Ms Catherine Carty:

I will address some of these points as well. I thank the Deputy for the questions. Concerning his comment on the sports capital programme, there is an analogy here with where the development banks' programming was at several years ago. They are very interested stakeholders in the SOC model. Development banks and their initial funding model used to focus on infrastructural development in developing countries, but that has now changed and broadened. Those development banks now recognise the need to change how they finance initiatives. They want to go more into a programming space, given the developments in recent years.

Regarding the sports capital programme, which has been extremely successful and changed the availability of facilities across the country, a diversity of input into the programming component would also be very welcome. We hear this a great deal from the marginalised population groups. While the infrastructure may be in place for access to sport, those groups have specifically stated that the barriers they experience are often not overcome by the addition of infrastructural developments. Therefore, linking into the social outcomes would be a strong addition to the sports capital programme. Returning to the example of the development banks, and the context where they used to invest just in the capital aspect of projects, those institutions are now investing in programmes alongside capital investment to address things like equality, diversity, marginalisation, human rights and all those areas.

Turning to the Deputy’s mention of gambling, one of the issues regarding the social outcome contracts and the link Mr. McGroarty mentioned to the sustainable development goals and indicators is that integrity, good governance, better governance and new standards in sport are all part and parcel of the delivery of the social outcome contract. In essence, therefore, the initiative should hopefully elevate all aspects of sports from participation to inclusion, but also the governance and integrity side. Even from volunteers' point of view, contact with and reach into that domain will change how people perceive their responsibilities and roles in sport and, hopefully, make it possible to address the gambling issue through that route.

On the national sports policy, there is mention in the current action plan from 2022 to 2024 of the role of MTU’s UNESCO chair as a critical stakeholder in reflecting the importance of international work in measuring the contribution of sport to the UN's sustainable development goals. It assigns responsibility, alongside the Department, to MTU's UNESCO chair and demonstrates interest in this two-year period alongside that. As Mr. McGroarty said, the SOCs are entirely aligned with the UN sustainable development agenda, which in turn is entirely aligned with a human rights-based approach that is designed to touch on marginalised population groups and how they may access and experience sport nationally.