Debate on Report from the National Plan for Sport and Recreation Committee: ‘A national plan for sport, health and wellbeing’, House of Lords, 9 February 2023

We are deeply concerned by the Government’s decision to exclude swimming pools and leisure centers from the list of sectors eligible for increased support under the Government’s energy bill rebate scheme. This is despite the sector providing significant evidence to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy showing that the operation of leisure facilities is very energy intensive and at high risk of closure due to high financial pressures.

Energy bills at leisure centers have increased by 300 percent since 2019. Vendors also face greater financial pressures, such as B. Meeting increases in the national subsistence level and increases in the cost of goods, services and chemicals. At the same time, frequency and income are still below pre-COVID levels. The cost of living crisis has exacerbated the tough choices people have to make about their spending, which includes membership in leisure centers.

Sports and leisure facilities were already very vulnerable during this crisis. Prior to the pandemic, cuts in municipalities’ core funding meant that municipalities and providers had to focus on generating income to operate facilities. While city councils worked hard to ensure most facilities were self-sufficient through a combination of efficiency gains and the encouragement of income-generating activities, significant challenges remained in generating sufficient revenue to invest in capital projects. As a result, more than two-thirds of recreational facilities and swimming pools have exceeded their expected lifespan or are overdue for renovation, making many facilities energy inefficient and costly to operate.

During the pandemic, communities across the country have invested £159m to keep facilities afloat, along with £144m in provider reserves and on top of the government’s welcome £100m national recovery fund. Providers operate on slim margins, pouring money back into the service to support communities, and now that they’ve exhausted their reserves, they simply can’t meet the significant increases in costs. The 2023/24 local government finance comparison announced on February 8 offers a welcome overall increase in core funding for local governments, but we are concerned that a significant portion of the increase in core spending power for 2023/24 has been achieved through a combination of potentially one-off grants, earmarked funding , reallocation of existing funds and the assumption that local authorities will enforce tax increases.

This is particularly important for those communities that undertake recreational activities, which experience the smallest increases in their budgets and are the least flexible in using these funds to support their recreational services. At the same time, the announcement of the public health grant has been further delayed, hampering the ability to use these funds to support services and jeopardizing health services commissioned by recreational providers, including Tier 2 weight management systems.