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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to improve access to sport for people with disabilities.

There is already fantastic work going on to improve access to sport for people with disabilities in England such as the English Federation of Disability Sport’s Talk to Me principles which outline ten clear steps that providers can follow to make their activities more appealing to disabled people, and Disability Rights UK’s Get Yourself Active 8 project, which is led by and for disabled people and which seeks to explore how Disabled People’s User Led Organisations (DPULOs) can lead the development of better physical activity and sport opportunities for disabled people locally.

It is important that sport is accessible to all and that we continue to break down those barriers that prevent all under-represented groups from engaging in sport and wider physical activity. Over the last year the government’s strategy for sport and physical activity ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for An Active Nation’ has been published as well as Sport England’s strategy ‘Towards an Active Nation’. The aim of both strategies is 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, at every stage in their lives. In line with the strategies Sport England will triple its current investment in tackling inactivity to over £250 million.