Grants and subsidies offered by the Government

WQ.369/2023

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE

MINISTER FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, SPORT AND CULTURE BY DEPUTY R.S. KOVACS OF ST. SAVIOUR

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 2nd OCTOBER 2023 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 9th OCTOBER 2023

Question

"Will the Minister provide details of all grants and subsidies offered by the Government, either directly or through any Arm's Length Organisations, charities, or related organisations, to any sporting club, individual, event or activity in the last 15 years, including –

1. the beneficiary of the funding;
2. the sport they represented;
3. what the financial support was intended to fund;
4. the amount received by each beneficiary and whether it was a grant or subsidy;
5. the grant or subsidy application and selection process;
6. where applicable, a list of unsuccessful applications, the reason for rejection and the sport they represented; and

Will he further provide a list of the total number of sporting clubs, both professional and amateur, that currently make use of States of Jersey owned venues, including the sport they represent, and how much rent each pay per month to the States?"

Answer

It has not been possible to collate expenditure across all Government departments for the years requested due to the limited time available and changes in Departmental and ALO structures over the last 15 years. The table in Appendix 1 therefore identifies expenditure provided by the Department for the Economy, the former Government Sport Development Department where available and relevant ALOs since 2012. Funding is granted in line with Government priorities.

Jersey Sport was established in 2017 as an Arms Length Organisation to support the delivery of Government's priorities for sport and physical activity. As part of this work, Jersey Sport provides grants and subsidies for sport including grants for schools, travel and volunteer workforce development (Grants • Jersey Sport) Government funding to Jersey Sport is detailed on the table in Appendix 1. Government does not hold information on the individual grants and subsidies provided by Jersey Sport.

Lottery proceeds for sport are distributed by the Jersey Community Foundation with the amount available dependant on ticket sales. The sums available for sport are below and details of grants made are available at Grant Funding Awards | Jersey Community Foundation:

2021 - £247,661 2022 – £274,987 2023 - £175,987

The Government's "Connect Me: Connecting our Communities" scheme, managed through the Customer and Local Services Department, has provided support to many sports including football, basketball, freshwater angling, touch rugby, padel and skateboarding.

There are circa 260+ sporting clubs and associations who use Government of Jersey run facilities. Some are in residence and have a lease/license and some hire the facilities on an hourly basis. The rents of those that are in situ is deemed commercially sensitive and this information sits with Jersey Property Holdings. There are 70 wide ranging sports that are undertaken within these facilities which covers the vast majority of what is played and required on the island.

Its noteworthy that within the CYPES Estate, many of the Island's schools hire out their sports facilities as well outside of curriculum time to sports clubs and associations.

If the Deputy would like a briefing on how the GoJ Sporting facilities are used then the Head of Operations for Infrastructure & Environment would be more than happy to arrange this. The Department for the Economy's Sport Sector Officer is also available to meet the Deputy and explain funding for sport in more detail.

Further information regarding the purpose and size of Government grants can be found within the published Annual Report and Accounts

Further information on the support to sport prior to the establishment of Jersey Sport can be found in the following reports:

Fit for the Future Sport Strategy Progress Report January 2015 Fit for the Future Sport Strategy Progress Report January 2016 Fit For The Future Sport Strategy Progress Report February 2017  

*In addition to the above sports, funding for sport-specific development officers was provided for table tennis and squash, but it has not been possible to source further

information in the time available. In addition, payments made by Government to the 2015 Jersey Island Games Organising Committee was approximately £1.2 million. There

may be additional sports that have received grants or subsidies from GOJ that we have not been able to identify. Best efforts have been undertaken to identify as many

grants/subsidies as possible but no centralised account of such payments to sports exists. Payments to individuals cannot be included.