Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of trends in the levels of participation in rugby among children and young people.

Sport England’s latest Active Lives Children and Young People Survey shows that rugby participation among children and young people aged 5-16 years remains broadly stable at around 600,000 participants per week. However, participation remains below its pre-pandemic peak, with 597,200 participants per week in academic year 2024/25 compared with 684,500 in 2018/19.

Our arm’s length body, Sport England, is providing long-term investment of £16.9 million to the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and £15.7 million to the Rugby Football League (RFL) between 2022 and 2029 to support grassroots rugby participation, including for children and young people.