Agenda item

Report of the Director of Recreation.

This report describes the current sport and physical activity offer open to Children and Young People (CYP) in the borough and current activity levels. Opportunities to increase access and participation by CYP and reduce inactivity are also discussed.

Strategically, sport and physical activity is making a positive contribution to the We Make Camden ambitions and the lives of our CYP. This is especially the case when it comes to helping CYP to have the best start in life, community health and wellbeing, championing equality of access and responding to disproportionality, which are also discussed in this paper.

The focus within this report is school age children and young people, from age 5- to 18-year-olds, including up to 25-year-olds for Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) residents.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Recreation.

The Committee was shown a brief video clip called ‘Wildcats captured in their Natural Habitat’ of young children playing football.

In response to questions, the Head of Sport and Physical Activity, Nigel Robinson, Community Sport and Physical Activity Manager, Deborah Bush and Director of Recreation Oliver Jones made the following points:

·       With regards to opening up access to sports facilities to underrepresented groups such as the South Asian Community, the Council had made this a formal performance indicator to improve access to sports facilities to disproportionately under-represented groups in the community. The reasons for low representation were being investigated with the aim to devise a work plan to break down barriers.

·       There was the expectation that before any physical activity or exercise was taken up, a qualified instructor would ask about physical conditions, require a health questionnaire to be completed and provide the appropriate warnings.

·       With regards to people that were unaware they had a medical condition, community centres could signpost people to conduct checks before starting exercise classes. This could be taken back to community centres to provide guidance to customers.

ACTION BY: Head of Sport and Physical Activity/Community Sport and Physical Activity Manager

·       In terms of prices charged by Multi-Use Games Areas (MUGAS), a lot were mostly located in parks and housing estates where people were not charged. There were 3 in leisure centres for which the Council charged.

·       There were also lots of other facilities which were not managed by the Council.

·       The Leisure Centres fees and charges were set by the Cabinet and agreed at the Council every year. The prices were largely led by demand and also based on the rate charged by surrounding facilities.

·       In some cases, there were concession rates applied for example, for some facilities and centres there was a 30% discount for children.

A member highlighted that in the Northwest of the borough there was a lack of green space / community space to cater for the needs of secondary school pupils. The Community Space in West Hampstead served the needs of younger children and older people quite well, there was however a gap for secondary school pupils and requested that consideration be given to providing a package for this group.

·       In relation to the drop off in figures when transitioning from primary school to secondary school, this was a national issue of drop out between primary and secondary pupils particularly for teenage girls. There was a significant amount of data nationally and officers were looking to understand the reasons for this at a Camden local level.

·       A questionnaire had been developed to help provide a better understanding of the situation regarding transition from primary to secondary school in Camden. This would be reviewed with the aim to break down the barriers.

·       With regards to low rate of physical activity and take up of opportunities particularly among South Asian women, numerous needs assessments had been conducted by the Council over the years. Offers had been targeted to areas known to be underrepresented.

·       With regards to the demographic shift in the population of Camden, the Council was still trying to understand the impact of this. The Council was reviewing this with a view to including it in its internal programme.

·       With regards to gymnastic facilities in the borough these were oversubscribed. The Council had received a grant of £7.7m from the Government’s levelling up fund, £3.5m of which was going towards the upgrade and extension of sports centres and gymnastic facilities in the borough. This would increase the capacity by 30%, it was hoped that this increased capacity would grant many more Camden children access to the facilities in the borough.

·       With regards to the sporting facility on Alex Street, the Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture informed the Committee that she had met with the UCL union and the issue was around change of use of the building and the planning works. It had become a contentious issue between the parties involved.

The Committee commented that there had been a long gap since a report on Sports and Physical Activity had been received and looked forward to having another report in due course. Officers were thanked for the report and attending the meeting.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.