Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her letter to the hon. Member for Warrington North dated 5 March 2024, reference INT2024/01623/DC, what funding her Department has invested in grassroots sport facilities in each parliamentary constituency since 2021.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We are committed to ensuring that every child, no matter their background or ability, has the opportunity to play sport and be active.
Between 2021 and 2025, the UK Government is delivering a historic level of direct investment of over £400 million to build or upgrade thousands of grassroots facilities across the UK.
This includes £327 million across the whole of the UK between 2021 and 2025, including £25 million for the Lionesses Futures Fund. All projects are publicly available and can be found by financial year here.
We are also investing £21.9 million to renovate over 3,000 tennis courts across Scotland, England and Wales between 2022 and 2024. Completed projects are publicly available to see here.
In England, we have provided £60 million via the Swimming Pool Support Fund in 2023/24 to support public swimming pool providers with immediate cost pressures, and investment to make facilities sustainable in the longer-term. Phase one projects can be viewed here, with phase two projects to be announced in due course.
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport also wrote to all MPs in early March, detailing the amount of funding and the different projects supported by the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, the Park Tennis Court Renovation Programme, and the Swimming Pool Support Fund, in their constituency.
Mar. 03 2009
Source Page: Table showing Ministry of Defence buildings which have display energy certificates. 5 p.Found: Education centreSmall food store, cultural activities200.0G0601-0627-3010-9090-5823Bicester Garrison, Swimming
Mentions:
1: MacGregor, Fulton (SNP - Coatbridge and Chryston) To ask the Scottish Government whether it has evaluated the extent to which swimming lessons are part - Speech Link
2: Gilruth, Jenny (SNP - Mid Fife and Glenrothes) We know that some local authorities offer swimming lessons as part of their physical education. - Speech Link
3: Gilruth, Jenny (SNP - Mid Fife and Glenrothes) and sportscotland to look at the best approach for maximising the uptake of swimming among children - Speech Link
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she is taking steps to support leisure centres in rural areas.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to leisure centres and swimming pools, as swimming is a great way for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy. The responsibility for providing this access lies at Local Authority level, and the Government continues to encourage Local Authorities to support leisure provision. In 2023/24, the Government has also provided over £60 million to support operating costs and help improve energy efficiency of facilities in all areas of England through the Swimming Pool Support Fund.
In order to deliver on our ambitions, set out in the sport strategy Get Active, we need a rich and varied facilities offer across the country, including in rural areas. This requires partners from across the public and private sectors to work together to ensure that provision is accessible, sustainable and reflects the needs of the community.
Jan. 23 2024
Source Page: Handling of FOI202300342535: FOI releaseFound: How many swimming pools are there in total in the UK?
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support sports clubs engaged in (a) swimming, (b) surfing, (c) angling, (d) canoeing and (e) other water sports who have impacted by water pollution and sewage discharges.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to improving the quality of our coastal and inland waters for the benefit of the environment and everyone who uses it. The Environment Agency takes over 7,000 samples each year at England’s 424 designated bathing waters, which are used to determine the annual bathing water classifications. These classifications are displayed on signage at bathing waters and online on the Environment Agency’s Swimfo website, to allow bathers to make informed decisions before entering the water. Defra welcomes applications for bathing water designations in England for both coastal waters and inland waters such as lakes and rivers. Anyone, including swimming clubs, can apply to designate a site as a bathing water by following the application guidance available at: Designate a bathing water: guidance on how to apply - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Government is clear that the amount of sewage discharged into our waters is unacceptable. We have taken a series of actions to require water companies to improve how they manage wastewater. For example, we have set ambitious targets through the Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan to reduce the use of storm overflows. This will drive the largest infrastructure programme in water company history: estimated at £60 billion capital investment in 25 years. To support these targets in the near term, water companies have committed to £180m of new funding over the next year to help tackle sewage spills. This is a new investment committed by water companies to deliver enhanced maintenance programmes to improve the sewer network and is expected to prevent more than 8,000 sewage spills polluting English waterways.
These measures will benefit swimming, surfing, angling, canoeing and all other water sports.
May. 01 2024
Source Page: Cost of the Victoria Quay pool: FOI releaseFound: information on how much the Scottish Government has spent on the swimming pool since December 15th 2022
May. 15 2024
Source Page: Bathing season kicks off across England for 2024Found: ), marking the start of rigorous testing of water quality from the Environment Agency at designated swimming
Asked by: Choudhury, Foysol (Scottish Labour - Lothian)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the number of incidents in Scotland of children drowning, in light of data from the 2022 Active Lives Survey reportedly showing that only 34.7% of children from low-income families in some parts of the UK are able to swim 25 metres unaided, compared with 76.4% children from high-income families.
Answered by Todd, Maree - Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport
The Scottish Government believes that every child should be given the opportunity to learn to swim, it is a life skill that can save lives.
While the Active Lives Survey relates to England only, we recognise that children living in areas of deprivation may be less likely to be able to swim. We have been working with Scottish Swimming, Education Scotland, sportscotland and Scottish Water to develop interventions and approaches to provide opportunities for children to become confident, safer and competent swimmers. Inclusion has been central to the approach and there is a specific focus on targeting areas within quintile 1 of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Four Delivery Pilots have taken place to support schools to understand and consider different approaches on how best to support young people to access school swimming. An evaluation, available here , has been published and we will work with Scottish Swimming and sportscotland to utilise the learning from these pilots to consider the best approach for a continued roll out of a national framework for school swimming.
Our Water Safety action plan which focuses on key initiatives to improve education, data, local area water safety planning and incident reviews, was updated in June 2023.
Mentions:
1: Simon Jupp (Con - East Devon) fundamental fact that East Devon District Council had the opportunity to apply for money to support the swimming - Speech Link
2: Richard Foord (LD - Tiverton and Honiton) As he says, the Flamingo pool in Axminster is brilliant; I take my daughter swimming there, and the volunteers - Speech Link
3: Simon Jupp (Con - East Devon) Meanwhile, Lib Dem-led East Devon District Council failed even to apply for funding for swimming pools - Speech Link