Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding her Department allocated to projects to support grassroots sports facilities in Coventry in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Over the last five years, DCMS has provided over £1.26m of funding to support grassroots sports facilities in Coventry, to improve access and increase participation.
Over £1.26m has been invested as part of the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, via the Football Foundation, to seven clubs/organisations (The Futures Trust, Firefighters Jfc, CM Sports FC, Coventry Saracens Junior FC, Coventry Copsewood Junior FC, Coventrians RFC, Firefighters Jfc). This funding went towards a range of improvements - from a new full-sized third generation artificial grass pitch to new goalposts and changing rooms.
Spencer Park in Coventry has also received funding through the Park Tennis Court Renovation programme. £78,000 has been used to improve the public tennis courts there.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
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 sports clubs in rural areas.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier - which is why in our new Sport Strategy - 'Get Active’ - we set out an ambitious strategy to boost our national health by getting 3.5 million extra active people by 2030. This includes bold targets to reach communities with the lowest levels of physical activity.
The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arms Length Body, Sport England. Since 2019, we have invested over £773,000 in the Penrith and Borders area supporting projects such as the refurbishment of the Hunsonby Community Centre, the Wigton Baths Trust and the Castle Park tennis project. A further £50,000 has been invested in the area as part of the Multi-Sports Grassroots Facilities Investment programme, providing funding for new goalposts, floodlights and improving grass pitch surfaces.
Building on their 12 local delivery pilot areas in areas such as Withernsea, Sport England is expanding their place-based work so that at least 75% of their investment is committed to areas with the lowest levels of physical activity and social outcomes.
Sport England are using a range of data sources to inform this approach, including physical activity data from the Active Lives Surveys as well as wider social data including IMD, community need and health inequalities data. These datasets help to identify a range of communities, including rural communities, across England that need support to become more active.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact on the health of people under the age of 18 of having access to free sports facilities for at least two hours a week.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
We know that active people are fitter, happier and healthier - which is why in our new Sport Strategy - 'Get Active’ - we set out an ambitious strategy to boost our national health by getting 3.5 million extra active people by 2030. This includes bold targets to reach communities with the lowest levels of physical activity.
As part of this strategy, we have set up a new National Physical Activity Taskforce to ensure we meet these targets, and will work closely with Sport England to track and measure the impact of our interventions. This will include measuring the progress made in tackling inactivity annually through the Active Lives Children survey, and in real time by seeking new sources of data that allow us to monitor progress.
Schools play a key role in allowing all children to have high quality opportunities to take part in PE and sport. In July we published an update to the School Sport and Activity Action Plan. This builds on the announcement we made in March that set out new ambitions for equal access to PE and sport and guidance on how to deliver 2 hours of quality PE a week, alongside over £600 million funding for the Primary PE and Sport Premium and the School Games Organiser network.
The Department for Education will be introducing a new digital tool to support schools with their reporting requirements for their PE and sport premium spend. This will hold schools accountable for how they use their PE and sport premium funding allocation to measure and improve the quality of PE and sport they provide.
Alongside this, the government is also investing over £300 million in grassroots football, tennis, swimming pools and multi-sport facilities across the UK by 2025 to increase participation and ensure physical activity should be accessible to all, no matter a person’s background or location. The historic level of direct investment to build or upgrade thousands of grassroots facilities across the UK and support swimming pools in England, will also increase access for thousands more young people.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, when a Minister from his Department last made an official visit to Blaenau Gwent constituency.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and I both live in Wales and serve Welsh constituencies. We have a consistent presence in Wales as we conduct many visits, events and meetings in Wales on a regular basis.
Details of Ministerial visits and meetings are published on the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales’ website and in Quarterly Ministerial Transparency Returns. In addition, visits and meetings conducted in support of the Wales Office priorities are published in the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales Annual Report and Accounts.
The UK Government has provided extensive support to Blaenau Gwent. A typical household in Wales has received almost £2000 in UK Government support to help with the cost of living. This includes around 194,000 payments delivered in Blaenau Gwent through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. During the Covid-19 pandemic over 10,000 jobs were supported through the furlough scheme, around £19 million was claimed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and around £34 million was given to businesses through government-backed business loans.
The UK Government has also supported innovation within Blaenau Gwent with around £680,000 awarded by Innovate UK since April 2019. Blaenau Gwent has also received around £48,000 through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme to level up local sports facilities. Blaenau Gwent will also benefit from UK Government funding to refurbish public tennis courts across the UK.
Our Semiconductor Strategy targets UK strengths, including compound semiconductors. As the home of the world's first compound semiconductor cluster, South East Wales, including Blaenau Gwent, is well placed to benefit from the Semiconductor strategy and the funding announced.
In addition, Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, the local authority for the Blaenau Gwent constituency, is receiving over £28 million from the UK Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Blaenau Gwent is also receiving over £9 million from the Levelling Up Fund for a new High Value Engineering (HiVE) training and education facility based in Ebbw Vale. This is in addition to the £90,000 awarded to the Queen’s Ballroom in Tredegar through the Community Ownership Fund. Blaenau Gwent is also benefitting from the £1.2 billion Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, including a £2 million investment in Apex Manufacturing and a £1.7 million investment in Pulse Plastics.
This Government is investing in Wales like never before; over £790 million in four City and Regional Growth Deals covering the whole of Wales, £585 million for local authorities to invest through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, including over £100 million for the Multiply adult numeracy programme, £330 million in capital investment through the Levelling Up Fund and £3.2 million to preserve community assets through the Community Ownership Fund. Wales will benefit from two Freeports backed by £52 million, the British Business Bank’s new £130m Regional Investment Fund, and from Project Gigabit which will enable hard to reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit capable broadband.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, when a Minister from his Department last made an official visit to Vale of Glamorgan constituency.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and I both live in Wales and serve Welsh constituencies. We have a consistent presence in Wales as we conduct many visits, events and meetings in Wales on a regular basis.
Details of Ministerial visits and meetings are published on the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales’ website and in Quarterly Ministerial Transparency Returns. In addition, visits and meetings conducted in support of the Wales Office priorities are published in the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales Annual Report and Accounts.
The UK Government has provided extensive support to Vale of Glamorgan. A typical household in Wales has received almost £2000 in UK Government support to help with the cost of living. This includes over 277,000 payments delivered in Vale of Glamorgan through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. During the Covid-19 pandemic around 16,000 jobs were supported through the furlough scheme, around £33 million was claimed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and over £69 million was given to businesses through government-backed business loans.
The UK Government has also supported innovation within Vale of Glamorgan with around £570,000 awarded by Innovate UK since April 2019. Vale of Glamorgan will also benefit from UK Government funding to refurbish public tennis courts across the UK.
In addition, Vale of Glamorgan Council, the local authority for the Vale of Glamorgan constituency, is receiving over £14 million from the UK Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The Vale of Glamorgan will also benefit from the £1.2 billion Cardiff Capital Region, including a £36.4 million investment in a green energy park at the former Aberthaw power station.
This Government is investing in Wales like never before; over £790 million in four City and Regional Growth Deals covering the whole of Wales, £585 million for local authorities to invest through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, including over £100 million for the Multiply adult numeracy programme, £330 million in capital investment through the Levelling Up Fund and £3.2 million to preserve community assets through the Community Ownership Fund. Wales will benefit from two Freeports backed by £52 million, the British Business Bank’s new £130m Regional Investment Fund, and from Project Gigabit which will enable hard to reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit capable broadband.
Asked by: Gerald Jones (Labour - Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, when a Minister in his Department last made an official visit to Newport West constituency.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and I both live in Wales and serve Welsh constituencies. We have a consistent presence in Wales as we conduct many visits, events and meetings in Wales on a regular basis.
Details of Ministerial visits and meetings are published on the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales’ website and in Quarterly Ministerial Transparency Returns. In addition, visits and meetings conducted in support of the Wales Office priorities are published in the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales Annual Report and Accounts.
The UK Government has provided extensive support to Newport West. A typical household in Wales has received almost £2000 in UK Government support to help with the cost of living. This includes over 240,000 payments delivered in Newport West through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. During the Covid-19 pandemic over 13,000 jobs were supported through the furlough scheme, around £24 million was claimed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and around £68 million was given to businesses through government-backed business loans.
The UK Government has also supported innovation within Newport West with over £10.5 million awarded by Innovate UK since April 2019. Newport West will also benefit from UK Government funding to refurbish public tennis courts across the UK.
Our Semiconductor Strategy targets UK strengths, including compound semiconductors. As the home of the world's first compound semiconductor cluster, South East Wales, including Newport West, is well placed to benefit from the Semiconductor strategy and the funding announced.
In addition, Newport City Council, the local authority for the Newport West constituency, is receiving over £32 million from the UK Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Newport West also benefits from the £1.2 billion Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, including almost £38 million invested in the semi-conductor cluster.
This Government is investing in Wales like never before; over £790 million in four City and Regional Growth Deals covering the whole of Wales, £585 million for local authorities to invest through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, including over £100 million for the Multiply adult numeracy programme, £330 million in capital investment through the Levelling Up Fund and £3.2 million to preserve community assets through the Community Ownership Fund. Wales will benefit from two Freeports backed by £52 million, the British Business Bank’s new £130m Regional Investment Fund, and from Project Gigabit which will enable hard to reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit capable broadband.
Asked by: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, when a Minister from his Department last made an official visit to Cardiff South and Penarth constituency.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State and I both live in Wales and serve Welsh constituencies. We have a consistent presence in Wales as we conduct many visits, events and meetings in Wales on a regular basis.
Details of Ministerial visits and meetings are published on the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales’ website and in Quarterly Ministerial Transparency Returns. In addition, visits and meetings conducted in support of the Wales Office priorities are published in the Office of the Secretary of State for Wales Annual Report and Accounts.
The UK Government has provided extensive support to Cardiff South and Penarth. A typical household in Wales has received almost £2000 in UK Government support to help with the cost of living. This includes over 303,000 payments delivered in Cardiff South and Penarth through the Energy Bills Support Scheme. During the Covid-19 pandemic around 19,000 jobs were supported through the furlough scheme, around £37 million was claimed through the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme and over £127 million was given to businesses through government-backed business loans.
The UK Government has also supported innovation within Cardiff South and Penarth with around £22 million awarded by Innovate UK since April 2019. Cardiff South and Penarth has also received around £185,000 through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme to level up local sports facilities. Cardiff South and Penarth will also benefit from UK Government funding to refurbish public tennis courts across the UK.
In addition, Cardiff City Council, the local authority for the Cardiff South and Penarth constituency, is receiving over £41 million from the UK Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Cardiff is also receiving £50 million from the Levelling Up Fund for Cardiff Crossrail which will deliver a new rail line between Cardiff Bay and Cardiff Central Station. The constituency also benefits from the £1.2 billion Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, including an investment of £40 million in the Metro Central project.
This Government is investing in Wales like never before; over £790 million in four City and Regional Growth Deals covering the whole of Wales, £585 million for local authorities to invest through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, including over £100 million for the Multiply adult numeracy programme, £330 million in capital investment through the Levelling Up Fund and £3.2 million to preserve community assets through the Community Ownership Fund. Wales will benefit from two Freeports backed by £52 million, the British Business Bank’s new £130m Regional Investment Fund, and from Project Gigabit which will enable hard to reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit capable broadband.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure people that people from all socio-economic backgrounds can participate in community sports.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government is committed to ensuring that everyone is able to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits that sport and physical activity provides, regardless of background. This is a central part of the Levelling Up agenda and will be a major focus of the Government’s upcoming Sport Strategy.
We fund the majority of support for grassroots sport through our Arms Length Body, Sport England - which receives over £100 million in Exchequer funding each year. Sport England is responsible for growing and developing grassroots sport and getting more people active across England. Sport England's ten year strategy ‘Uniting the Movement’ reinforces their commitment to increasing participation in sport and physical activity for those from under-represented groups.
Government is also investing nearly £400 million directly into grassroots sports facilities across the country up to 2025.
This includes over £300 million into multi-sport pitches and facilities across the UK to level up facilities by, in particular, targeting those communities most in need and increasing participation among under-represented groups, including women and girls, ethnic minority communities and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. At least 50% of the funding will go to the most deprived areas across the UK.
Through our partnership with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the government is renovating park tennis courts across England, Scotland and Wales. The Government is investing £22 million, with a further £8 million from the LTA. This funding will bring over 3,000 courts up to playable standard by 2025.
At Spring Budget 2023, the Government also announced the £63 million Swimming Pool Support Fund to address the cost pressures facing some public swimming pool providers, and provide investment in energy efficiency measures to make facilities sustainable in the long-term and ensure communities can continue to access the facilities they need.
Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
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 increase funding for (a) community groups and (b) sports clubs.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Community groups and grassroots sport play an important role in local areas, and supporting them is a priority for the Government.
Last year, Sport England received almost £350 million from the Government and National Lottery to fund grassroots sports projects so that everyone is able to access quality sport and physical activity opportunities, and enjoy the physical and mental health benefits that exercise provides.
We are investing £300 million to develop thousands of state-of-the-art multi-use sports facilities across the UK. The Government has also committed £30 million a year for three years to school sport facilities in England, and over £20 million with the Lawn Tennis Association to renovate park tennis courts across England, Scotland and Wales.
At the Spring Budget, we also announced a £63 million package to address the cost pressures facing some public swimming pool providers, and provide investment in energy efficiency measures to make facilities sustainable in the long-term. These interventions will help ensure that people across the UK are able to get active.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is taking a number of steps to support community groups. This includes support from the National Lottery Community Fund for a range of community projects, including £615m awarded in the last financial year. In addition, and among other measures, the Government announced a package of over £100m at the Spring Budget to support charities and community organisations in England with cost of living pressures.
Asked by: Jonathan Lord (Conservative - Woking)
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 grassroots sport.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Supporting grassroots sport is a key government priority. Last year, Sport England - our Arm’s Length Body responsible for growing and developing grassroots sport - received almost £350 million from the Government and National Lottery to fund grassroots sports projects. The Government also invests £18 million a year into community sport facilities via the Football Foundation alongside the English Football Association and the Premier League.
Sport England uses its funding to support and encourage the development of sport and recreation with the view to increasing participation rates across England. This includes the over £2.2 million of funding Sport England has provided in the Woking constituency since 2019, £240,000 of which supported projects through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
We are investing £300 million to develop thousands of state-of-the-art community football pitches and multi-use sports facilities across the UK. The Football Foundation has also invested over £400,000 in nearly 20 grants across the constituency, funding pitches, changing facilities, maintenance and equipment.
We have committed £30 million a year for 3 years to school sport facilities in England, and over £20 million with the Lawn Tennis Association to renovate park tennis courts across England, Scotland and Wales.
At the Spring Budget, we also announced a £63 million package to address the cost pressures facing some public swimming pool providers, and provide investment in energy efficiency measures to make facilities sustainable in the long-term. Both of these interventions aim to ensure that children and adults up and down the country have accessible opportunities to get active.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has committed to delivering a new sport strategy that will set the direction for the Government's priorities and its role in the sport sector. This strategy will support grassroots sport by having a specific focus on ensuring that everyone has access to appropriate and accessible opportunities to get active.