Headless Sport England marks time

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The distributor, still awaiting the results of a No 10 review, has lost its two main figureheads. Jane Taylor reports

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Continuing turmoil at Sport England has left the organisation leaderless since the departure last month of its chairman and chief executive. David Moffett, who had been brought in to replace the sacked chief executive Derek Casey 10 months ago, resigned unexpectedly in mid-October. Government sources said he had underestimated the administrative nature of the job. Moffett has been confirmed as the new head of the Welsh Rugby Union, and will leave Sport England as soon as a date has been negotiated. Moffett’s resignation came one week after Trevor Brooking stepped down at the end of his four-year term as chair of Sport England, offering a parting broadside against government indecision and delay. No successor has yet been appointed, despite several months of searching. Richard Caborn, the sports minister, is, however, said to be resolute that Sport England’s next chair will be a business person rather than a sports celebrity. An announcement is likely in early December, by which time Sport England should also have a temporary chief executive able to continue the organisational reform, until a permanent replacement is found. Of Sport England’s governing board of

12 (nominees of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport), six posts are vacant, leaving the organisation severely depleted for decision-making purposes. To add to the sense of crisis, the opposition spokesman on sport, John Greenway, tabled an Early Day Motion in the Commons on 21 October, asserting that ‘the problems at Sport England are the direct result of the Government’s ill conceived plan to strip Sport England of its role in delivering sports programmes and to divide Sport England into nine regional boards.’ John Greenway told Lottery Monitor: ‘The animosity between sport’s core funding bodies, the Government and the New Opportunities Fund is really intense and growing.’ The Government is known to have been unhappy with Sport England for some time, portraying it as too hands-on and insufficiently attuned to Government’s social inclusion and regeneration priorities. Richard Caborn sacked Derek Casey within days of becoming sports minister in June last year. Subsequently the prime minister stepped in to the debate, initiating a review of sport from his own think-tank, the Strategy Unit. Despite an expected July publication date, this report has been delayed by several months as No 10 and the DCMS try to reach an agreed position. Alongside this process, Moffett was overseeing an overhaul of Sport England’s strategy and structure, working to an implementation date of April 2003. DCMS sources confirm that this timetable stands.