Response from : Bridgend County Borough Council

1. The extent to which the Welsh Government are achieving the goals set out in the programme for government, creating an Active Wales plan and the vision for sport in Wales in regard to participation levels in sport.

1.1. The ‘Free Swimming Initiative’ shows greater success / participation at over 60 than under 16 across Wales. There is significant variance within Wales in approach and accounting (BCBC achieved 800,000 plus senior swims in 2012/13)

1.2. If standards of PE are deemed to be increasing then the reduction levels in enjoyment are of concern (Girls drop by 19% from year 6 to year 9)

1.3. BCBC data is showing an increase in young people who feel healthy, better nutritional choices being made, a reduction in prevalence of smoking / alcohol.

1.4. The Disability sport programme delivers high levels of performance in relation to investment but needs integrating and adopting more holistically.

1.5. Only 42% of year 9 pupils believe PE contributes to a balanced healthy lifestyle compared to 79% in relation to sport and exercise.

1.6. The dragon sport and 5x60 programmes are valuable but their benefit is in establishing continuity in sustainable community settings. 68% of young people are now active on 3 or more occasions per week.

1.7. The Community Chest and development grant programmes have significant value for third sector support and development. BCBC have traditionally overspent their allocation but deploy project support staff to clubs / associations.

1.8. There are still large numbers of young people leaving school without the ability to swim – delegating budgets for swimming to individual schools can create problems / variation between local authorities.

1.9. Use of the outdoor environment and development of non-traditional activities is increasing, supported by clubs and private operators.

2.0 Availability of datasets and statistics to measure participation levels in sport particularly those disaggregated by equality strand and socio economic groups

2.1. BCBC conducts survey data at year 6 and year 9 on an alternating year basis and has 8 years of trend data. The data measures age, gender, disability (within a mainstream school setting) and geographical location linked to WIMD. The data is integrated within corporate performance reporting and used to inform outcomes approaches to target setting.

2.2 National programmes produce quantitative data by volume, age, gender, race, disability in some instances e.g. dragon sport, 5x60, disability, FSI

2.3 Free Swimming Initiative has a national data collection system in place and this is linked to an aquatic plan.

2.4 BCBC conducts a bi-annual survey of sports clubs and associations and can measure geographical spread and some equalities profiling age, gender and disability

2.5 BCBC are working with our partner Halo Leisure to make better use of technology and have installed a new database management system, implementing equalities based customer survey etc.

2.6 Sport Wales adult survey and Welsh Health Survey have been used to inform single integrated plan – Bridgend County Together.

2.7 BCBC have commissioned a survey of disabled young people and sport to be provided by KKP.

3 The opportunities and barriers to participation in sport that exist for different groups of people including by equity strand and socio economic groups.

The following barriers have been identified from the year 6 and year 9 survey data that Bridgend CBC collects.

Year 9 Strata Survey 2011

Enjoyment of physical education

	Boys	Girls	Disability
Year 6 (2012)	91.9%	88.3%	Not available
Year 9 (2011)	91%	74.9%	76%

4 What are the links between programmes to develop sport in Wales and other Welsh Government initiatives to increase physical activity

4.1 Bridgend County Borough Council continue to be part of the Let’s Walk Cymru Programme that attracted 2500 participants during 2012-13.

4.2. Coastal recreation and events related tourism grows in importance. Porthcawl secured 2 blue flags and 2 seaside awards for the current year.

4.3 The play sufficiency assessment and action plan has fully recognised unstructured participation opportunities inclusive of leisure facilities, parks and playing fields.

4.4 The ‘National Exercise Referral Scheme’ is delivered by Halo Leisure on an annual basis commissioned by Bridgend County Borough Council.

4.5 The ‘Families First’ initiative is supporting the sport and physical activity service to deliver healthy lifestyles programmes and fundamental skills to early year’s groups and families.

4.6 Families First similarly is supporting activity development for children and young people with disabilities.

4.7 Indoor leisure facilities at Ogmore, Garw Valley, Maesteg and subsequently Bridgend are integrating library provision within leisure centres broadening the market segmentation.

4.8 Capital investment and integrated design principles within community focused schools is seeing a development of high quality dual use venues being created (Archbishop McGrath School, Coleg-Y-Dderwen, Caerau Primary, Parc Derwen Primary, Maesteg Comprehensive School). These locations are becoming the community hubs for club and team sport.