Jersey Sport travel grant eligibility and budget sufficiency

WQ.65/2025

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT

BY DEPUTY R.S. KOVACS OF ST. SAVIOUR

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 17th FEBRUARY 2025 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 24th FEBRUARY 2025

Question

"Following the adoption of P.82/2024, as amended, and the review to be conducted by Jersey Sport by the end of January 2025 regarding the extension of eligibility to off-Island competing disciplines and relevant sporting organisations for travel grants, will the Minister advise –

1. the current list of eligible disciplines and any that have been added since the review;
2. what other disciplines from the arts and academia, if any, are under consideration for inclusion to expand the eligibility list by year-end;
3. what additional work, if any, remains to be undertaken to develop the scheme in full by the end of the year;
4. how many organisations had applied for a grant to represent Jersey in competitions abroad this year when the application process closed on 14th February 2025, detailing which disciplines they represented and how many competitors' costs would be covered; and
5. whether the increased budget is sufficient to cover all applications and, if not, how much of the requested funding which would otherwise be eligible will remain unsupported?"

Answer

1. All sport disciplines are now eligible for funding through the Jersey Sport travel grant scheme. Previously, athletes over the age of 23, inter-island travel and profit-making private organisations were excluded. These are now all included.

Profit-making organisations are eligible to apply under the following conditions:

• assessed as Green status on the Jersey Sport Safe and Sustainable Sport Health Check
• travel grant monies must be distributed directly to competitors and any undistributed funding must be returned to Jersey Sport
• additional governance checks will be undertaken

Where a sport is not affiliated to a National Governing Body recognised by Sport England, the risk profile of the organisation is increased and opportunities to compete in national and international competitions can be restricted. Therefore, non-affiliated sports which are deemed to be high risk by Sport England, will be assessed against the CPSU standards for safeguarding children in sport, Safeguarding Code in Martial Arts and/or The Ann Craft Trust Safeguarding Adults in Sport Framework as appropriate, prior to any funding decision. This ensures that public funds are supporting organisations with the highest standards of safeguarding and governance.

2. As per the approved amended Proposition, a specific reference to arts and academic grants was removed as it has been established that there are a number of sources of grant funding already available (whereas limited sport travel grant funding was available). Arts disciplines are eligible for funding through a number of existing arts grants (Arts grants and how to apply) and grants for academic endeavours are available from a variety of sources (Educational trusts, bursaries and gift funds).
3. No other work is required to implement the scheme.

4. 46 applications were received from 35 different sports, including: Motor sports

Pétanque

Table Tennis

Equestrian

Boxing

Fishing/Angling Weightlifting/Powerlifting Squash/Racketball

Rugby

Athletics

Cycling

Skating

Archery

Football

Swimming

Hockey

Shooting

Softball

Bowls

Triathlon

Water Polo

Fencing

Cricket

Lifesaving

Skateboarding

Dance

Golf

Tennis

Netball

Touch Rugby

Surfing

Volleyball

Judo

Gymnastics

Rowing

It is not possible to determine at this stage how many competitors' costs will be covered. The new scheme provides grants directly to sports organisations who will then distribute the funding to their travelling members as they see fit.

5. Following the approval of additional funding, the deadline for travel grant applications was extended to 14th February to allow time for previously excluded sports organisations to submit

applications. Jersey Sport are now reviewing applications and assessing them against the published criteria and a tiered award system which considers factors such as size of membership, size of travelling membership, necessity of travel and impact of travel and alignment to a sport organisation's development plan/strategic priorities.

All successful applicants will receive funding. The level of funding awarded to each tier will be determined by the number of successful applicants. The total amount available for each tier will not be known until after 24th February, with all applicants being notified by Jersey Sport on 28th February.

Previously, the way the grant operated meant that sports were required to forecast travel at the beginning of the year which was difficult and subject to unforeseen changes including athlete injury or travel disruption. As a result, despite the fund being oversubscribed, it was often underspent at the end of each year. The aim of the expanded and revised scheme is to distribute all funds in a timely manner to all organisations demonstrating high standards of governance and safeguarding and who can demonstrate the necessity for travel.

Jersey Sport will support successful applicants to distribute their awarded funding in line with the published criteria. Sport organisations awarded travel grant funding will be required to submit a report at the end of the year detailing how the monies were distributed and what impact the funding had on their sport offer. In the unlikely event that any funds are unspent at the end of the year, they would be returned to Jersey Sport. Jersey Sport and Government would then agree how these unspent funds should be used.