The current School Sport & Physical Activity Network (SSPAN) structures have been in existence since September 2000 and it is now questionable as to whether these structures are fit for purpose to offer a high quality PE, school sport, physical activity and health & wellbeing offer for all young people across Leicestershire.

Due to the various SSPAN buy-in models across the County, resulting in various levels of capacity in each area, we currently have a significantly inconsistent offer for schools and young people. Some schools and young people are receiving a strong high-quality offer, of which they are investing into. But many schools and young people across the county are not.

In the current financial climate, there is a significant risk around the future sustainability of the SSPAN structures across the county beyond this academic year. Whilst they may currently be quite secure in some areas, they are certainly not across all.

We have already seen instances of schools 'breaking away' from SSPANs as they are not happy with the current offer or value for money. There is a risk that this could continue, especially linked to schools that are members of Multi-Academy Trusts that cut across more than one SSPAN boundary area.

There is however an opportunity for us to create and form a new single Leicestershire-wide SSPAN structure, creating a collaborative approach between all schools across the County which will result in a consistent, high quality, value for money offer, for all schools and young people.

In addition to creating a consistent and fair offer for all schools and young people, a single SSPAN structure also gives us many additional collaborative opportunities. These include; sharing knowledge, skills and expertise from a network of over 20 officers (including PE, sport, competition, disability, physical activity and health), an opportunity to look at making county-wide savings within the network (e.g. training, transport, facility hire, trophies and medals), and an opportunity to identify and collectively bid for new sources of funding or income, including sponsorship, to sustain this area of work beyond potential future Government funding cuts.