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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will subsidise the energy costs of public swimming pools.

We recognise the importance of ensuring public access to indoor and outdoor pools and that swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the government continues to encourage Local Authorities to invest in swimming facilities.

We recognise the impact rising energy prices will have on businesses of all sizes. Ofgem and the government are in regular contact with business groups and suppliers to understand the challenges they face and explore ways to protect consumers and businesses.

The prices offered by energy suppliers are commercial decisions based mainly on the wholesale prices of gas and electricity in the UK’s energy markets. The Government does not set these prices. The current increase in wholesale gas and electricity prices reflect movements in global commodity markets, driven by the rapid and substantial recovery of global energy demand since the beginning of the pandemic.

Sport England continues to support swimming and diving, investing over £24,575,700 since January 2017, including £16,119,002 of funding directly to Swim England. This is in addition to the £100 million National Leisure Recovery Fund which supported the reopening of local authority swimming pools throughout the country after the pandemic, with 1,176 separate pools supported across 701 sites.