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The Government's agency for community sport has launched an investigation into £20m worth of grants to grassroots projects.
Sport England said it had recently discovered funding to sports over the past eight years had been made without its knowledge via the “World Class Payments Bureau”.
The role of the bureau did not show up in Sport England's annual accounts and the investigation will determine whether the cash was properly spent on coaches and facilities.
Sport England chief executive Jennie Price was alerted to the existence of the bureau when she received one of its bank statements at the end of last year and immediately shut the account down.
The bureau, set up in 1999, was intended to distribute funds and oversee spending for sports, such as karate, considered to have insufficient governance structures of their own.
Sport England currently distributes £120m a year to community projects in 46 sports.
An independent inquiry will be headed by Tim Dutton QC, and report its findings in the autumn.
Sport England chair Richard Lewis said: “It is concerning that a bank account operated outside the usual financial controls of Sport England. This fell short of the procedures and safeguards now in place in this organisation.”
Reader views (1)
The Government should be generally more aware of how its money is spent - especially interdepartmentally.
Does Sport England know for instance, that a grant of £5 million from the Dept for Schools,Childrens and Families for a My Place project in Newcastle, is going to be used to destroy the learner pool in the City Pool?
Newcastle City Council are proposing to decrease the public 'water space' for young people, as part of their My Place scheme which is meant to help this part of the population. This ludicrous suggestion has been greeted with alarm by many, including the City of Newcastle Swimming Club who use this learner pool every week to train their AA and AAA squads.
Perhaps Richard Lewis would like to have a chat with Ed Balls about this sort of thing too. Should DSCF money really be used to undermine grassroots facilities that come under the auspices of Sport England???
- Sally Wainman, Ipswich Suffolk, 23/06/2009 07:21
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