Sport policy

Available for over a year

The 2012 Olympic Games will be the biggest sporting event ever held in the United Kingdom, costing billions of pounds of public money. The Government says there will never be a better opportunity to transform the nation's sporting culture. Away from the glitz and the glamour of the Games, former England cricketer and now journalist and author, Edward Smith, assesses the Government's sports policy. Increasingly sport is seen by policy makers as a vehicle for behavioural change to achieve for better public health and improved social cohesion. But how successful is it? And how far should sports policy be designed to deliver community objectives rather than glory on the field?