County Sport Partnership (CSP) benchmarking documents were first produced in 2008 to show the number and distribution of Clubmark accredited and working towards clubs in each CSP area. Following positive feedback they are now produced on a biannual basis with the latest ones being generated in December 2010.

We are delighted to include information from the Football Association for the first time in the latest reports giving an excellent picture of accredited clubs across the country. A mixture of maps, graphs and tables are used to indicate the robustness of Clubmark within each CSP and local authority area:

1. Maps - the distribution of Clubmark clubs is mapped at Local Authority level, against two different backgrounds - population density and Indices of Multiple Deprivation.
2. Tables - showing the numbers of Clubmark clubs at both CSP and local authority levels. These show a CSP's relative performance against other CSPs in the same region, and the levels of Clubmark activity at local authority level.
3. Graphs - Clubmark accreditation trends - comparing the relevant Sport England region against the national trend and the CSP area against the regional trend of accreditation.

Although ‘League tables' of performance at a national level are not included, some interesting facts have been discovered as a result of the latest exercise:

1. GreaterSport continues to be the market leader with the most accredited and most working towards clubs compared to other CSPs across the country.
2. West Yorkshire Sport, Sport Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Kent, Merseyside and Sussex have all returned over 300 accredited clubs indicating the strong performance of the South East and North West in club development.
3. All of the above named CSPs and Essex have over 150 clubs working towards accreditation also ensuring that club development remains a priority for these CSPs.
4. Only two CSPs have fewer than 100 accredited clubs and both can be seen to have very low population density but for different reasons - Central London and Northumberland. Both CSPs fare better in the working towards data indicating their commitment to the programme.

These reports have been extremely well received by the 49 CSP directors, who will now circulate to their local authority colleagues:

It is always refreshing to receive quality information and move beyond rhetoric - so well done. We will be discussing this information here to ensure that we use and deploy it to maximum advantage. Mike Thomas, Cornwall. 

Thanks for the report, really useful. We are pressing ahead strongly with Club Development and clearly have challenges in the significant areas of deprivation - but are working with key partners on this. Mike Dickenson, Birmingham Sports Partnership.

Thanks for this - very useful...we have done some of our own statistics and are working to improve the situation . Nigel Harrison, West Yorkshire Sport.

Thank you for another excellent report on Clubmark accreditation for our CSP. I shall forward to our local authorities/CSPANs as I know they find it very useful information. Christine Double, Pro-Active South London.

Thank you very much for this report it is really clear and very useful data and intelligence for us to share with partners. Doug Lowery, Northumberland Sport.

Thank you for this information. It is a very helpful analysis. Julie Amiss, Hants & IOW.

The latest CSP reports can be downloaded from http://www.clubmark.org.uk/members-area/performance-measurement.