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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department has taken to encourage female participation in team sports at (a) amateur and (b) professional level.

The fantastic performances at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, the UEFA Women’s Euros, World Athletics Championships, Women’s Rugby World Cup and the Commonwealth Games among others, have been truly inspirational. It is vital we build on these successes at the grassroots and elite levels.

This government supports some fantastic initiatives that encourage women to take up sport and physical activity at the grassroots level. For example Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign which promotes team sports such as rugby, basketball and goalball. Sport England have also committed around £85 million into the England talent system and currently fund England Talent Pathways in 43 sports (including team sports). In August 2018 Sport England published their Talent Plan in which they committed to working with new partners to identify and develop talent from under-represented groups in other environments or locations.