In Latvia, local and regional governments have great opportunities to influence involvement of the population in physical activities; however, their actions so far do not reach residents of all ages and target groups. These are conclusions after the audit conducted by the State Audit Office of Latvia, which evaluated how effectively local and regional governments involved population in physical activities.
BRIEFLY
- Local and regional governments have not created prerequisites for targeted work in promoting physical activities of the population, due to the lack of complete and reliable data on the physically active population, their distribution by different age and gender groups, as well as on the costs of physical activity measures.
- In local and regional governments, there are 3.7 million euros spent for the implementation of physical activities of the population.
- 87% of sports events are available for children and young people whereas opportunities for other population groups to participate in physical activities are limited.
- There are significant differences in the distribution of financial resources for sports for boys and girls.
“The audit conclusions shows that the resources of local and regional governments are not evenly used to improve the physical activities of all residents. Infrastructure and events are mostly, or in 87% of cases, available for children and young people while opportunities for adults, parents with little children, seniors and disabled people to participate in physical activities offered by local and regional governments are limited. To improve the situation in local and regional governments, it is important to identify and analyze the involvement of all target groups in physical activities that would be a step towards planning sports infrastructure and events that meet the various needs of the population,” explained Mr Edgars Korčagins, Council Member of the State Audit Office of Latvia.
FACTS
- Latvia ranks last in the EU in terms of the number of healthy years lived.
- In Latvia, the prevalence of obesity in society is much higher than the EU average, as one in four women and one in six men is overweight.
- Due to physically insufficiently active employees, Latvia loses more than 966,904 working days every year.
- The negative impact of the physically inactive population of the local and regional governments included in the audit sample on the national economy was 39.2 million euros in 2022. Each insufficiently active resident (inability to work or coming to the workplace while sick, including physical or mental illness, reduced productivity, lack of concentration or fatigue) costs the economy approximately 814.21 euros per year.
In local and regional governments, the financial resources available for physical activities are directed to children and young people mostly by involving them in educational programs of professional orientation or interests both in individual and team sports. In total, 20% of children and young people are involved in them, which is only 4-5% of all municipal population. The need for resources for the physical activities of children and young people is significant and is not questioned. At the same time, local and regional governments do not assess the proportionality of the invested resources and their impact on the physical activity and health of all residents in the long term. For example, people with functional disabilities (around 12% of the population) and seniors (around 20% of the population) do not have equal opportunities for physical activities. Also, the opportunities of population are limited by the principles of occupancy of infrastructure facilities intended for sports, which are primarily available to children and young people. For instance, other residents are not offered time in gyms in Smiltene Town, gyms are available for individuals who want to exercise either early in the morning or late in the evening in Balvi and Jelgava.
Folk sports, which can ensure a more massive and broader involvement of various target groups, have been left in the role of a “stepchild” in local and regional governments. According to the auditors’ calculations, only 13% of the funding allocated by local and regional governments for sports and physical activities has been directed to folk sports. Although folk sports are set as a priority in the state sports policy, along with children’s and youth activities, the amount of state funding available for it is no more than 3-5% of the funding allocated to sports according to the auditors’ calculations. In addition, folk sports activities have been financed in recent years from the funds of the European Social Fund under project “Comprehensive Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Measures” in many local and regional governments. As this project will end already this year, local and regional governments must make decisions on how folk sports will be provided in the future urgently.
Emphasis on the involvement of children and young people in educational programs of professional orientation and interests, as well as the early specialization of children in certain sports in Latvia, forces local and regional governments to invest significant resources in both appropriate infrastructure and attraction of qualified coaches. Observations in the local and regional governments during the audit show that there are already difficulties in providing a sufficient number of qualified specialists for the organization of high-quality physical activities, and expansion of these difficulties can be predicted in the long term. Low pay and an intense schedule of classes and competitions is the daily routine of many sports professionals. At the end of the audit, the State Audit Office of Latvia informed the Ministry of Education and Science about the situation by calling it to review the regulatory framework and the actual situation regarding early specialization of children in a specific sport and participation in official competitions, as well as to evaluate the impact and consequences of such actions in cooperation with the Latvian Sports Federations Council.
The audit findings also indicate an uneven distribution of financial resources available for physical activities by gender. In local and regional governments, a number of boys and girls involved in physical activities shows significant differences (66% vs. 34%); moreover, the analysis of specific physical activities shows an even more significant difference. In the most financially intensive sports, an overwhelming majority of participants are boys such as ice-hockey (97%), kayaking (73%), rowing (71%), and BMX (81%). Also in team sports, the majority of participants are boys, including basketball (70%), floorball (92%), and soccer (96%). According to the State Audit Office of Latvia, local and regional governments should analyze the reasons for this unequal distribution of resources and implement measures for equal participation of both sexes in physical activities.
Local and regional governments play a significant role in achieving the common goals of the state, also in the field of physical activities and sports of the population. As 61% of the population engage in sports or sports games in Latvia rarely or never, and 35% of the population engage in other physical activities rarely or never, the goals of the sports policy envisage increasing the population’s involvement in physical activities. Observations during the audit show that local and regional governments are not aware of this role in many places because the goals in the municipal development planning documents are set in general and without connection to the common national goals. In addition, although the state policy is aimed at the involvement of a certain number of people in physical activities, local and regional governments do not collect information about the citizens involved by limiting themselves to the number of events organized for the population instead. As a result, neither the makers of sports policy, nor the local and regional governments as its implementers, have the opportunity to evaluate the municipal contribution to the achievement of the common goals of the state and to make sure of the effectiveness of the implemented activities.
Local and regional governments lack analytical records and economically sound data on the costs of physical activity services provided. Likewise, local and regional governments do not have information on how much it costs them to have one student in each of the professional sports offered. At the same time, local and regional governments have determined parental co-financing for sports education with the aim of disciplining them to attend classes. However, the audit concludes that co-financing can limit opportunities to engage in physical activities. Besides, a relatively small co-financing by parents and the discounts granted by local and regional governments for learning professional sports education programs create a false impression that professional sports education is available to everyone. Apart from co-financing payments, parents must count on payments of several thousand euros (from 185 euros to 4,400 euros) for equipment, training camps and participation in both local and international competitions.
The State Audit Office of Latvia considers that local and regional governments have opportunities to expand and improve cooperation with non-governmental organizations, which would allow both to increase the number of locals involved in physical activities and to combine the resources of local and regional governments and non-governmental organizations effectively. Local and regional governments cooperate with non-governmental organizations, both by allocating co-financing (five local and regional governments included in the audit sample allocated more than 0.9 million euros in 2022) and by commissioning infrastructure for ensuring physical activities. However, they do not collect information and do not evaluate the contribution of non-governmental organizations to the achievement of the goals set by a local or regional government and the impact on the physical activity of the population. Similarly, monetary allocations are often based on historical experience and established traditions rather than data and evidence-based analysis.
State Audit Office recommendations #PēcRevīzijas
In the audit, Balvi, Olaine, Saldus, Smiltene Regional Governments and Jelgava City Municipality are given recommendations that will promote broader involvement of the population in physical activities, namely, the proportion of physically active citizens should increase from 65% in 2022 to 67% in 2025 (Eurobarometer data).
About the State Audit Office of Latvia
The State Audit Office of the Republic of Latvia is an independent, collegial supreme audit institution. The purpose of its activity is to find out whether the actions with the financial means and property of a public entity are legal, correct, useful and in line with public interests, as well as to provide recommendations for the elimination of discovered irregularities. The State Audit Office conducts audits in accordance with International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions INTOSAI (ISSAI), whose recognition in Latvia is determined by the Auditor General.
100 years of AUDIT STRENGTH
On 16 August 2023, the State Audit Law turned 100 years old. With the adoption of this Law, the State Audit Office from a formal de facto institution founded on 2 December 1918 became a de jure independent, collegial supreme audit institution of the Republic of Latvia. The State Audit Office is one of the independent state institutions enshrined in the Satversme (Constitution) of Latvia. The Constitution was signed by Roberts Ivanovs as the secretary of the Constitutional Assembly, who was then confirmed as the Auditor General. He worked as the first Auditor General for 12 years. His signature confirmed the text of our Constitution alongside that of Jānis Čakste.
Information drafted by
Mr Aivis Majors
PR Specialist
Additional information
Mr Ivo Valdovskis
Communications Adviser to the Auditor General
Ph.: +371 29274446 | E-mail: ivo.valdovskis@lrvk.gov.lv