Governance of lottery sport programmes: national direction of local partnerships in the New Opportunities for PE and Sport programme

Abstract

Despite the importance of National Lottery funding for the provision of local sporting opportunities in England, research concerning the implications of the central governance of Lottery funded programmes has been limited. Drawing on theories of governance and governmentality, the research presented in this paper focused specifically on the Big Lottery Fund's governance of local partnerships in the New Opportunities for PE and Sport (NOPES) programme. Qualitative data collection enabled comparison of national aspirations for, and governance of, local partnerships with actual partnerships in three case studies. This analysis demonstrated that local contexts influenced local partnerships to a greater degree than the Big Lottery Fund's governance of the NOPES programme. The degree of specificity in national aspirations for local partnerships as well as the tools available to govern the NOPES programme nationally are used to explain these findings and, as a result, implications for both theoretical and policy development are identified.

Keywords:

• national lottery
• new opportunities for PE and sport
• governance
• governmentality
• local contexts

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The data for this paper were largely collected as part of the national evaluation of the NOPES programme commissioned by the Big Lottery Fund and undertaken by the Loughborough Partnership. The author would like to thank Professor Barrie Houlihan and Dr Mary Nevill as well as the two anonymous referees for providing comments on earlier versions of this paper.

Notes

The data presented in this paper were collected both as part of a broader doctoral study and, in the case of some interviews, as part of a national evaluation of the NOPES programme.

The second application stage assessed individual projects rather than the form or operation of local NOPES partnerships.

These six outcomes were as follows: (1) improving physical education and sport in schools, (2) higher standards across the whole school through PE, sport and other forms of structured activity, (3) better opportunities to increase the levels of physical activity among the school age population and, more generally, local communities, (4) improved collaboration, co-operation and partnership between schools and between schools and their communities, (5) promotion of social inclusion through access to, and use of, sports and outdoor adventure facilities by all groups in society and (6) innovation and best practice in the design and management of facilities.