Ryder Cup Wales 2010 Ltd (RCW) is the company established by the Welsh Assembly Government to fulfil the commitments included in the successful Ryder Cup bid, and has a Legacy Fund of £2 million to distribute between 2005-2011. The fund is intended to help ensure the legacy of hosting the Ryder Cup in Wales will be experienced, and the direct benefits of this felt, throughout the country. It will be used to provide low cost, easily accessible facilities for those who would not otherwise have the opportunity to play golf.

The fund is being administered on behalf of RCW by the Sports Council for Wales, which includes the monitoring process.

This project is covered by an agreement which shall commence on 1 January 2005 and shall continue until 31 March 2011 or until terminated by three months’ written notice given by either party.

Benefits obtained and resulting and success factors

The establishment of low-cost, easily accessible facilities throughout Wales to increase golf participation.

Historically, whenever new funding becomes available, as with the above £2 million legacy fund, the usual process would be to employ more people to administer the scheme and distribute the funds.

The approach taken on this occasion however was to assess if there was some capacity already in the system (between WAG and SCW) so that all of the £2 million could be distributed without top slicing any of the money for administration.

As a result of this assessment it was agreed that all of the administration and monitoring could be performed by SCW (Capital Investment Team) without requiring additional resources.

 The outcome achieved

The real benefit here is to sport. As already stated because the administration is being carried out within already existing resources, every penny of the £2 million legacy fund is now able to be distributed to meet the scheme objectives.

Sir Jon Shortridge has often spoken about his vision for a ‘Welsh Public Service’. This scheme and approach seems to encapsulate his vision. It is a new ‘mindset’ that considers more than the resources within a single entity. It looks at the wider picture and pools all available resources from all the public bodies party to an agreement.

Name: Helen Adams
Email: helen.adams@scw.org.uk
Tel: 029 2033 8250