Sport England and the Football Association have joined forces to evaluate the levels of football participation across the north-west of the UK.

Both organisations worked with county bodies and local football partnerships to accurately measure the affiliated participation rates across six local authority areas in the north-west.

The findings will be used to plan future football investment and development programmes by getting to the root of key factors which can affect local participation.

Management consultancy Knight, Kavanagh and Page has been commissioned to evaluate the first set of data produced, for the 2005-06 season, and should be completed and available by the end of July. Details: www.kkp.co.uk