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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many grants her Department has made to (a) leisure centres and (b) swimming pools in (i) Lincolnshire and (ii) the East Midlands since 2010; and what the total value was of those grants.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to swimming pools, as swimming is a core life skill and a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility of providing access to leisure facilities lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support swimming facilities.

In 2023/24, the Government provided over £60 million to Local Authorities in additional funding to support operating costs and help improve energy efficiency of facilities through the Swimming Pool Support Fund, delivered via Sport England. In total, the Swimming Pool Support Fund (£60 million Exchequer, £20 million of Sport England National Lottery funding) will fund 442 individual facilities and 788 individual pools across 269 Local Authorities by March 2025.

As part of the Swimming Pool Support Fund:

• Over £3 million has been awarded to 11 individual facilities (21 individual pools) across 7 Local Authorities in Lincolnshire. Included in the £3 million awarded across Lincolnshire are two facilities that received Sport England National Lottery funding - Wragby Swimming Pool and Jubilee Park Woodhall Spa LTD.
• Over £9.5 million has been awarded to 47 individual facilities (84 individual pools) across 33 Local Authorities in the East Midlands region by March 2025.

Further details of local authorities and swimming pools/leisure centres awarded funding from Phase I and Phase II of the Swimming Pool Support Fund are available on Sport England’s website at:

• https://www.sportengland.org/news/swimming-pool-support-fund-keeps-leisure-centres-afloat
• https://www.sportengland.org/news-and-inspiration/swimming-pool-support-fund-helps-facilities-prepare-future

We provide the majority of support for grassroots sport through our arm’s length body, Sport England - which receives £323 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding each year. Sport England publishes data on all grant recipients as part of its register of grants awards, which is updated on a quarterly basis with awards dating back to 2009. Between 2009 - 2023, in addition to the Swimming Pool Support Fund, Sport England provided over £2.1 million of funding to Lincolnshire and over £15 million to the East Midlands to support leisure centres and swimming pools. Across the East Midlands, just over £7 million of this is related to the Sport England Covid-19 Leisure Recovery Fund. There is more detail on Sport England’s website at: https://www.sportengland.org/about-us.