KEY POINTS:
The Government's sport and recreation agency, Sparc, has sought to "correct some facts" after a speech by National leader John Key.
Mr Key said last week that Sparc wasted money on unnecessary activities, including research and administration and on its website.
Sparc's chief executive, Peter Miskimmin, said that after Mr Key's speech and its news coverage, he wanted to clarify points discussed in the media.
"It is not correct that $35 million 'never makes it outside the Wellington office'," Mr Miskimmin said.
Sparc's internal operating costs for 2007/08 were about $12.7 million, or 12 per cent of Sparc's total budget of $105.7 million.
"Since Sparc was established in 2003, administrative costs have decreased as a proportion of expenditure from approximately 18 per cent to 12 per cent of total expenditure."
What had been cited in the media as "internal" or "administrative" costs actually covered the costs of several Sparc programmes delivered directly to the sport and recreation sector, including: $21.2 million budgeted for investment in 2007/08 in initiatives such as Push Play; resources for Sparc's volunteers and officials programme; and seminar and leadership programmes for staff in regional and national sport and recreation organisations.
Salary figures had also been mis-stated, Mr Miskimmin said.
"There are not 47 people earning over $100,000 at Sparc. The correct number is 38 out of 94 employees for 2007/08.
"Sparc has not spent $5.5 million on its website. The website referred to in Mr Key's speech is www.mission-on.co.nz ... and is part of the cross-Government Mission-On campaign, involving Sparc, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth Development."
Spending on Sparc's corporate website was about $160,000 for 2007/08 and included maintenance, content updates and licence fees.
Mr Key's spokesman said last night: "The speech was sourced and checked. A lot of the information was sourced from official Government documents, [such as] Sparc's website and their own documents."
