The Scottish Government

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01 PREFACE

This strategy sets out the long-term aims and objectives for sport until 2020 and plans for its delivery and evaluation. It has been produced following a scheduled review of Sport 21: 2003-2007. However, this is the first time Scottish Ministers have led the review and is a demonstration of their commitment to sport and its development. At a meeting of the Sport 21 National Implementation Forum in October 2005 the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport was clear that Sport 21 must move into a new phase to secure delivery, ensure that all the key partners understood their responsibilities and required actions, and put in place a simple and straightforward system of evaluating impact.

The review process commenced in January 2006 and was led by Chris Robison from the Scottish Sports Association, who was seconded for the period of the review to the Scottish Executive. The process was managed by a small group comprising senior representatives from sportscotland, COSLA, sports governing bodies and local authority interests and was chaired by the Scottish Executive.

An outline of the strategy, including the priorities for change, was endorsed by Scottish Ministers in August 2006 and subsequently discussed at the First Minister's Sport Summit held the following month.

The First Minister's Sport Summit explored how sport in Scotland could be strengthened to ensure that the opportunities offered by a London Olympics and Paralympics, and hopefully a Glasgow Commonwealth Games, could be extended across the population. The First Minister has made clear his commitment to the enhancement of sport in Scotland from grassroots level through to the performance of our elite sportsmen and women.

The First Minister's Sport Summit was attended by key people in Scottish sport including some of our elite sportsmen and women and recent Commonwealth Games medallists. The First Minister's Sport Summit fully endorsed the principles and focus of the draft sport strategy, while workshops examined the proposed national priorities and outcomes and provided useful feedback.

Key points which emerged included the need:

• for greater clarity of roles across the sporting sector and between various organisations particularly in relation to the player pathway;
• to strengthen links between sports governing bodies and share resources, knowledge and expertise;
• to invest in club development including innovative approaches to ensure greater coverage;
• to improve coach education;
• for new approaches to the provision of sports facilities including making greater use of the school estate, co-location and responsive programming and opening hours;
• to provide a wide range of sporting opportunities at an early age;
• for schools to provide quality physical education and extra-curricular sporting activities particularly in secondary schools; and
• for support and encouragement to be given to parents, teachers and volunteers who are highly influential in encouraging and sustaining young people's involvement and development in sport.

Each of these was checked against the emerging strategy to ensure that it reflected the day's discussions. The strategy is, of course, only the first stage in the Executive's long-term plans for sport in Scotland and the dialogue must continue if we are to address the key issues facing sport development.

The First Minister was greatly encouraged by the discussions at the Sport Summit and the positive feedback on the draft strategy. For the first time, people from across the sport sector had come together and recognised their separate yet collaborative role in developing sport in Scotland. In response, the First Minister undertook to ensure that the Scottish Executive would hold an annual sports conference.

Reaching Higher also builds on the work of Sport 21 and takes account of the significant opportunities that are emerging for sport in Scotland.

Sport 21 has been instrumental in delivering a number of key successes for the development of sport:

• the introduction of the Active Schools programme;
• the establishment of the Scottish Institute of Sport network;
• the professionalisation of sports governing bodies; and
• a building programme for national sports facilities;

The strategy sets out:

• a vision for Scotland as a sporting nation;
• the importance of sport for individuals, communities and the nation;
• the national outcomes and priorities for sport;
• the roles and responsibilities of the key delivery agencies;
• principles for planning and delivery; and
• the monitoring and implementation framework.

The strategy for physical activity "let's make Scotland more active"¹, locates sport as one element of the wider physical activity spectrum. While this strategy, recognises the wider agenda within which sport operates, it focuses solely on the development of sport.

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