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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her department has made of the potential merits of distributing grassroots sports funding through local authorities for leisure centres and swimming pools.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to sports facilities, including leisure centres and swimming pools, which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities right across the country.

The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, and the Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve.

In June, the Government announced that £400 million will be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sports facilities over the next four years. We want to ensure that our future funding plans take a place-based approach, and we are working in collaboration with local authorities and the sports sector to understand the demand for facilities in each area of the UK. Plans for future funding programmes will be confirmed in due course. This funding is on top of the £250 million that our arm’s length body, Sport England invests every year in grassroots sport in England.