We’ve moved to address this by announcing with UK Sport a long-planned, wide-ranging review to the Code for Sports Governance, and we’ve commissioned a complete and independent review of the Equality Standards for Sport.
We’ve also today set out a wide range of other project and partnership work that we are investing in and supporting and I am also delighted to be working alongside the other four sports councils of the UK to better understand the bigger picture and to give people an opportunity to share their experiences.
It's powerful enough that the sports councils of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland together with UK Sport have such commitment to work together.
Better still, we’re all signed up to a firm belief that we need to work together and over the long term – not only to create a more diverse and inclusive sporting system, but to recognise and stamp out racism and racial inequality in sport.
Alongside many immediate actions – including a novel partnership with the University of East London to create a genuinely more diverse talent pathway – we will make the tackling of inequality the central plank of our new strategy for the next decade.
If we truly believe that everyone should access the benefits that taking part in sport and physical activity bring, then we can no longer ignore the fact that many Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities fall well below recommended levels of activity and suffer from poorer outcomes in the areas in which we know sport and physical activity can make a significant difference.
That is what our work will focus ruthlessly on addressing. While some tactical work now has happened and is designed for the short term, alongside it is a commitment to long term, systemic change.
While I am concerned that we don’t appear to be delaying action unduly, this is a vital approach to take. Some wise counsel I received recently advised me to “stay in the problem for longer”.
That is what I, and Sport England, are committed to doing. To ensure real lasting change. And I will update you regularly on how we’re progressing.