Ministers team up to support plans to shape Scotland's sporting future

Tuesday 8 June 2004

Frank McAveety, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport and Tom McCabe, Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care teamed up in Edinburgh today to launch the nine implementation strategies, which have been developed to deliver the targets set out in Sport 21 - Scotland’s national strategy for sport 2003-2007.

Sport 21 continues to be recognised as the key to shaping Scotland’s sporting future with the clear priority to get more Scots playing sport more often and to allow everyone in Scotland to realise their full potential. It enjoys the endorsement of four Scottish Executive Ministerial portfolios namely Education and Young People, Health and Community Care, Communities as well as Tourism Culture and Sport.

Implementing the key actions to deliver the targets will be the responsibility of a wide range of organisations in Scottish Sport including local authorities and Scottish governing bodies of sport as well as several Scottish Executive departments and agencies. Working in partnership to share good practice and maximise input and resources will be vital.

Launched in March 2003, Sport 21 sets out 11 key targets for Scottish Sport by 2007, which are aimed at taking the first steps towards an overall target of increasing adult participation in sport by 2020. The targets are all based on three visions for Scotland - a nation where sport is more widely available to all; sporting talent is recognised and nurtured; and world class performances in sport are achieved and sustained.

Speaking at the launch, Sports Minister Frank McAveety said: “I am firmly committed to the agenda set by Sport 21. A key priority for me has been, and continues to be, to work with key partners and with my Ministerial colleagues to help implement and deliver the targets. A great deal of work has been done so far in developing strategies for meeting these targets. I would like to thank all organisations involved in the process to date for their very valuable input and their commitment to and enthusiasm for the process.

“ For the strategy to be effective it will need to be driven forward energetically” said Alastair Dempster, Chairman of sportscotland.

“ However, the story doesn’t end here. Today’s launch is simply the first step in the process which will allow the targets of Sport 21 to be met.”

“ For the strategy to be effective it will need to be driven forward energetically” said Alastair Dempster, Chairman of sportscotland.

“ When we launched Sport 21 a year ago I said that while this provided an excellent framework for the development of sport in Scotland, it was only the starting point. Just over 12 months on I am delighted that we have developed target strategies and that all our partners are still on board and fully committed to turning the targets into action and for that I thank them.

“We are also delighted that Sport 21 has attracted the support and recognition of four Ministerial portfolios which again demonstrates how sport can make a valuable contribution to lives of all Scots in terms of health, education and communities as well as sport and culture.”

The development and implementation of Sport 21 has been an inclusive process and is an excellent example of partnership working at its best, which demonstrates how sport could make a significant contribution to community planning.

This partnership approach at the national level now needs to be replicated at a local level if we are to be successful in achieving Sport 21’s targets. sportscotland has already made progress towards this, with individual partnership managers allocated to work with specific local authorities and governing bodies of sport.

A series of workshops is now being organised across Scotland (Inverness, Dundee, Glasgow, Stirling, Aberdeen, Edinburgh) between 22 June and 14 July to allow discussion on the target strategies at a local level before they are finalised. These workshops will also enable a wide range of organisations in Scottish sport to share and discuss examples of current good practice in providing opportunities in sport.

A copy of the national strategy for sport and the target implementation plans are available in hard copy or on the sportscotland website (www.sportscotland.org.uk) and contain the following key challenge and 11 targets:

• Key Challenge By 2020, 60% of adult Scots will take part in sport at least once a week
  
• 11 Key Targets by 2007…
  1. 80% of primary schoolchildren will be physically active.
  2. We will have made progress towards all schoolchildren taking part in at least two hours of high quality physical education classes a week.
  3. 85% of those aged 13-17 will take part in sport, in addition to the school curriculum, more than once a week.
  4. 49% of those aged 14 plus in Social Inclusion Partnership areas will take part in sport at least once a week.
  5. 55% of those aged 17-24 will take part in sport more than twice a week.
  6. 43% of those aged 45-64 will take part in sport at least once a week.
  7. Over 250 Scots will have been medallists on the world stage.
  8. Scotland will have over 500 sports halls available to the public so that 70% of Scots have access to a hall within 20 minutes walk.
  9. Over one million Scots will play sport in membership of clubs.
  10. Scotland will sustain 150,000 volunteers who are contributing to the development and delivery of Scottish sport.
  11. Every local authority area’s community planning process will have contributed to the targets of Sport 21 2003-2007.