Chance to Shine Chief Executive, Laura Cordingley, gave evidence to the House of Lords National Plan for Sport and Recreation Committee on Wednesday 10 March.

Laura appeared via video link, alongside Oliver Scadgell from the LTA and Mark Hardie, CEO of Access Sport. The session was focused on youth sport outside of school and the impact that sport has on communities. Laura answered questions on the state of affairs of out of school physical activity, the need to make sport more fun and enjoyable for young people and the importance of duty of care and safeguarding. 

Talking about how to get young people playing cricket, Laura said “It’s important to have a relaxed environment for children, where there is less pressure and they have a certain amount of ownership. I think making it inclusive so that all young people feel safe and part of the session and I think part of that is very much around having the right role models within the sessions as well.”

Laura also emphasised that focusing sessions around children achieving their personal best can give them a feeling of progression and that it was crucial that is consistency between in school and out school activities. This is an area where Chance to Shine and the ECB’s All Stars Cricket programme have worked really closely together so that children who have enjoyed their Chance to Shine sessions in schools, experience the same environment when they continue playing at a local club.

Laura also made three recommendations for the committee to consider including the report that will go to government:

• Firstly, that there is a more co-ordinated approach to improving the physical wellbeing of young people across government departments; noting that whilst there were clear efforts in individual departments to support young people to be active, that a more joined-up approach with clear objectives and responsibilities would be great be greatly beneficial.
  
  
• Secondly, the setting out of clear measures of evaluation to gauge the mental and social wellbeing of the nation. Sport England have set out the key elements of physical literacy which all programmes can now be compared against and Chance to Shine are calling for a similar process to help evaluate the other elements of people’s wellbeing.
  
  
• Finally, it was recommended that government facilitate and encourage businesses to provide their skills and expertise to the not for profit sector on a pro bono basis. This would support charities and other social good organisations to use the power of business to innovate in areas where they may lack the expertise.

The National Plan for Sport and Recreation committee has been appointed to consider the effectiveness of sport and recreation policies and is accepting evidence in the inquiry into the case for national plan for sport and recreation. The inquiry has been running since October 2020 and heard evidence from a range of individuals and organisations including government departments, journalists, charities and national governing bodies.

Speaking after her appearance, Laura Cordingley said: “I would like to thank the committee for inviting me to give evidence on behalf of Chance to Shine. It is more important than ever that there is a combined effort to support the wellbeing of the nation through physical activity. At Chance to Shine, our priority is always on ensuring that young people are getting active and accessing all the incredible benefits to their personal, mental and physical wellbeing that it can bring. We have seen how the power of cricket can change the lives of young people and we are looking forward to hearing how the committee and the government will support us on our mission.”

You can watch the full session here: https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/b5bccd56-9cba-4d45-92a2-eed3e6398366?in=16:28:32