Chair Rod Carr CBE CEO Liz Nicholl (Sep 2010–) Staff 90 | Main organ UK Sport Board Founded 1997 | |
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Predecessor Sports Council of Great Britain Formation 6 January 1997; 20 years ago (1997-01-06) Purpose Development of sport in the UK Location 21 Bloomsbury Street, London, WC1B 3HF, England Motto The UK's high performance sports agency Affiliations British Olympic Association, English Institute of Sport, UK Anti-Doping, National Lottery Profiles | ||
About uk sport
UK Sport is the UK Government's organisation for directing the development of sport within the United Kingdom.
Contents
Jessica ennis hill discusses uk sport funding
History
The Sports Council previously had been formed in 1972, and had the motto Sport for All. There was also the Central Council of Physical Recreation. In July 1994 it was decided to concentrate sports funding on fewer sports and only those in which the UK succeeded. The Sports Council employed 470 staff. On 8 July 1994 Iain Sproat, the sports minister, outlined proposals to replace the Sports Council with the UK Sports Council (for elite athletes) and the England Sports Council. The other UK countries had their respective sports councils. There was more direct coordination with the British Olympic Association. The former Sports Council concentrated on around 110 sports, but the new UK Sports Council (UKSC) concentrated on around 30. Mass-participation in sport was to be looked after by local authorities. Sebastian Coe, in conversation with Iain Sproat, had given him the idea of financially supporting sporting excellence.
Succeeding the Sports Council of Great Britain, UK Sport was established in January 1997 by Royal Charter as the UK Sports Council. Later that month it was authorised to distribute lottery funding. In February 1997 there were proposals for a British Academy of Sport.
Structure
It is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport: disbursing Government funding and acting as the statutory distributor of National Lottery grants.
It is under the direction of UK Sport's management board. The board is chaired by Sue Campbell; first appointed in 2003, her current four-year term runs until 2013. Four organisations fulfil roles for the four individual nations: Sport England, sportscotland, Sport Wales and Sport Northern Ireland.
The headquarters is situated near University College London, near the British Museum, and south of the main railway stations. It is opposite Russell Square tube station, off the A4200.
Drugs testing
UK Sport was previously the official sports body for governing drugs testing of athletes in the UK, until responsibility passed to the newly established UK Anti-Doping organisation in 2009. Testing is conducted by a Doping Control Officer (DCO) from Britain's National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO). It is a subsection of the internationally recognised and authoritative World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). WADA is recognised by the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games.