Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to encourage and promote participation in sport by children and young people with autism.

As set out in the government’s recent autism strategy (“The National Strategy for Autistic Children, Young People and Adults: 2021 to 2026”), the government is working to enable more people, including autistic children and young people, to be physically active.

Sport England, the government arm’s length body for community sport, launched its new strategy, “Uniting the Movement”, in January 2021. In line with this, they are working to tackle the inequalities and barriers that exist within sport and physical activity, and to unlock the benefits of being active for everyone, regardless of background or ability. As part of this effort, Sport England will be working with key partners to engage autistic people at all levels and in all forms of sport and physical activity, including across volunteering and coaching.

The Department for Education also recently announced funding for “Inclusion 2024”, being led by the Youth Sport Trust, which will improve physical education and school sport for young people with special educational needs and disabilities in thousands of schools across England.