Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the £400 million funding for grassroots sport facilities she plans to allocate to support the (a) development, (b) refurbishment and (c) sustainability of public swimming pools.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities, including swimming pools, which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities across the country.
The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, with funding levels set as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve, investing in sport and physical activity with a place-based approach, to meet the needs of individual communities.
In June, we committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will ensure that this funding promotes health, wellbeing and community cohesion and helps to remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.
This funding is on top of the £250 million per year which we invest through Sport England, our arm’s length body responsible for physical activity and sport participation in England, into grassroots sport and physical activity.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that the £400 million grassroots sport funding supports swimming pools in areas with limited access to aquatic facilities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities, including swimming pools, which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities across the country.
The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, with funding levels set as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve, investing in sport and physical activity with a place-based approach, to meet the needs of individual communities.
In June, we committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will ensure that this funding promotes health, wellbeing and community cohesion and helps to remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.
This funding is on top of the £250 million per year which we invest through Sport England, our arm’s length body responsible for physical activity and sport participation in England, into grassroots sport and physical activity.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the £400 million funding for grassroots sport facilities includes funding for energy efficiency upgrades in swimming pools.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities, including swimming pools, which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities across the country.
The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, with funding levels set as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve, investing in sport and physical activity with a place-based approach, to meet the needs of individual communities.
In June, we committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will ensure that this funding promotes health, wellbeing and community cohesion and helps to remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.
This funding is on top of the £250 million per year which we invest through Sport England, our arm’s length body responsible for physical activity and sport participation in England, into grassroots sport and physical activity.
Asked by: Louie French (Conservative - Old Bexley and Sidcup)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) a National Lido Strategy and (b) a National Lido Fund.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government has made no assessment on the potential merits of a National Lido Strategy or a National Lido Fund. The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has access to and benefits from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.
Sports facilities, such as swimming pools and lidos, provide important community hubs for people of all ages to be active and connect people to the places in which they live.
The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, and the Government continues to encourage local authorities to invest in leisure facilities. We are committed to supporting Local Government, recognising the significant financial challenges faced by the sector and by ensuring that funding goes to the places that need it most through the Local Government Finance Settlement.
We will continue to engage with Swim England, ukactive, and other key stakeholders to explore how we can work towards securing a vibrant future for swimming pools and lidos, enabling them to continue delivering their full potential for public health, economic growth, and the wellbeing of our communities. Last month, the Culture Secretary announced that following the Spending Review, at least £400 million is going to be invested into new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities in communities right across the UK, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's guidance entitled Designate a bathing water: guidance on how to apply, updated on 15 May 2025, for what reason applications cannot include organised swim events.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As per the criteria set out on GOV.UK, for a site to be eligible for designation as a bathing water, it must be used by an average of at least 100 bathers a day during the bathing season (15 May to 30 September). User surveys must be taken at a site to evidence this.
An organised swim event is likely to result in an unusually high number of bathers for that day and therefore would not provide a fair reflection of the number of bathers per day during the bathing season.
The application guidance will continue to be reviewed for suitability.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2025 to Question 63716 on Bathing Water, what kind of epidemiological studies she is carrying out in relation to wider reforms.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have begun policy development and research on how best to implement the wider reforms as consulted on last year. These are expanding the definition of a ‘bather’ and introducing the use of multiple monitoring points at bathing sites. Policy development and research includes epidemiological studies which we are doing so that bathing waters can be used, monitored and classified with all users in mind. This research will also help us understand the public health implications and provide accurate advice. We are keen to work with stakeholders and welcome any information they can provide in developing this reform. We are exploring also the potential of conducting immersion studies as part of the research for the wider reforms.
Asked by: Caroline Voaden (Liberal Democrat - South Devon)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support the viability of public swimming pools.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises that sports clubs and facilities, including swimming pools, are important to communities up and down the country. Everyone, no matter who they are or where they live, should have access to them and opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity. That is why we have committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the nation following the Spending Review. We will now work closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what each community needs and then set out further plans.
The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure swimming facilities lies at local authority level. We are committed to supporting Local Government and ensuring that funding goes to the places that need it most through the Local Government Finance Settlement.
The Government encourages local authorities and local leaders to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities (including swimming pools) for the communities they serve, investing in sport and physical activity with a place-based approach, to meet the needs of individual communities. This is complemented by the support and guidance available through the Government’s Arm’s Length Body, Sport England. We will continue to engage with a full range of stakeholders to explore how we can work towards securing a vibrant future for swimming pools, enabling them to continue delivering their full potential for public health, economic growth, and the wellbeing of our communities.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he has made an assessment of the potential impact of reopening Bathing Water applications before changes including (a) core reforms and (b) wider reforms are implemented.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The reforms to the Bathing Water Regulations will modernise the system so that it reflects how and where people use bathing waters.
We have taken the decision to reopen applications this year and published interim guidance for applicants wishing to apply for designation in 2026.
To manage this transition to the reformed Regulations we shall enact a triage system for new applications submitted in 2025: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/bathing-waters-apply-to-designate-or-de-designate/designate-a-bathing-water-guidance-on-how-to-apply.
For the wider reforms, we have begun policy development and research, including epidemiological studies, to determine how best to implement these reforms in the future, considering any potential environmental, societal and access impacts.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June to Question 54071 on Swimming: Training, what standard of swimming ability the government expects young people to have achieved by the end of Primary School.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The programme of study for physical education (PE) makes specific reference to swimming and water safety, stating that “all schools must provide swimming instruction in either key stage 1 or 2” and that pupils should be taught to:
Secondary schools are free to shape their PE curriculum, in line with the national curriculum, to suit all their pupils, but there is no statutory requirement to provide swimming lessons. At secondary, pupils should build on and embed the physical development and skills learned in key stages 1 and 2, and become more competent, confident, and expert in their technique. Swimming and water safety lessons are one way of doing this.
Schools can also use their personal, social, health and economic education programme to equip pupils with a sound understanding of risk and with the knowledge necessary to make safe and informed decisions, which is a vital part of water safety.
The department is currently reviewing the statutory relationships, sex and health education curriculum, including looking at whether additional content on water safety should be added.
The department works closely with sector organisations like Swim England and the Royal Life Saving Society UK, supporting schools to provide swimming and water safety lessons through teacher training and resources. This includes support for pupils with special education needs and disabilities, hosted on Swim England’s online Inclusion Hub.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2025 to Question 54071 on Swimming: Training, what provision is available for secondary school pupils to learn to (a) swim and (b) be safe around water.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The programme of study for physical education (PE) makes specific reference to swimming and water safety, stating that “all schools must provide swimming instruction in either key stage 1 or 2” and that pupils should be taught to:
Secondary schools are free to shape their PE curriculum, in line with the national curriculum, to suit all their pupils, but there is no statutory requirement to provide swimming lessons. At secondary, pupils should build on and embed the physical development and skills learned in key stages 1 and 2, and become more competent, confident, and expert in their technique. Swimming and water safety lessons are one way of doing this.
Schools can also use their personal, social, health and economic education programme to equip pupils with a sound understanding of risk and with the knowledge necessary to make safe and informed decisions, which is a vital part of water safety.
The department is currently reviewing the statutory relationships, sex and health education curriculum, including looking at whether additional content on water safety should be added.
The department works closely with sector organisations like Swim England and the Royal Life Saving Society UK, supporting schools to provide swimming and water safety lessons through teacher training and resources. This includes support for pupils with special education needs and disabilities, hosted on Swim England’s online Inclusion Hub.