Children from diverse and minority ethnic groups are significantly over-represented in the youth justice system in England and Wales and under-represented in the participation of sport and physical activity. The aim of Levelling the Playing Field is to address both these major issues, using community role models and the power of sport, exercise and physical activity. 

As the project gets under way, it’s worth defining and analysing the severity of these issues so our local strategic and delivery partners have a solid understanding of the ‘baseline’ we’re all working from.

James Mapstone, Chief Executive of the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice (who manage LtPF) commented: “It’s important we establish a clear picture of ethnically diverse children’s current engagement in sport and physical activity and their involvement in the youth justice system. 

“From this clearly defined starting point, we look forward to collecting data through the tremendous frontline work of our Local Delivery Partners, and then being able to demonstrate the power of sport in achieving a whole range of positive life outcomes – desistance from crime, education, training and employment, better relationships and increased trust between communities and criminal justice agencies.” 

The following statistics are compiled from various sources* by Dr Hannah Baumer, Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham, who is the lead researcher on LtPF. The data is broken down into categories – levels of physical activity nationally and by ethnicity; and national trends in youth justice. 

Ethnicity trends 

• Asian children are the least active. They are also far less likely to feel confident or perceive themselves to be competent when participating in exercise and sports. 
• White non-British and Asian have highest numbers of less active (less than 30mins per day) amongst boys. Confidence amongst these ethnicities for exercise and sport is considerably lower compared to their counterparts from other ethnicities, suggesting that white non-British and Asian boys may benefit from focused support to build confidence around sport participation. 
• Overall, although Black children may be less likely to be active than White children, they demonstrate increased confidence, perceived competence, knowledge and positive attitudes towards exercise and sport participation than their White counterparts. This is particularly true amongst girls.  
• This suggests that if Black children were provided with the right opportunities to engage in sport, particularly outside school where the gaps in participation are largest between ethnicities, then we would see increased engagement and positive outcomes. 
• Fewer white British boys enjoy exercise and sport than their ethnically diverse counterparts. 
• Disparities between ethnicities are far greater for girls than boys. Asian and Black children have the highest number of less active girls overall and lower levels of active girls. 
• For Asian girls we see low levels of confidence and perceived competence. However, Black girls are more likely to feel confident, competent and knowledgeable with regards to participating in sport than their female counterparts from other ethnicities. This highlights cultural differences and the importance of providing opportunities and support which reflects these individual needs. 
• Girls from Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnicities are more likely to be less active overall, and are far less active outside school. 
• Overall, girls do not enjoy exercise and sport as much as boys, and these differences become more pronounced when looking at ethnicity. 
• Fewer girls from Asian and ‘Other’ ethnicities enjoy exercise and sport compared with other ethnicities. More Black and mixed ethnicity girls enjoy exercise and sport than other ethnicities, despite being less active. However, the enjoyment amongst Black girls has seen a significant decline. This suggests that more needs to be done to provide opportunities for girls from Black and Mixed ethnicities to engage in sport as matter of priority before interest declines further. 
• However, there are more girls who volunteer to support physical activity, and more Asians than any other ethnicity. This tendency to volunteer rather than engage in PA can be utilised by LtPF. 
• Confidence and positive attitudes towards participating in exercise and sport is alarmingly low for girls, with only 18% of Asian girls feeling confident and very low levels of positive attitudes towards sport across all ethnicities. Nearly half the number of Black girls feel confident participating in exercise and sport compared to Black boys. More needs to be done to support girls’ confidence through accessible sport opportunities which cater to their individual interests and needs. 

 Physical activity levels and affluence 

• Higher family affluence relates to substantially higher levels of physical activity overall across England and Wales. 
• Almost double the number in low affluent families are categorised as less active compared to high affluent families 
• Over half of children from low affluent families are not getting at least 30mins activity per day outside school, 18% higher than those from high affluent families 

Youth justice trends

• Decreases in custodial episodes for white children have not been seen for ethnically diverse children. In 2015 ethnically diverse children made up 36% of custodial episodes and in 2019 this had risen to 44%. 
• Custodial episodes for white children decreased by 855, but for ethnically diverse children the decrease was 238. 
• This difference is predominantly seen in detention orders (custodial sentences), where ethnically diverse children made up 28% of DTOs in 2015, and in 2019 they made up 34%.  
• Custodial sentences for white children decreased by 616, but for ethnically diverse children the decrease was 188. The difference is even more stark when we look at the past decade, with a decrease of 15% for white children and an increase of 12% for ethnically diverse children and 2.5% for Mixed ethnicities. 
• The number of ethnically diverse children on remand has been increasing since 2016 and in 2019 was higher (337) than white children (309). In 2015 ethnically diverse children made up 47% of those on remand, and this has risen to 52% in 2019. 
• The median number of nights an ethnically diverse child was on remand in 2019 was 34, and for white children it was 26. 

 *The Active Lives Children’s Survey and Youth Justice Board statistics 2019.