Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson

Sport offers so many opportunities but it has been shown that there is still much to do in the Duty of Care to those who are involved. To improve this requires an understanding of the current situation and The Sport Census allows this to take place from an independent perspective that also allows organisations to move forward in a very positive way.

The dedication that Professor Lavallee has shown in his continuing work is to be congratulated.

University of St Andrews

As our sporting offer continued to improve at the University of St Andrews, we had an increase in the number of elite athletes that we were seeking to support and an increase on the demands being placed on them. As such, we met with Prof David Lavallee to explore the work that he was doing around The Sport Census. Through conversations with David it became clear that his passion and expertise for the area of duty of care and the simplicity of the tool that he had created was such that we could gather data far beyond just our performance programmes. We therefore surveyed our entire cohort of sports clubs and their coaches quite simply because we could do so very easily. The tool itself is very simple and the survey takes only a couple of minutes to complete. Allied to the fact that it was clearly independent of St Andrews and anonymised, we enjoyed significant uptake in both years that we've conducted the survey so far. Out of that we have gained great insight into the seven key areas of duty of care, results which we can have great faith in....more

Irish Football Association

The Irish FA Foundation partnered with Sports Census to get a baseline of how we were perceived by our stakeholders in a number of areas around safeguarding, mental health and wellbeing. We received great support and advice from David in setting up the questionnaire and engaging with our target audience. The results were very useful to help plan our next steps in these areas and to see where we need to focus our attentions.

Launch of The Sport Census - Abertay University

A new tool measuring welfare and wellbeing in sport has been launched to provide organisations with independent, reliable and inclusive information. The world’s first Professor of Duty of Care in Sport, David Lavallee of Abertay University, created The Sport Census in response to Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson’s review of this high-profile area...full article

Manchester Metropolitan University Utilise
The Sport Census for Athlete Wellbeing

We view the welfare of all of our participants as the foundation for any positive sporting experience. Alongside our desire to develop the sporting offer at the university, we understand the increased demands put on our athletes and coaches, and therefore the support that they need.

Whilst exploring this under-researched area it was refreshing to come across Professor Lavallee’ s anonymous and independent Sport Census. This allowed us to quantify particular areas of focus for our initiatives concerning athlete’s wellbeing. The plans to use the Sport Census as a foundation for collaborative working across the university sector in these areas is particularly ground-breaking and essential in my opinion. It has been great working with such an experienced individual in this area in Professor Lavallee throughout this year to consider ways to improve the student sport experiences.”

Good results from our Well-Being Survey - NI Judo Federation

This survey has allowed us to quantify particular areas for programmes concerning members well-being. We can now focus on some of these areas over the next year.

The results of the study showed that Safeguarding and Safety, Injuries and Medical scored highly and that the areas for support should be focused in Mental Health for members and the Participants Voice for all. Northern Ireland Judo Federation will use the data collected to inform our decision making and take positive action over the next twelve months at which time we will make a review again ... full article

The Sport Census helps foundation to focus on 'next steps' - Irish FA

Keith Gibson, Football For All Manager at the Irish FA Foundation, revealed the survey had helped the foundation "to listen to all the different voices from the whole football family".

The results helped us identify our next steps in key areas and to see where we need to focus our attention ... full article

Sustainability Journal: Clear Data as a New Data Typology
to Enhance Sustainability in Sport

There is an increasing awareness that all parties engaged in the business of sports owe an essential duty of care to everyone involved. The challenge has been to define duty of care in sport and quantify it so that organizations can identify at a sophisticated level of specificity what needs to be improved and for whom.

The findings presented in this paper illustrate the validity and utility of a new measure of duty of care in sport designed to enhance sustainability. We have called the survey The Sport Census.

We propose the term clear data to capture transparent data across an organization that assesses levels of perceived and received support and gives an equal voice to all participants in the system.

Governance has become an essential part of sport sustainability in recent years, and clear data can help advance knowledge and provide practical recommendations for organizations through greater transparency.

The value of the new measure is dependent in the first instance on its ease of use, the accuracy of the data it collects, and the overall information it provides for analysis in an accessible format. Results can help sports not only track trends and identify their next steps in response to data collected on an annual basis, but also demonstrate the impact and return on investment of the programs and services they deliver. The ultimate measure of its value is that decision-makers apply the learning from the results to inform and improve policies and procedures associated with sustainability.....more

The Solutions Journal: A 2-minute Solution
to Progressing Duty of Care in Sport

Duty of Care in Sport has not previously been defined outside of legal terminology and implications. However societal expectations on what duty of care means have grown beyond this and sports are being asked the question “How are you demonstrating your commitment to the care of all involved?”

Until now there has not existed a comprehensive framework to define the broader meaning of duty of care in sport or a means to measure it. In 2017, a United Kingdom Government review of duty of care in sport recommended that an independent survey was needed to give equal voice to all stakeholders in the system.

We created The Sport Census in response to this recommendation and to answer the questions: what does good duty of care mean in a sporting context and how can it be measured? The goal of The Sport Census is to provide sports with a quick and easy tool that can illuminate best practice and empower informed decision-making and proactivity through accurate data reported by relevant stakeholders....more

Football Medicine & Performance Magazine: Success in Football is No Longer Enough

Success in football has an increasing emphasis on the process taken to achieve outcomes – or to put it simply, how success is achieved in football has become more and more important.

Duty of care has climbed the property stack in the minds of everyone who is interested in football in recent years.

We would say that football is in a position to help redefine what success and excellence in sport means by putting duty of care at the centre of what football does and delivers.

Download the full open access edition of the FMPA magazine, our article begins on page 28.