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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding from the public purse has been allocated to grassroots rugby union in each of the last three years.

Through Sport England, government has invested the following in grassroots rugby union in each of the last three years:

• 2016/17: £4.06m
• 2017/18: £3.45m
• 2018/19: £4.02m

These figures include investment in both the Rugby Football Union as the national governing body for the sport, together with investment in specific community rugby union projects.

Over this time period, Sport England has invested a further £12.61m in multi-sport projects where rugby union is one of the sports benefitting.