GovWire

Sport and physical activity should be inclusive and welcoming for all, so that everyone can have confidence that there is a place for them in sport.

The responsibilities of sports organisations around integrity issues have come under increased scrutiny over recent years, with serious allegations of misconduct coming to light. These allegations have not been restricted to one sport or to a certain level of participation. We want to ensure that we have the strongest possible systems for addressing sport integrity issues and that we remain at the forefront of global efforts around fairness and inclusion in sport.

As set out in Get Active: a strategy for the future of sport and physical activity, we intend to work alongside the sport and physical activity sector to identify the most pressing integrity challenges and potential improvements, including how structures around complaint handling and dispute resolution can be strengthened.

This call for evidence is a vital first step in this process - we want to hear about how the current systems for handling concerns in sport are working, and how these could be improved.

What this call for evidence covers

Sport integrity issues

In this context, we consider sport integrity issues to include:

• misconduct (such as bullying, harassment, discrimination, safeguarding issues, verbal abuse, physical abuse, and other issues that could be described as duty of care issues)
• doping
• corruption and match-fixing
• concerns about the handling of any of the above matters by organisations responsible for the governance of sports

Disputes solely regarding selection or other events on the field of play are not in scope for this exercise. We also consider concerns that would normally be handled through schools and other education settings to be out of scope.

Geographical limits

This call for evidence relates to sport in:

• the UK, for Olympic and Paralympic-level sport
• England, for other levels of sport

This is because sport is a devolved matter except for some specific cases, such as elite sport funding for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We have consulted the devolved administrations in the design of this exercise and we will continue to do so throughout this process.

How we will handle responses to this call for evidence

This call for evidence relates to how some sensitive and distressing topics are handled, but its focus is the processes behind the handling of sport integrity issues. It is not designed to capture disclosures of, or concerns around, specific incidents.

Allegations of criminal behaviour should be reported directly to the police and, for safeguarding concerns, your local childrens or adults services. You can also access support with safeguarding concerns from the NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit and the Ann Craft Trust.

Other complaints about sport integrity issues should be raised with the relevant club or affiliated National Governing Body in the first instance. The Sport Integrity pilot service is also available for all athletes and staff on Olympic and Paralympic performance programmes funded by UK Sport to report allegations of unacceptable behaviour. Suspicions of doping activity in sport should be reported to UK Anti-Doping or Sport Ireland as appropriate, and concerns about match-fixing should be reported to the Gambling Commission.

The information you provide in your response will not routinely be shared with any third parties. However, if anything in your response suggests to us that a criminal offence may have been committed then we may share the relevant information with the police or relevant law enforcement agency if we consider it appropriate to do so.

Data protection

You can see further information on how information will be used in the data protection notice, which is attached below and included in the online response form.