National Council Meeting 16th October 2010
I am pleased to provide a summary of the main points discussed at the last National Council Meeting and hope that it will assist you in reporting back to your members.
1. Congratulations were expressed to the England team for their performance at the Commonwealth Championships in Delhi with one Silver and Two Bronze Medals.
2. The Government have announced that Sport England and UK Sport will be merged in 2012.
3. A number of other matters were mentioned in my report including the up coming Government Spending Review.
4. It was agreed to review the Election Calendar in the light of comments made at the meeting.
4. Members discussed the lack of female players in competitions and a document is currently being prepared for distribution to all County Championships secretaries in two weeks time with Premier Club Membership details. Council considered this was a matter which needed attention not just with the County Championship but across our sport in general albeit they understood this would take time.
5. A presentation on Change 4 Life Sports Clubs (C4LSC) was given by Martin Ireland (National Programme Manager (UK School Games and Young People)) he agreed to circulate copies and further information to Councillors.
6. John Arnold (ESTTA) gave some information about a new schools competition they are implementing and gave some updates from the Youth Sport Trust Conference. He expressed concerns that School Sports could be impacted within the Spending Review as this area is funded via the Education Budget.
7. The Treasurer presented his financial report for the six months to September 2011 in which his forecast for the year had some changes from budget in individual cost centres but left the current overall forecast surplus much unchanged. The maximum grants payable by the Ivor Montagu Fund is now £50 following consideration by the panel.
8. Following recommendations by the Trade Committee National Council agreed that Rule Change Propositions relating to conflicts of interests would be drafted in time for the January 2011 National Council meeting.
9. Each VC had submitted a report in advance and discussions took place on a number of issues. Concerns were raised about the Implementation Process of Individual Membership and the VC Administration stated that these were discussed at the Membership meeting and actions/resolutions were being addressed.
10. Tickets for the English Open are now available to buy. There is a code for discount but the discount is only available by telephone to the Box Office.
11. National Council Standing Orders was approved by National Council.
12. Information was provided in the International Report about Volunteering and Ticketing for London 2012.
13. A Technical report from the Commonwealth Games was given to Councillors and despite the pre event problems which received a lot of Media Attention from a Table Tennis perspective it was a great success.
ALEX MURDOCH
Chairman
Have added the following to this summary following the Government announcements on spending,
GOVERNMENT SPENDING REVIEW UPDATE
You have, I am sure, seen the many comments via the Media in regard to this matter. I felt that you should be given some brief updates albeit negotiations are still taking place in regard to a number of issues.
1. Whole Sport Plan.
The balance of our funding for Core Services from Sport England for the 2011 to 2013 period of £4.6M remains in place subject to us meeting our outcomes within the plan.
The next Four year plan will be subject to a reduction from Exchequer of around 15/20%. However, it is anticipated that the changes in the Lottery from 2012/13 will enable additional funding to be put into the central pot for sports.
2. Capital Funding.
We have been allocated, within the WSP, £1.45M from Sport England for 2001/13 less projects already approved. Sport England need to find overall savings of 25/30% across all their Capital Funding areas and our allocation is being discussed at this time.
3. School Sports
The announcement by the Department for Education that it is no longer providing ring-fenced funding for School Sport Partnerships, which many NGBs and the Youth Sport Trust consider will have an impact on the delivery of PE and school sport for young people.
4. Elite Funding.
UK Sport have announced that the announcement should not impact NGB funding up to the 2012 Olympics albeit they will be advising sports in December following the normal review process that takes place annually.
5. Other areas.
Other organisations funded by Sport England, including the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation and Sports Coach UK will face some cuts in their budgets. Local Councils invest in sports and any impact on whether this will affect Table Tennis is unknown at this time. Councils do not have a mandate to invest a specific amount of their budget into sports so any reductions could impact upon Leisure Centres etc.
The measures announced, of course, should not come into place until April 2011 but you can be assured that this whole area is being considered carefully by the ETTA.
The fact that the Whole Sport Plans for the next two years are being supported by Sport England is very positive for our front line services, subject, of course, to us meeting their key objectives.
I will keep you informed on this matter before the next Council meeting in January, the following link gives further background on this matter,
http://www.ccpr.org.uk/news/newspages/Comprehensive+Spending+Review+details+emerge
Regards
Alex.