Sport Wales Grants and Investments
Sport Wales is the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales and the main adviser to the Welsh Government when it comes to sport and physical activity.
It distributes Welsh Government and National Lottery funding to enable sport in Wales to thrive.
At a participation level, Sport Wales invests in grassroots sports through schemes to meet the needs of clubs and other local organisations providing sport and physical activity opportunities.
It also provides the most promising sportsmen and women with the support required to compete successfully on the world stage and realise their potential.
Sport Wales invests in a range of partners to carry out activities at both a community and high-performance level.
Sport Wales funding, therefore, has the potential to make a significant impact on people across Wales.
The Welsh Language
As a public sector body Sport Wales has a duty to comply with the Welsh Government’s Welsh Language Standards.
There are currently 156 Standards within the Sport Wales Welsh Language Standards document, divided across service delivery, policy making, operational and record-keeping.
Sport Wales strives to ensure that all investments and decisions made have the maximum impact on the ability of the Welsh nation to participate in sport and physical activity and achieve elite sporting success, and do so through their language of choice.
In reading this policy, reference should be made of Standard 90 of the Sport Wales Welsh Language Standards.
The Sport Wales Policy
All grants and large investments made by Sport Wales will:
- Be promoted bilingually
- Provide the option for the applicant to carry out the full application process through the Welsh language
- Look to make a positive impact on the use of Welsh language in sport
- Not treat the Welsh language less favourably than the English Language
- Have NO NEGATIVE IMPACT on the use of Welsh language in sport.
How will this work in practice?
1. Be promoted bilingually.
Promotion of a grant MUST adhere to the Sport Wales Welsh Language Scheme. Examples can include marketing literature, social media or public events.
2. Provide the option for the applicant to carry out the full application process through the Welsh language.
Any application process or system MUST adhere to the Sport Wales Welsh Language Scheme. Any online or paper-based system must be bilingual while applicants will be able to speak to someone for guidance and support using the Welsh Language.
3. Look to make a positive impact on the use of Welsh language in sport.
Information on the development of the Welsh language, and the impact of the grant, will be included as standard across awards of all Sport Wales grants.
Data will be collected on Welsh language provision and participation through the application process. This data can be used proactively by Sport Wales and the sector to plan further use of the Welsh language in sport.
Each grant scheme will have a monitoring process in place to ensure compliance with the condition of the grant. The level of monitoring will depend on the grant being given.
All grants will have a compliance element as standard. For example, depending on the level of grant, non-compliance with grant conditions can result in no future grant being awarded or funds being reclaimed.
4. Not treat the Welsh language less favourably than the English Language.
The full application process must adhere to the Sport Wales Welsh Language Scheme.
5. Have no negative impact on the use of Welsh language in sport.
A grant will not be approved if it has the potential to negatively impact on use of the Welsh Language. For example, if a club had a policy barring the offering of any opportunities in the Welsh Language.
The Policy in Action
It will be a requirement for all areas of the business dealing with grants to follow the principles of the grants policy.
Any requirements for further information or guidance should be made to Ian Blackburn, Regulatory Compliance lead or Brian Davies, Sport Systems Director.