ represented on their National Council/Board • 52% of NGBs stated that people with a disability were ‘not at all’ represented on their staff Ethnicity: • Low level of membership representation amongst ethnic groups • 57% of NGBs stated that people from different ethnic groups were ‘not at all’ represented on their National Council/Board • Varied ethnicity representation amongst NGB staff ranging from 33% ‘not at all’ represented to 19% ‘greatly’ represented Over a quarter of NGBs did not have disability/ethnicity information available.

26. Section 3The reported potential effects and benefits of the working towards gaining the Equality Standard

27. Chart 15: Providing a framework

28. Chart 16: Ensuring democracy

29. Chart 17: Increase participation

30. Chart 18: Meet legal duties

31. Chart 19: Enhance skills & knowledge

32. Chart 20: Increase active involvement

33. Chart 21: Improve equality through monitoring/evaluation

34. Chart 22: Access funding & sponsorship

35. Chart 23: Build on good practice

36. Chart 24: Review current policy

37. Chart 25: Review equality achievements

38. Chart 26: Comparison of responses to Question 11 – Anticipating the impact of the Standard

39. Section 4The challenges to be overcome in working towards the Equality Standard and assistance required

40. What are the major challenges that National Governing Bodies face in working towards the Standard? • Some NGBs face difficulties in engaging volunteers with the principles of equality and compliance with the standard. This is made particularly difficult since NGBs do not have direct access to this group and rely on dissemination of information via clubs. • There appears to be difficulties associated in ensuring that equality is a priority at a variety of levels: NGB board, clubs, individual members. • Resources appeared to be a barrier to implementation of the policy both in terms of finance and officer time. • There is a need for the collation of accurate data on membership and demographic profile in order to establish a baseline against the standard. There exists a current lack of clarity in both the articulation of the targets and the availability of specific data to monitor compliance e.g. ethnicity and gender. In addition some NGBs seem to be finding it difficult to influence changes in the demographics of their membership and staffing, especially in relation to ethnicity and gender.

41. What assistance do NGBs requirein order to address the challenges? • There is a demand from the NGBs for: - External assistance through central guidance and specialist advise at a local level. - Centrally produced materials and supporting resources including generic information, specific information for individual sports (this was acknowledged to be potentially costly) and mechanisms for sharing of good practice • The NGBs would like to see better evidence of commitment, direction and guidance from a strategic level, starting with the Government through to UK Sport and Sport England. • There appears to be a need for training on a number of issues: awareness of the standard, the audit process and how to inform/influence the membership and volunteers on the issues.

42. What are the benefits that you believe NGBs may accrue from gaining the Equality Standard? • Promotional opportunities to increase the profile and importance of equity and diversity in sport among the public at large. • Real opportunities to increase participation in sport, especially among poorly represented groups, resulting form the changes in policy and practice. • Accessing new funding opportunities which may emerge as a result of our organisations being more inclusive. • An increased understanding and awareness of equity and diversity within sport.

43. Chart 27: Level of Equality Standard 33% of NGBs anticipate reaching both the Preliminary and Intermediate levels by March 2006. 14% (3 NGBs) anticipate reaching Advanced level, the remaining 20% did not know.

44. Acknowledgements Sport England would like to place on record their appreciation of all the National Governing Bodies who took part in this survey: All England Netball Association Amateur Boxing Association Badminton Association of England British Baseball Federation British Mountaineering Association English Golf Union England Hockey England Squash England Basketball English Lacrosse Association English Karate English Volleyball English Table Tennis Association England and Wales Cricket Board Lawn Tennis Association National Federation of Anglers National Federation of Sea Anglers Rugby Football Union Rugby Football League Salmon and Trout Association The Football Association