Latest Guidance from Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

PeteHall

PeteHall

Moderator
Following the helpful advice provided by Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport during the last lockdown, I wrote again after the latest lockdown was announced, specifically asking about the implications of the new lockdown on caving as a form of exercise.

A member of the ministerial support team has responded today with the below rather generic advice.

While this is not specific to caving, it does stress the importance of staying active and advises following guidance from the National Governing Body. A link is provided to the Sport England site, that in turn links to the BCA. In other words, stay active and follow BCA guidance. Unfortunately, the BCA does not appear to have updated its guidance for some time.

12 November 2020
Our Ref: TO2020/23862

Dear Mr Hall,

Thank you for your correspondence of 31 October, regarding guidance for sports. I am replying as a member of the Ministerial Support Team for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport.

The government understands that sport and physical activity are incredibly important for physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus.

Nobody wanted to be in the position of having to introduce further national restrictions. However, as the Prime Minister said, with the virus spreading faster than expected we cannot allow our health system to be overwhelmed. Therefore, from Thursday 5 November until Wednesday 2 December indoor and outdoor sports and leisure facilities will need to close and activities will need to stop. This includes leisure centres and gyms, swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts, golf courses, fitness and dance studios, climbing walls, archery, driving, and shooting ranges.

The National Restrictions are designed to get the R rate under control through limiting social contact and reducing transmissions. In order for these measures to have the greatest impact, we are asking everyone to sacrifice doing some things they enjoy doing, for a short period of time. As soon as we're in a position to start lifting restrictions, grassroots sports will be one of the first to return. Information on the new national restrictions, including their impact on sport and exercise, is available here: www.gov.uk/guidance/new-national-restrictions-from-5-november.

National restrictions now apply to England. There are differences in the guidance for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. For more information on restrictions see here: www.gov.uk/coronavirus.

People are still allowed to leave their homes for exercise and recreation outdoors, with your household or on your own, or with one person from another household or support bubble. However, we have not introduced further exemptions because it?s important that the restrictions are simple to understand. The difficulty is that, when you unpick one thing, the effectiveness of the whole package is compromised.

The advice for the playing of all sports evolves in line with the COVID-19 situation. You would be advised to check the latest updates on this webpage, as it is updated continuously: www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-phased-return-ofsport-and-recreation.

Finally, do note that this department does not produce guidance for every sport. Instead, you would be advised to refer to the National Governing Body for each relevant sport, for the latest advice. All National Governing Bodies for sports in the UK are listed in the section entitled: ?Sports and governing bodies that we recognise?, on this webpage: www.sportengland.org/howwe-can-help/national-governing-bodies?section=the_recognition_process.

If you are a sports business looking for government support, you can check to see what support is available here: www.gov.uk/coronavirus/business-support.

More information on funding available from Sport England is available here: www.sportengland.org/how-we-can-help/our-funds.

We are continuing to work with organisations to understand what they need and how we may be able to support them.

I hope you find this reply useful.

Yours sincerely,

Joseph Downing
Ministerial Support Team
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Badlad

Badlad

Administrator
Staff member
Normally, as the national governing body for underground activities, the BCA defer advice on access to the regional councils and it's constitutional bodies.

See here for advice for access in northern England (Scotland is different)

https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=27161.0
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
Do you really expect them to commit themselves to a statement about something affecting 0.001% of the population...
 
pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
To be honest, these two lines were actually clearer than most I've read - partially as it's the first time I've seen a moral/philosophical line adopted as opposed to merely technical:

In order for these measures to have the greatest impact, we are asking everyone to sacrifice doing some things they enjoy doing, for a short period of time.

However, we have not introduced further exemptions because it?s important that the restrictions are simple to understand. The difficulty is that, when you unpick one thing, the effectiveness of the whole package is compromised.

Caving is also bloody awkward to for them offer guidance for as it's not a 'sport' in any real sense, it's not 'indoors' or 'outdoors' (in the normal sense of 'sport'), and it's impossible to supervise by any authorities anyway. So it is more down to us than most 'activity participants', let's call us, to self-manage our activity without risking the safety of others not involved in our activity. I assume if you're participating you've already accepted the risk.

God, I'm turning into a lawyer. Maybe there's a job for me in No. 10
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
PeteHall said:
Well they did last time  :)
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That was when things were opening up again, not just shut down:
With regard to caving, as mentioned in the department's letter of 29 May, all outdoor sports and physical activities are now permitted, without time limit, with the exception of swimming in an open-air swimming pool
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JoshW

JoshW

Well-known member
pwhole said:
To be honest, these two lines were actually clearer than most I've read - partially as it's the first time I've seen a moral/philosophical line adopted as opposed to merely technical:
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I think they'd have pushed the moral line, 'spirit of the rules', more if a certain government advisor hadn't gone to a certain tourist attraction for his wife's birthday. Kind of ruins any moral high ground you have.
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
The problem now is that pushing for a definite answer is more likely to end in a no than a yes.
 
pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
I can't honestly use Cummings' bad behaviour as justification for my or anyone else's bad behaviour, or even our minor transgressions - as someone else pointed out, 'two wrongs don't make a right'. We all know already that we're far better than him, and have to set the requisite example to our peers, as no-one else is even noticing us. Agreed that pushing too hard can often backfire, as Sky Saxon found out, and usually discretion is the better part of valour, etc.
 
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