Sport England x 5 Trustees
Salary: Board members’ are remunerated £218 per day, and reasonable travel and subsistence expenses are reimbursed in line with Sport England’s Travel and Expenses policy.
Location: London
Vacancy Description
Board members assist the Chairman and the Executives of Sport England in delivering its statutory objectives and in formulating and implementing its other strategic aims.
The Board takes overall responsibility for Sport England and its performance. The Board:
● Sets and agrees the overall strategy and policy for the organisation
● Oversees the development and implementation of major projects
● Approves all grant awards which exceed £2million
● Approves Sport England’s annual report and accounts
● Oversees performance management
● Ensures that effective arrangements are in place to provide assurance on risk management, governance and internal control of major projects Board members may also take on additional responsibilities,such as membership of the Audit, Risk and Governance and Investment Committees.
Person Specification
We are keen to recruit new people to strengthen and broaden the skills of the Board to drive Sport England forward. As a member of the Board you will share responsibility for the overall direction, vision and strategy of Sport England. We are looking for candidates who can bring innovative ideas, enthusiasm for our values, and excellent judgment to help deliver our objectives. You will be prepared to assist our organisation in taking on any future challenges and play a key role in our success. The successful candidates will have held a position of responsibility in either the public, voluntary or private sectors and will have ability, at a senior level, in one or more of the following areas:
● Financial and business, which might include audit, investment/venture capital or use of data
● Strong commercial background in understanding customer needs and proven track record of meeting them
● Working with underrepresented groups in sport especially women, disabled people or BAME communities
● Experience of working in regional/local authority sport context
● Strong communications/PR industry background
● Public health or education sectors, including schools/extra-curricular sport
Successful candidates must be able to demonstrate:
● An understanding of and commitment to the objectives of Sport England
● A good understanding of the UK’s sporting landscape, including the barriers preventing people taking up sport
● The ability to think strategically at board-level and exercise sound judgment
● A willingness to stimulate rich debate and challenge the executive in a positive and constructive way
● An understanding of delivery or managing behavioural change
Additional Information
About Sport England
Sport England was established in 1996 by Royal Charter to foster, support and encourage the development of sport and sporting excellence. It is a non-departmental public body, and its sponsoring Government department is the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
What we do
In July 2015, DCMS announced that it would be creating a new cross-government strategy and in December 2015 "Sporting Future – A new strategy for an active nation was published. Particular importance was placed on promoting sport and physical activity to people from all backgrounds – be it through taking part, watching live events or volunteering. Sport England was also asked to further engage less active groups – such as women, disabled people, those from lower socio-economic groups and older people.
Sporting Future clearly explained what needs to be achieved, and Sport England’s strategy “Towards an Active Nation”, announced in May 2016, was developed with these goals firmly in mind. The strategy for sport and physical activity moves beyond merely looking at how many people take part. It considers what people get out of participating and what more can be done to make a physically active life truly transformative. Funding decisions are now made on the basis of the outcomes that sport and physical activity can deliver, not simply on the number of participants.
The Government created a framework, with five key outcomes at the centre: physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, individual development, social and community development and economic development. Sport England’s strategy must demonstrate how its investment can impact upon these outcomes.
You can read the Towards an Active Nation strategy here: https://www.sportengland.org/media/10629/sport-england-towards-an-active-nation.pdf
Who do we work with?
We are accountable to DCMS and deliver our strategy with a range of partners, some of which are listed below. In order to deliver the strategy, and as our approach to measuring
the impact of sport and physical activity changes, new partnerships are being formed with new sectors and the Board has a role in identifying these opportunities.
● UK Sport, to ensure talent systems link seamlessly from grassroots to elite
● National Governing Bodies and other funded partners, whose plans contribute towards the achievement of our outcomes
● Partnering with local government
● Community sport at every level
● Youth Sport Trust, SportsAid and more, to increase sporting opportunities for children and young people
● Higher and further education institutions and organisations
● County Sports Partnerships
● Equality partners
● Clubs, coaches and volunteers
● Commercial sector
What does our work involve?
● We make strategic investments to achieve our goals. Over the current strategy period we will invest over £1 billion of Exchequer and National Lottery funding.
● We support our investments by providing advice, expertise and insight to ensure they have the desired impact.
● Funding and supporting interventions that tackle inactivity, particularly for those who are currently least active.
● Promoting the important role that sport and physical activity plays in improving physical and mental wellbeing as well as individual and community development and economic development.
● Statutory consultation on planning applications which threaten playing fields.
● Provision of expertise and advice on planning, facilities, coaching and volunteering.
● Act as advocates for community sport.
● Undertaking Local Delivery Pilots in 12 places to test new interventions that encourage people to be active in communities across the country, and then scaling up what works in other localities.
● Helping more women and girls get active.
You can read more on our website: http://www.sportengland.org/about-us/what-we-do/
How to Apply
Sport England recognises the positive value of diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination. We welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds, particularly those from underrepresented groups including women, disabled people or BAME.
To apply, please send:
● A CV of no more than two sides of A4
● A supporting statement of no more than two sides of A4, setting out how you meet the criteria – make sure you refer to the contents of this document
● The two Monitoring Forms concerning your personal information and political activity, and the Declaration of Interests Form
Completed applications should be emailed to: publicappointments@culture.gov.uk – please put Sport England in the Subject line.
For information about the public appointments process please contact Priya.mistry@culture.gov.uk
If you have any queries about the actual roles themselves, please contact Tanya van Niekerk, Board Secretary, Sport England by email at Tanya.vanniekerk@sportengland.org or
by phone on 0207 273 1678.
