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Publication scheme

The purpose of this Publication Scheme is to ensure that we’re transparent and open in how we spend public and National Lottery money.

Some of the information is available via links to pages elsewhere on our website. Where there are no links, you may write to us and we’ll advise if there’s a charge for the information – cheques should be made payable to Sport England.

Documents in the scheme

Some of the documents referred to in our Publication Scheme may contain information that’s exempt under the Freedom of Information Act. Where this is the case, the information will be deleted but we’ll indicate where such deletions have been made and which exemptions apply.

The copyright in the material listed in this Publication Scheme is owned by us, unless otherwise stated.

The supply of documents under this Publication Scheme does not give the person or organisation who receives them an automatic right to re-use the documents in a way that would infringe copyright, for example, by making multiple copies, publishing (including on the internet) and issuing copies to the public.

Brief extracts of the material may be reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and news reporting.

If you wish to make a request for information that's not available via our Publication Scheme, you may make a freedom of information request.

The London Aquatics Centre during a public swim session

About Sport England

  • Who we are and what we do

    Sport England is the trading name of the English Sports Council, which was created by Royal Charter in 1997 to foster, support and encourage the development of sport and sporting excellence.

    Details of the National Lottery Act 1993 can be viewed on the UK Statute Law Database.

    The Financial Directions and Memoranda are available on request.

    We're also answerable to Parliament through the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport (DCMS), which is our sponsoring department.

    We carry out our objectives mainly by granting awards to sporting bodies and by making representations on planning applications which affect playing fields.

    We receive our funding from two different sources: from the government and from the National Lottery. The Annual Funding Agreement sets out the funding that we'll receive from the Government.

    More information about our current awards programmes can be viewed in the our funds section

    You can find information about how we're structured and the roles of the Board and the Executive team in the why we’re here section.

    We work with numerous partner organisations, including our sister organisations, UK Sport and the Youth Sport Trust. You can find out more about work with our partners in our most recent annual report.

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  • What we spend and how we spend it

    You can view data about awards made by us on our why we’re here page. You can also search for Lottery awards made by us and other Lottery distributors on DCMS' Lottery Grants website.

    Our annual reports set out our activities over the past year and accounts for how public money has been spent.

    We've been publishing a summary of our annual budget since 2010.

    We receive funding through agreement with DCMS via the government Spending Review process, which sets a three-year funding settlement.

    Pay received by Board members and senior Sport England colleagues is listed within the annual report.

    We publish expenses of Board members and senior Sport England colleagues in our annual report. 

    We publish some information about payments made to suppliers where such payments exceed £25,000. Our current competitive contracts and terms of trade are here.

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  • How we make decisions

    Major policy proposals and decisions are made by Sport England’s Board. Agendas and Minutes for Main Board meetings are published online.

    • Board papers are available on request by writing. There is a charge for Board papers of £5 per paper.
    • The Executive team makes operational decisions about Sport England.
    • The projects team makes decisions on funding applications for major sporting projects.
    • Guidance notes for all of our current award programmes can be found on the Our Funds page of our website.
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  • Policies and procedures

    If you'd like to see any of the following Sport England policies that aren't currently available on our website, please write to the address at the bottom of this page.

    • Anti-Fraud and Corruption
    • Code of Conduct
    • Complaints policy
    • Conflicts of Interest
    • Data Protection
    • Delegated Authorities
    • Email and Internet Acceptable Use
    • Equal Opportunities
    • Expenses
    • Freedom of Information
    • Gifts & Hospitality
    • Procurement Policy & Governance

    Records Management:

    • Destruction Procedure
    • Records Handover
    • Good documentation management
    • Safeguarding and Protecting Children and Young People
    • Travel & Subsistence
    • Whistleblowing
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  • Lists and registers

    Sport England has a register of its assets. If you'd like any information from this register please write, using the address below.

    • We hold a list of gifts and hospitality provided to senior colleagues and Board members. If you’d like to see this list, please write to the address below – there’s a £5 charge for copies of the register.
    • The interests of senior colleagues are listed in the Annual Report.
    • Sport England publishes a Freedom of Information disclosure log.
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  • Services we offer

    We offer advice on developing sporting policy. Including:

    • Creating regional and sub-regional policy
    • Creating local policy
    • Examples of core strategy policies, and
    • Guiding principles for sport and spatial planning.

    Sport England publishes detailed design guidance notes for a whole host of facilities, which are available on our Facilities and Planning pages.

    Our Sports Facilities Calculator (SFC) is a planning tool which helps to estimate the amount of demand for key community sports facilities that is created by a given population.

    Active Places Power provides a planning tool for sports facilities. It’s designed to assist in investment decisions and the development of infrastructure improvement strategies for sport. You’ll need to subscribe to use this tool.

    Sport England publishes a guide to the production of playing pitch strategies.

    Other planning tools and guidance notes can be accessed on our Planning for Sport page.

    Since August 1996, Sport England has been a ‘statutory consultee’ on planning applications affecting playing fields. This means that Sport England must be consulted by the local planning authority (LPA) when a relevant planning application is received. We’ve produced a guidance note for local authorities explaining these consultation arrangements.

    Under the Freedom of Information Act, Sport England must disclose any information it holds to anyone who asks for it, unless an exemption applies. You can find out more on our Freedom of Information page.

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All document requests can be made either by post or email to:

Information governance and FOI manager
Sport England
1st Floor, 21 Bloomsbury Street
London
WC1B 3HF

Email: [email protected]

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