Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to make sport more accessible to (a) women and (b) disabled people in the West Midlands.
Government’s strategy for sport and physical activity ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for An Active Nation’ aims to create a more physically active nation, where people of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy the benefits that sport and physical activity can provide. The strategy focuses on people in groups that are currently less likely to take part in sport and physical activity, such as women and girls and disabled people.
Our national sport council, Sport England’s strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’ aims to deliver the aims of Sporting Future and has funded a number of projects aimed at supporting women and disabed people to be active in the West Midlands, including:
In addition, the Government is supporting the delivery of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, which will have the biggest para sport and women’s sport programme in Commonwealth Games history. It is the first time any major multi-sport competition will have more medal events for women than men. It builds on the incredible growth of women’s sport in recent years and offers a fantastic opportunity to further increase the profile of para sport.