Scottish sports minister ‘disappointed’ over lack of clarity on funding

LONDON: Scottish sports minister Joe Fitzpatrick is still seeking funding answers from the UK Government despite direct talks.

Sport in England is set to benefit from a cash injection of £300million, but there are major doubts over whether sport in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will get funds as a result.

The Scottish Government sought “urgent” clarification after the announcement

on November 19 but uncertainty remains.

Writing on Twitter, Fitzpatrick said: “Useful meeting of UK Sports Cabinet today, but disappointed my direct request for clarity on Barnett consequential funding still can’t be answered by UKGov.”

Fitzpatrick added that Scottish Government officials were “working hard to develop a funding package to support long-term sustainability of football & other sports”.

Extra funds for England would normally trigger payments to the devolved administrations under the Barnett Formula, however the Department of Culture, Media and Sport raised doubts about that when the funding package was announced.

A note in the statement read: “The devolved administrations have been provided with an upfront guarantee this year of £16billion above their Spring Budget 2020 funding to support their response to Covid-19.

“It is for the devolved administrations to decide how to use this funding irrespective of how UK government provides support in England.”

A further complication is that about five-sixths of the £300million injection is understood to be in the form of loans.

The anomalies were evident last week when the Elite Ice Hockey League stated that the £4million it was promised by the UK Government could only be distributed to the five English clubs in the 10-team set-up.

The EIHL called for the devolved governments to assess funding options for Belfast Giants, Cardiff Devils, Dundee Stars, Fife Flyers and Glasgow Clan as soon as possible.

The Scottish Government was recently told that the pandemic had cost sport in the country £100million, with the bulk of that in football.

Sportscotland, the national sports agency, last week stated it was working to identify which clubs and organisations were in the greatest need of financial support with future funding decisions set to prioritise those battling for survival.