SPORT NORTHERN IRELAND DISCUSSION ON THE TIMEFRAME FOR THE ACHIEVEMENT OF PE14. 1. PURPOSE OF PAPER 1.1 Th purpos of this papr is: to updat mmbrs on progrss that is bing mad in achiving Stratgy targt PE14 By 2011 to nsur that all Sport Northrn Irland fundd govrning bodis and sporting organisations ar fit for purpos organisations; and to considr if th targt rquirs rvision in light of currnt progrss. 2. BACKGROUND 2.1 Sound govrnanc and managmnt of sporting organisations is critical to th dvlopmnt of sport across all lvls in Northrn Irland. Sport Mattrs: Th Stratgy for Sport and Physical Rcration (2009-19), idntifis th dvlopmnt of fit for purpos govrning bodis and sporting organisations as on of th its 26 high lvl targts, with th following two rlatd actions bing idntifid as stps for succss : 1. improving th planning, managmnt and dlivry capacity of govrning bodis and sporting organisations ; and 2. mbdding a high prformanc cultur within modrnisd govrning bodis and othr organisations. 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Th baslin for PE14 was st using data from managmnt audits on govrning bodis carrid out in 2007-2008, and indicatd that 24% of Sport NI fundd govrning bodis of sport wr fit for purpos. Sport NI s mthod of rporting progrss on th achivmnt of PE14 continus to focus on th rsults of an annual govrnanc and managmnt audit that Sport NI undrtaks of govrning bodis and sporting organisations in rcipt of invstmnt through th Invsting in Govrning Body Plans Programm (2008-2009) and th Invsting in Prformanc Sport Programm (2009 2013). On avrag, 34 organisations ar auditd by Sport NI ach yar, with ovr 30 of ths bing govrning bodis of sport. Th main purpos of ths audits is to provid an assuranc to Sport NI that fundd organisations (primarily govrning bodis of sport) ar fit for purpos to rciv and account for public mony. Sport NI rcogniss an organisation to b fit for purpos if it is oprating constitutionally, is financially viabl and whr appropriat, can dmonstrat th implmntation of transparnt policis and practics. Th framwork of th audit has volvd ovr th last six yars and its cor mphasis is on assssing th corporat govrnanc of organisations against bst
practic principls. In addition, th oprations of th organisation ar also assssd undr financial managmnt, HR managmnt and complianc with othr businss aras. 2.6 In undrtaking th audits Sport NI utiliss th principls outlind in Th Cod of Good Govrnanc which considr th following aras: managmnt committ/board ladrship; th managmnt committ/board s rsponsibilitis, lgal rquirmnts and obligations; th ffctiv managmnt committ/board; prforming, rviwing and rnwing th managmnt committ/board; managmnt committ/board dlgation; managmnt committ/board intgrity; managmnt committ/board opnnss. 2.7 Thr ar fiv stags to th audit procss: 1) Pr-audit Qustionnair - rqusts information and vidnc undr ach of th following ky aras: Corporat Govrnanc, Financial Managmnt, Human Rsourc Managmnt and othr Businss aras. 2) Sport NI Rviw of Pr-Audit Qustionnair idntifis ky audit issus/waknsss. This procss informs th qustions to b askd at th audit visit. 3) Audit Visit - nabls Sport NI to conduct substantiv tsting and discuss any issus idntifid through th pr-audit qustionnair with ky prsonnl. 4) Rviw of Draft Audit Rport this is don through a pr rviw and by asking th organisation to provid a managmnt rspons to th draft rport. 5) Production of th Final Audit Rport - basd on th rviws th audit rport is finalisd and a lvl of assuranc givn to th organisation (Nil, Limitd, Satisfactory, Substantial). 2.8 2.9 2.10 Th assuranc rating is usd by Sport NI to dtrmin how organisations can draw down public invstmnt. In trms of rporting against PE14, and in lin with th baslin, Sport NI considrs that an assuranc rating of Satisfactory or Substantial is an indicator that anorganisation is fit for purpos. Following th audit procss Sport NI also provids support and guidanc to assist organisations in addrssing th rcommndations rcivd in th audit rports. Figur 1. outlins th assuranc lvls achivd ach yar by govrning bodis/sporting organisations sinc th Sports Mattrs baslin was st in 2007/2008. Th audit for 2012/2013 has just commncd and is not du to b finalisd until May/Jun 2013.
P r c n t a g 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Satisfactory/Substantial Assuranc No audit/nil/limitd Assuranc Yars Figur 1. Sport NI Audit assuranc ratings 2007 2012. 2.11 2.12 As can b sn from Figur 1, currntly 69% (24 bodis) of th organisations within th Invsting in Prformanc Sport Programm hav a satisfactory/ substantial assuranc rating, with 31% (11 bodis) having a limitd assuranc rating (8), or with no audit compltd (3). Th rason for audits not bing undrtakn on 3 bodis is du to 2 of th bodis currntly r-constituting into fdratd structurs and on nw organisation has rcntly bcom fundd undr th Invsting in Prformanc Sport Programm to dlivr th Whlchair Basktball programm that had bn originally bn dlivrd by Basktball NI. From Figur 1, it is vidnt that PE14 has not bn achivd within th timscal idntifid within Sport Mattrs, although significant progrss has bn mad by th auditd organisations in improving thir govrnanc and managmnt systms, in particular sinc 2010. 3. ISSUES REGARDING PROGRESS AGAINST PE14 3.1 Th rviw of th currnt position rgarding th achivmnt of PE14 raiss a numbr of issus and qustions rlating to: th non-achivmnt of th targt; th mthod of masuring th achivmnt of th targt, and th targt itslf. 3.2 a) Th achivmnt of a satisfactory/substantial assuranc rating taks tim as through th audit procss govrning bodis ar rquird to vidnc th implmntation of nw policis/procdurs/structurs and not solly confirm that thy ar in plac. Spd in addrssing th audit rcommndations is influncd by th capacity within th govrning bodis, th natur of th audit rcommndations and th xtnt of othr issus that th body has to addrss at a givn tim. Whilst a govrning body may vidnc progrss btwn audits, th xtnt of progrss may not b sufficint to altr th assuranc rating in particular at th lvls of satisfactory and substantial assuranc ratings. To that nd, it could b argud that th timscal st for
PE14 was, in hindsight, unralistic and prhaps a rvisd timscal for achivmnt should b st, if rporting against th targt is to continu. 3.3 3.4 b) Th organisations involvd dirctly within th Invsting in Prformanc Sport Programm hav altrd ovr th 2009 2012 priod with 2 organisations withdrawing from th Programm, two awards bing split across two organisations to nsur ffctiv dlivry, and in som cass accountability for invstmnt moving from a branch to th National Govrning Body. This has ld to a dgr of fluidity in th organisations bing auditd and has influncd th lngth of tim organisations hav bn involvd in th audit procss. Thr will b furthr chang whn Prformanc Focus (2013 2017) commncs in April 2013, as a fw nw, and to dat unauditd, organisations ar du to rciv invstmnt. This variability is adding to th tim rquird to achiv PE14 and will also has implications for maintaining th targt onc achivd. c) Th annual govrnanc and managmnt audits hav only includd thos bodis that ar fundd within th Invsting in Prformanc Sport Programm (2009 2013). Sport NI intnds to continu to annually audit th 35 organisations that ar du to rciv invstmnt through Prformanc Focus (2013 2017). Financial halth chcks ar also usd by Sport NI to assss fitnss for purpos to rciv and account for invstmnt through othr Sport NI programms. Th dcision to do a financial halth chck is usually informd by th scal and natur of th proposd/confirmd invstmnt and Sport NI bing mad awar of any issus that may pos a risk to a particular invstmnt or projct. A halth chck will normally only b undrtakn onc rathr than on an annual basis. It is thrfor xtrmly unlikly that Sport NI will vr b in a position to rport on th fitnss for purpos of all of its fundd organisations, as currntly rquird within PE14. Th cost to Sport NI of auditing all th organisations it funds would also b prohibitiv and would not b considrd valu for mony, givn th siz and on off natur of many invstmnts. 3.5 d) It could also b qustiond whthr th dfinition of fit for purpos usd by Sport NI in its audit procss is th sam as that intndd whn th trm was usd within Sport Mattrs. Th wording of th ky stps for succss alludd to at th start of th papr would indicat that a broadr intrprtation of fit for purpos has bn usd within th stratgy. 4. PROPOSED WAY FORWARD FOR PE14 4.1 Having considrd th progrss mad in PE14 it is vidnt that, in hindsight, th targt yar st for its achivmnt was unralistic, th wording of th targt appars ovr ambitious and thr ar potntially som limitations in scop of th currnt mthod of masurmnt. As it stands, th currnt PE14 cannot b achivd and thrfor considration nds to b givn to whthr rporting against th targt should cas or if th targt should b rvisd.
4.2 4.3 It could also b argud that Sport NI s comprhnsiv annual govrnanc and managmnt audit of a rasonably consistnt @35 voluntary sports organisations that ar part of a longtrm (four yar) invstmnt programm, provids a valuabl robust and consistnt indicator for sporting organisations raching a dfind lvl of fitnss for purpos. It is thrfor proposd for discussion purposs that: th xisting limitations in th scop and application of th currnt masurmnt systm ar accptd and that th currnt approach to th masurmnt of PE 14 (Sport NI s annual govrnanc and managmnt audit) continus for th duration of Sport Mattrs; To nsur th continud rlvanc of this targt, th timscal for its achivmnt is changd to a dat in th futur. Som proposals for considration includ: o 2015, which would giv thos organisations that ar nw to th audit procss in 2013, or ar currntly ratd with limitd assuranc, a two yar priod to addrss any waknsss within thir govrnanc and managmnt systms, whilst still maintaining a sns of urgncy; o 2017, which would b th conclusion of th Prformanc Focus invstmnt cycl, or o 2019, th conclusion of th Stratgy. Th wording of th targt is rvisd to accuratly rflct: o what Sport NI considrs is valuabl to masur; o what Sport NI has th capacity to masur on an ongoing basis, and o th nd to maintain fitnss for purpos onc it is achivd. 4.4 Thrfor Sport NI would propos th following wording of th PE14 for considration by th Prformanc Sport Mattrs Implmntation Group, at th mting on 28 th Fbruary: By March 2015, to nsur that govrning bodis and sporting organisations in rcipt of long trm rvnu invstmnt through Sport NI ar fit for purpos organisations, and continu to b fit for purpos throughout th lifspan of th stratgy.