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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the work of the Black Swimming Association; and what steps they intend to take in response to the finding by Sport England’s Active Lives Survey, published in October 2020, that (1) 95 per cent of Black adults, (2) 80 percent of Black children, (3) 95 percent of Asian adults, and (4) 78 per cent of Asian Children, in England do not swim.

The Government supports the efforts of groups helping to promote diversity and inclusion in sport, including the Black Swimming Association who are working to address inequalities in swimming participation levels. We are committed to these efforts, and our sport and physical activity strategy ‘Sporting Future’ has diversity and inclusion at its heart.

In addition, Sport England have recently launched a new ten year strategy, “Uniting the Movement”, reinforcing their commitment to increasing diversity and inclusion in grassroots sport and physical activity, including swimming. They have invested £12.62 million in Swim England to support and promote participation in swimming, including support for people from ethnically diverse backgrounds. We welcome the recent partnership announcement between Swim England and the Black Swimming Association, to further increase numbers of participation in aquatic activity.