The “customer-centric approach” emphasised in the government’s wide-ranging sports strategy will make physical activity more appealing to people from ethnic minority backgrounds, according to Arun Kang.

The chief executive of Sporting Equals, the charity which aims to increase ethnic diversity at all levels of sport, said that objectives laid out by Sporting Future chimed with research his own organisation had carried out.

For example, Kang highlighted certain sections of a community, such as south Asian women, needed “bespoke sporting offers”, adding that there was a need for “physical activity projects that are tailored to local people’s needs”.

“In Sporting Future the sports minister (Tracey Crouch) has spoken about the need to put the customer first in future and encourages sports providers to better understand the differing needs of different groups and this will be welcomed too,” he added.

The report expressed the need to target underrepresented groups in order to make sport and physical activity more accessible. It referenced Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign, which was credited with getting 148,700 more females into sport between October 2014 and September 2015, as the type of initiative that could facilitate the activity among other groups.

According to Sport England’s latest Active People Survey, 2.93m people (37.7 per cent) from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities aged 16 or over played sport at least once per week.

Kang also credited the government with trying to “improve diversity within the boardrooms in the governing bodies in sport”. Currently BME individuals make up “only 3 per cent” of board positions in National Governing Bodies (NGB), despite 14 per cent of the UK population coming from ethnic backgrounds.

The strategy document, published last week, revealed that Sport England and UK Sport will attempt to “break down barriers” in the recruitment and advertisement of executive job roles with the advice of expert organisations.

It pointed to the Checklist for Change, developed by Women in Sport, which offers recommendations on HR policy, mentoring and development and creating an inclusive culture. Although originally devised for women, the tool can help inform sports bodies across all underrepresented groups.

Sporting Equals’ LeaderBoard system - a platform used for promoting opportunities and good practice - was highlighted by Kang as another useful tool.

In addition, Sporting Future addressed the lack of coaches from BME backgrounds (5.5 per cent), commenting that top athletes “could be missing out on accessing the right coach for them”.

UK Sport will kick off a review investigating ways in which women and minority groups progressing to high performance coaching roles can increase overall elite performance. NGBs will be advised to implement the recommendations of the review.

“We welcome the emphasis on government departments working in a more joined-up way as this will be necessary if we are to tackle the barriers that prevent many BME communities getting involved,” said Kang.

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